Prague court opens trial of Chinese citizen accused of spying

Prague’s Municipal Court begins hearing the case of a Chinese citizen accused of spying for Chinese intelligence on Wednesday. He is the first person prosecuted in Czechia for unauthorised activity on behalf of a foreign power, an offence introduced in February last year. He faces up to five years in prison. Prosecutors allege he posed as a journalist accredited with the Czech Foreign Ministry, gathering political and economic information, mapping networks of influence and cultivating contacts. He allegedly passed his findings to China.