Former aide of far-right German EU lawmaker charged with espionage

German prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former aide of far-right German politician and European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah with spying for Chinese intelligence.

Prosecutors in the south-western city of Karlsruhe said the former employee as well as an accomplice repeatedly passed on information on negotiations and decisions made in the European Parliament to a Chinese intelligence agency, while also spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany.

Krah was the top candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) 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 the European Parliament 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.

His former aide, identified as Jian G, a German citizen, has been working for a Chinese secret service since 2002, according to the federal prosecutor's office.

He was arrested in the eastern city of Dresden in April 2024 on accusations of particularly serious espionage. He is said to have obtained more than 500 documents, "including some that the European Parliament had categorized as particularly sensitive."

Shortly after the arrest, German authorities searched Jian G's and Krah's offices in the European Parliament in Brussels.