The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a five-year prison sentence imposed by a lower court on a former military intelligence officer who was found guilty of spying for China.
Chen Shu-lung (陳蜀龍), a retired major who worked at the Ministry of National Defense’s Military Intelligence Bureau, was recruited by Chinese intelligence authorities in 2006, the court said in its verdict.
In 2007, Chen secretly informed the Chinese authorities that one of his former colleagues had served as a diplomat in Japan.
Chen later tricked the former diplomat into meeting him in Shanghai, where the man was detained and interrogated for three days by Chinese intelligence officers.
During his detention, the former diplomat was questioned about his work in Japan and the identity of National Security Bureau staff members, according to the verdict.
In October last year, the Taiwan High Court sentenced Chen to eight years in prison, but he appealed the decision and the term was reduced to five years in July.
Chen then filed another appeal against the shortened sentence, but the Supreme Court upheld the five-year prison sentence.
In another espionage case involving Chen, which is still being tried in the High Court, Chen is accused of passing information about Falun Gong activities in Taiwan and Taiwan’s military planning to China through Chen Chu-fan (陳筑藩), a lieutenant-general who allegedly recruited him on behalf of the Chinese.
Chen Chu-fan once served as a deputy commander of the military police command.
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