An aide who worked for a leading member of Germany’s far-right AfD party has been given a jail term of four years and nine months for spying for China.
Jian Guo had worked in Brussels for Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for five years until last year. Krah is now an MP in the German parliament.
The court in Dresden in eastern Germany heard how Krah’s former aide had gathered information and passed on confidential documents to Chinese authorities.
Jian Guo maintained his innocence, insisting he had not worked for Chinese intelligence, and Krah told the court last month he had only learned about allegations against his ex-employee from the media.
The defendant, a German national, was accused by prosecutors of working for Chinese intelligence since 2002, in a case that fuelled concerns about China’s spy activities in the European Union.
He had also been accused of spying on Chinese dissidents and opposition figures in Germany.
The court in Dresden said it was a particularly serious case, although in his final statement Jian Guo told the trial last week: “I did not work for a Chinese intelligence agency and I am innocent.”
Jian Guo was alleged to have acted as a handler for a Chinese national working for a logistics company at Leipzig airport who was given a suspended jail term.
The woman, identified as Yaqi X, was accused of providing data on cargo, flights and passengers. She admitted passing on information but denied any knowledge of spying activities.
Reacting to his former aide’s jail term, Krah told news agency DPA that “immediately after the arrest I took the necessary action and significantly increased security in my office”.
The AfD politician resigned from his seat in the European Parliament earlier this year after he was elected to the Bundestag in February, when he ran for election in the eastern state of Saxony.
He is currently under investigation by the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office, reportedly concerning allegations of money laundering and corruption during his time as an elected representative in the European Parliament.
Krah has dismissed these accusations as “absurd and politically motivated”.