A former assistant to a far-right European Parliament member has been found guilty of spying for China.
Jian G worked in the parliamentary office of Maximilian Krah, a member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who sat in the European Parliament between 2019 and 2025.
Prosecutors said Mr G, whose full name has not been released in line with Germany’s privacy laws, had been working for a Chinese secret service since 2002.
The German national had been accused of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of repeatedly passing on information on negotiations and decisions in the EU Parliament while working for Mr Krah between September 2019 and April last year.
He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
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Beijing has denied accusations of espionage in Europe. China’s foreign ministry said previously that reports about spying were all “hyping up with an aim to smear and suppress China“.
Krah – a controversial figure even within his own party – is currently accused of money laundering and bribery by China during his time in the European Parliament. He rejects the claims and says they are politically motivated.
AfD last year banned Krah from EU elections weeks after he told an Italian newspaper not all members of the Nazis’ elite SS unit were war criminals.
Still, he won a seat in the German parliament earlier this year as part of the party’s historic gains in the Bundestag during the national election.
