Germany arrests EU parliamentary staffer for AfD on China spying charges

German police have arrested an assistant to a European Parliament member for the far-right Alternative for Germany on suspicion of "an especially severe case" of espionage for China, the federal prosecutor's office said on Tuesday. Jian G., a staffer for the AfD's top candidate in the European Parliament elections in June, Maximilian Krah, stands accused of giving the Chinese intelligence service information about negotiations and decisions in the European parliament, the prosecutors said in a statement.

German police have arrested an assistant to a European Parliament member for the far-right Alternative for Germany on suspicion of "an especially severe case" of espionage for China, the federal prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

Jian G., a staffer for the AfD's top candidate in the European Parliament elections in June, Maximilian Krah, stands accused of giving the Chinese intelligence service information about negotiations and decisions in the European parliament, the prosecutors said in a statement. G., who lived in Brussels as well as the eastern German city of Dresden, also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, the prosecutors said. Authorities arrested him in Dresden on Monday and raided his flats.

"He is accused of an especially severe case of working for a foreign secret service," the statement said. An AfD spokesman said the news was "very disturbing".

"But as we have no further information on the case at the moment, we must wait for the prosecutors' further investigation." Krah and the Chinese embassy did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The suspect was arrested the same day three German nationals were arrested on suspicion of working with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) to hand over technology that could be used for military purposes. The arrests took place a week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to China to press Beijing on its support for Russia's wartime economy and to raise issues of intellectual property theft and fair market access.

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