Former FBI man pleads guilty to spying

Former FBI agent Mr Robert Hanssen has pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy as part of a plea agreement to…

Former FBI agent Mr Robert Hanssen has pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy as part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty.

 Robert Hanssen
Former FBI agent Mr Robert Hanssen

Mr Hanssen (57) admitted he spied for Moscow. The plea agreement calls for Mr Hanssen to get life in prison, but he has not yet been sentenced.

Mr Hanssen's lawyer, Mr Plato Cacheris, says his client spied intermittently since 1979, but took several breaks, including one from 1992 to 1999.

He said Mr Hanssen resumed spy activities in 1999, but when the end was near, "he had a premonition that he was going to be arrested". His lawyers asked the judge to consider January 11th as the sentencing date.

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Mr Cacheris told the court in Virginia the plea agreement was a victory for both his client and the government.

"The death penalty has been removed," he said. And Mr Hanssen promises to report all factors involved in his spying activities, first for the Soviet Union and then for Russia.

He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy to commit espionage and six counts were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Mr Cacheris revealed that Mr Hanssen had begun his spying activities in 1979. It was first thought that he had started in 1985.