German Eurocopter worker admits spying for Russia

MUNICH, Germany, June 9 (Reuters) - A German engineer admitted at his espionage trial on Monday that he had passed information from the helicopter maker Eurocopter to the Russian secret service.

Prosecutors say the 44-year-old Werner G. took documents from Eurocopter, a division of the European aerospace group EADS, and passed them to a Russian intelligence agent whom he met several times between 2004 and 2006 in Germany, Austria and Croatia.

"He knows he made a huge mistake," the defendant's lawyer said at the beginning of the trial on Monday, at which his client admitted to having passed on information.

The lawyer said his client, who worked for Eurocopter until the late 1990s, had passed on only relatively low-value information on civilian, not military, helicopters.

But Federal Public Prosecutor Hans-Juergen Foerster said on the sidelines of the trial that the boundaries between civilian and military spying were not always clear.

He said such technical documents were highly valuable because they could allow another manufacturer to save development costs and offer its own product at cheaper prices.

Prosecutors say the defendant passed on manuals, files and CD-ROMs with technical details of various Eurocopter helicopters, and received some 13,000 euros ($20,500) in return.

A verdict is expected next week. Spying for a foreign secret service is punishable by up to five years in jail in Germany. (Reporting by Munich staff; Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Kevin Liffey)