Diabolo instructor gets 10.5 years for China-funded spy organization

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Monday sentenced a diabolo instructor to 10.5 years in prison for developing a Chinese-funded espionage organization in Taiwan, while his recruits and his Chinese contact were also convicted of various charges.

Lu Chi-hsien (魯紀賢), a former diabolo champion, was indicted in November 2023 along with Chinese national Tian Xi (田曦), five former military and Coast Guard officers he recruited, and three accessories to Lu's development of a spy network, court documents showed.

The district court found Lu guilty of developing an organization for China, which is banned under the National Security Act, and handed him a 10.5-year jail sentence.

The three people Lu paid to run his operations were found guilty as accessories, and they received respective sentences of 46 months, 44 months, and three years in prison.

A retired Army staff sergeant surnamed Lin (林) and her younger sister, who had retired as an Air Force staff sergeant, were sentenced to six years and six years and two months in prison, respectively, for their involvement in Lu's spy organization, the district court ruled.

A Coast Guard officer and a retired soldier formerly stationed at the defense ministry both got four years and 10 months, while an Army corporal surnamed Lee (李) received four years and four months, the district court ruled.

Through Tian, Lu was believed to have received more than NT$5.7 million (US$195,806) after he was recruited by Chinese intelligence personnel during a trip to China in 2020, according to the indictment.

Lu paid three people to help run the spy operations, which had been based in Taipei's Shilin District since 2022, and used their bank accounts to receive Chinese funding, prosecutors alleged.

Also in the district court ruling, Tian was sentenced to eight years in prison for Banking Act violations after having been convicted in Taiwan of fraud, money laundering, and Banking Act violations in different cases after she was caught engaging in illegal foreign exchange maneuvering in 2020.

The verdicts can be appealed.

Monday's verdicts came 13 months after the Taiwan High Court sent the case back to the district court over jurisdiction.

The district court judges decided to transfer the case to the High Court after discovering that the espionage case involved collecting confidential information, and the High Court is designated in the National Security Act as the first instance court for such offenses.

The High Court ruled on May 30, 2024, to send the case back, however, noting that prosecutors had told the district court that they only pressed charges involving Lu's spy organization, not intelligence gathering, which was still under investigation.

The case needed to be first tried by the district court because the 10 accused still have the right to fair trials through the three-level court system, the High Court said.