A court in The Hague has sentenced former F-16 pilot Chris Vaneker to five years in jail after finding him guilty of selling state secrets to a Russian diplomat.

Vaneker wanted half-a-million euros for the information he was trying to sell. The court found that the former Dutch airforce fighter pilot acted on his own initiative when he got in touch with the military attaché at the Russian embassy in The Hague.

The pilot and the Russian diplomat were arrested in March after they agreed to meet at a Scheveningen restaurant. The diplomat was soon released. The authorities were unable to determine what information Vaneker passed on to the Russian, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

The court held that the information must have been top secret because otherwise no foreign power would have been interested in acquiring it.

Chris Vaneker is expected to appeal against his sentence, but his lawyer says he needs to discuss the verdict with his client first.

(gsh/nc/imm/tf)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide