A German court has opened a trial against 32-year-old Mehmet Fatih S., who is accused of working for the Turkish intelligence agency MIT. He reportedly posed as a journalist to gain access to Kurdish politicians, DW reported.

German prosecutors say that the Turkish man has worked for the Turkish intelligence service since 2013. Between September 2015 and his arrest in December 2016, his mission was allegedly to spy on the Kurdish community in Germany, focusing on Kurds based in Bremen.

The Turkish MIT agency allegedly paid the man $35,800 for his services. Mehmet Fatih S. is said to have moved to the northern city of Bremen in January 2016 to get closer to Kurdish politician Yuksel Koc. There, he spoke to Koc's acquaintances and gathered information online to learn more details about his life, posing as a reporter for a Kurdish TV broadcaster.