Germany arrests EU parliamentary staffer on China spying charges

German police have arrested an assistant to a European Parliament member on suspicion of “an especially severe case” of espionage for China, prosecutors said on Tuesday, appearing to refer to a staffer for the far-right Alternative for Germany.

Jian G. stands accused of giving the Chinese intelligence service information about negotiations and decisions in the European parliament, the prosecutors said in a statement.

The website of the AfD’s top candidate in the European Parliament elections, Maximilian Krah, lists Jian Guo as one of his assistants.

G., who lived in Brussels as well as the eastern German city of Dresden, also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, the prosecutors said. Authorities arrested him in Dresden on Monday and raided his flats.

“He is accused of an especially severe case of working for a foreign secret service,” the statement said.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that if the charges were proven, then it was “an attack on European democracy from within”.

“Whoever employs such a staffer also has responsibility for this,” she said, saying the investigation would be exhaustive.

Krah did not immediately reply to request for comment.