NORWEGIAN EX-DIPLOMAT GETS 20 YEARS FOR SPYING

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00806R000200710005-6
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 5, 2010
Sequence Number: 
5
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 21, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00806R000200710005-6.pdf100.9 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/05: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200710005-6 ^iI - ?t'EAT D NEW YORK TIMES ON PAGE ,._ 21 June 1985 A Norwegian Ex-Diplomat Gets ear By BARNABY J. FEDER for Spying Special to The New York Times June 20 - Arne Treholt a 42- OSLO , , year-old former diplomat once re- garded as a rising star in Norwegian politics, was convicted today of spying for the Soviet Union $nd Iraq and sen- tenced to 20 years in peon. Mr. Treholt gave the lffussians a wide range of classified or sensitive infor- mation from 1974 until his arrest 18 months ago, including insights into Norway's civil and military defenses and its military cooperation with other North Atlantic Treaty Organization na- tions. The information also included briefings about meetings between Norwegian officials and foreign states- men, such as Henry A. Kissinger, Hel- mut Schmidt, the former West German Chancellor, and Lord Carrington, Brit- ain's former Foreign Minister. The spying began because Mr. Tre- holt was ideologically attracted to the Soviet Union and flattered by the K.G.B.'s interest in him, the seven judges of the Crown Court concluded in their unanimous decision. They said money later became a motive, particu- larly in his willingness to pass political and military information to Iraq from 1981 on. The 20-year sentence is the most se- vere allowed under Norwegian law for espionage. Mr. Treholt must also turn over to the Government $52,000 in a Swiss bank account and more than $81,000 that the judges estimated he earned from spying, as well as paying court costs of almost $12,000. Said He Never Harmed Norway Mr. Treholt maintained from the start of his trial on Feb. 25 that he had never given his Soviet or Iraqi contacts information harmful to Norway. Impeccably dressed in a white dou- ble-brested suit, he listened gravely but impassively to the sentence as it was read this morning and then scribbled frequent notes to himself during the all- day reading of the decision. He is ex- pected to appeal to the Supreme Court. Many Norwegians were stunned at the news of the arrest of the popular diplomat at Fornebu Airport here on Jan. 20, 1984. Then head of the Foreign Ministry's press office, Mr. Trehold was carrying a briefcase with 66 docu- ments that the police said were to be handed over in Vienna to Gennadi Titov, a K.G.B. agent Mr. Treholt had known since 1971. The verdict today was harsher than most Norwegians expected. The sen- tence is twice as long as that handed down in any other spy case here. About 50 Norwegians have been charged with spying since World War II, mostly in connection with the Soviet Union. Much of the trial was conducted in open court. But several weeks of testimony were taken behind closed doors, and about 100 pages of the 255-page Mr. Treholt is the son of a former decision were read in secret today as Labor Party member of Parliament well. It is widely assumed that this evi- and became active in party politics as a dente sealed Mr. Treholt's fate. yOg man. At?the time he first made contact with the Russians, he was an Soviet Iles Date to 1997 outspoken opponent of American in- Mr. Treholt's ties with the Soviet volvement in Vietnam and Norway's Union date back to 1967, when as a membership in NATO, as well as a sup- young journalist for the Oslo tabloid! porter of the Greek Socialist opposition Arbeiderbladet, he was introduced to to that country's military rulers. Yevgeny Belyayev, a Soviet consular His energy, outgoing personality and official later identified as a K.G.B. marriage in 1967 to Karl Storaekre, a agent. He became a valuable source of information for the Russians when he embarked on a diplomatic career in late 1972 as personal secretary to Jens Evensen, then Minister for Trade and Shipping. Mr. Treholt moved to New York in 1979 as an economic and social affairs officer for Norway's delegation to the United Nations. At that time, suspi- cious Norwegian security authorities asked for and received help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in monitoring Mr. Treholt's contacts with the Russians, some of which resembled the complicated dropoffs from which spy novels are made. In 1982 the Foreign Ministry, un- aware that Mr. Treholt was suspected of spying, suggested that he enter. Nor- way's Defense College. The decision by the new Conservative-led Government to hide its suspicions and let Mr. Tre- holt enter the school, where lectures and tours often deal with secret infor. mation, has been hotly debated since his arrest. The Government has maintained that it was not sure of its evidence at the time. The decision today did not comment but made it clear that much of the damaging information was passed to the Russians after Mr. Tre- holt became a student at the school. Leading politicians suggested to- night in cautious interviews with Norwegian television that political fall- out from the case may be minimal. The opposition Labor Party cannot go too far in raising questions about the Gov- ernment's judgment on admitting Mr. Treholt to the Defense College without reminding voters that it is the Labor Party's left wing that spawned Mr. Treholt's ideological beliefs and vul- nerability to Soviet influence. Norwegian television star, contributed to his image as an rising young man. The marriage is among the things shattered by his arrest. Miss Storaekre recently filed for divorce and has taken their 7-year-old son to Stockholm, where she is working for Swedish tele- vision. STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/05: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200710005-6