Former AfD aide convicted of spying for China in EU Parliament

A former aide to a lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison on Tuesday on charges of spying for Chinese intelligence while working at the European Parliament.

The defendant, a German national named as Jian G in line with the country's strict privacy laws, worked for AfD politician Maximilian Krah between 2019 and 2024, during his time as an EU lawmaker.

The Dresden Higher Regional Court found the defendant guilty of gathering intelligence and confidential documents and passing them on to Chinese contacts.

Prosecutor Stephan Morweiser said this was "the most serious case of Chinese espionage in Germany" uncovered to date.

As Krah was a member of the committee on international trade in Brussels, he was an "essential source of information," said presiding judge Hans Schlüter-Staats.

Sensitive information was "handed to him on a silver platter by Krah," said Schlüter-Staats.

The AfD politician - who now serves in the German parliament, the Bundestag - admitted during the trial that he gave the defendant his password, allowing him to access documents reserved for lawmakers.

He said on Tuesday that he was not surprised by the conviction.

"I took the necessary steps immediately after the arrest and significantly increased security in my office," Krah told dpa, describing himself as a "victim" in the case.

Jian G also gathered information on leading AfD lawmakers and spied on Chinese dissidents from at least 2007, the court found.

The defendant denied the accusations. "I did not work for a Chinese secret service and I am innocent," he told the trial last week.

His lawyer had demanded an acquittal due to a lack of sufficient evidence, while prosecutors had requested a prison sentence of seven and a half years.

The judgement is not yet legally binding. An appeal can be lodged with the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe within one week.

A co-defendant, Yaqi X, was given a suspended sentence of one year and nine months. She worked for a logistics service provider at Leipzig Airport in eastern Germany and is said to have repeatedly provided Jian G with data on flights, freight and passengers, in particular regarding the transport of defence goods.

She admitted to having passed on information to Jian G, believing he was working to promote relations between China and Germany as part of his work in the European Parliament.

However, she said she knew nothing about his work as an agent for Chinese intelligence services.

Krah faces separate investigation

Krah, a controversial figure even within his own party, faces a separate investigation over accusations of bribery by China and money laundering related to his time in the European Parliament.

He has rejected the claims, but his offices were raided by German police earlier this month after a vote to lift his parliamentary immunity.

Krah was the AfD's top candidate in last year's European Parliament elections, but his campaign was plagued by scandal.

The AfD was kicked out of the right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group in Brussels after Krah made highly controversial comments defending members of the Nazi SS paramilitary in an interview with an Italian newspaper.

The party subsequently expelled him from its delegation to the European Parliament, but he was elected to the Bundestag earlier this year.