German court frees man convicted of spying for China
M & C, 12 October 2011
Munich – A German court convicted a 45-year-old Uyghur man of espionage on behalf of China on Wednesday, finding that he monitored exiled Uyghurs – but freed him with a one-year suspended prison term.
German counter-intelligence agencies said he was part of a surveillance operation run out of the Chinese consulate-general in Munich, where 700 exiles make up the largest community in western Europe of the mainly Muslim ethnic group from western China.
He was the second person to be convicted since police moved against Uyghurs spying against their own people. The name of the defendant was withheld under German media privacy guidelines.
In the Munich state superior court, he admitted conducting espionage from 2005 to 2009. Prosecutors said he gave his Chinese paymasters advance details of anti-China demonstrations and personal details about leaders of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).
China contends that the Munich-based WUC is a ‘terrorist organization,’ a position that European countries do not accept.