The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld jail sentences handed to two former air force officers for passing military intelligence to China.
The two officers, identified by their last names, Yeh (葉) and Su (蘇), served in the 501st and 301st battalions of the Air Defense and Missile Command.
Yeh was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, while Su received a five-year-and-eight-month sentence.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
The two were recruited by a Taiwanese father and son surnamed Huang (黃) to collect classified military information for China in exchange for monetary compensation, the court said.
The case began in 2015, when Huang went to the Chinese city of Xiamen to open a business and became acquainted with a Chinese intelligence officer.
He and his son agreed to establish a spy network in Taiwan, recruiting active-duty military personnel.
During their time in service, Yeh and Su passed on several classified documents to the Huangs, who relayed the information to a Chinese intelligence officer in person or by phone.
The Huangs were paid a total of NT$1.716 million (US$52,262), while Yeh and Su received NT$210,000 and NT$100,000 respectively.
The four were found guilty of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例).
Despite subsequent appeals, the Supreme Court in August last year upheld a judgment from the Tainan branch of the High Court, which sentenced the Huangs to eight years in prison and deprived them of their civil rights for five years.
Yeh and Su had asked for another review of their ruling, which was also rejected. They were initially sentenced to seven and six years in prison respectively.
Considering that Yeh and Su did not have any prior criminal record, the Tainan court revised their sentences to just over five years.
The two defendants appealed, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ruled the verdict as final on Thursday.
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