The former engineer of the Chinese Research Institute was sentenced to death for the transfer of state secrets to foreign intelligence. It was not reported what the secrets sold were to be about, or where exactly the man worked.
As the Chinese Ministry of State Security said on Wednesday, a former engineer named Liu was sentenced to death for providing secret information to foreign intelligence. He was “secretly copying, duplicating and selling a large number of state secrets of a foreign intelligence agency,” he donated the ministry on the Wechat platform.
He sold the secrets of China
Liu previously worked as an engineer at the Research Institute, from which he left as a result of disputes with the employer. Before resigning from work, he was supposed to copy secret documents to “use them for revenge or blackmail.” The ministry did not reveal the name of the Institute. Liu, however, fell into long, and in secret documents “he saw a way to improve his financial situation.” Therefore, “actively” contacted the foreign espionage agency, offering intelligence information in exchange for “a ridiculously low price”.
The agency, which was also not mentioned by name, after purchasing the data broke contact with the man. Then, as the government tabloid “Global Times” explains, Liu “tried to improve his spy tactics” and went abroad many times to further transfer the stolen data.
“Liu was not aware of the consequences of his deeds,” wrote the ministry. He was arrested and brought to court on charges of espionage and illegal transfer of state secrets. The court sentenced the man to death and lifetime deprivation of public rights. The date of execution has not been announced.
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Death penalty in China
In recent years, China has exacerbated rhetoric aimed at intelligence and disclosure of state secrets. In 2023, Beijing amended counterintelligence legislation, prohibiting the provision of all information considered to be related to national security. Chinese services also regularly warn against “diversion” attempts from foreign interviews and provide the results of investigations in social media as a warning.
China does not conduct official statistics regarding the death penalty. Defending groups human rights They estimate that it is a country where the most executions are performed annually.
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