Espionage case appeals rejected by Supreme Court

Taipei, June 14 (CNA) Taiwan's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld most of the sentences in an espionage case centered around a retired Air Force colonel, rejecting appeals from both the defendants and the prosecutors.

According to an investigation, former colonel Liu Sheng-shu (劉聖恕) began doing business in China after retiring from the Air Force in 2013.

He was then recruited by the Chinese side to serve as a spy and used his personnel connections in the military to recruit active military officers in the Navy and Air Force to engage in espionage activities.

Liu recruited at least six officers into his spy ring and received "rewards" of between NT$200,000 and NT$700,000 from the Chinese side through a shell company he set up for each individual he recruited.

In addition, Liu was given bonuses of between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000 when his Chinese handlers were supplied with information on Taiwan's military.

In April last year, Liu and six officers were indicted for violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office in Kaohsiung.

The Taiwan High Court branch in Kaohsiung found six of the seven defendants, including Liu who is at the center of the investigation, guilty, later the same year.

The High Court in Kaohsiung sentenced Liu to 20 years in prison and confiscated NT$16.709 million (US$516,056) from him in illegal profits paid by China for his espionage activities.

Of the others found guilty, the High Court sentenced an active officer, surnamed Liu, to 20 years and six months in prison and her husband, a retired officer surnamed Sun (孫), to 19 years and six months in prison while also confiscating NT$969,000 in illicit gains.

Active officers identified only by their surnames Kung (龔) and Teng (鄧) were sentenced to two years and three years and six months, respectively, but another male active officer, also surnamed Liu was found not guilty.

In addition, a civilian surnamed (林) was sentenced to six months that can be commuted to a fine.

With one of the defendants walking free, both the prosecution and the six guilty defendants filed appeals with the Supreme Court, which on Thursday upheld most of the sentences.

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's prison terms against retired colonel Liu, active officers Kung and Teng as well as Lin.

The Supreme Court again found active male officer Liu innocent, as the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to overturn the original ruling.

However, the Supreme Court decided to send the case involving the married couple Sun and Liu and the financial penalty on retired colonel Liu, back to the High Court in Kaohsiung.

During the investigation, Kaohsiung's high prosecutors also discovered that one of the top secret documents involved in the case came from an active Air Force major surnamed Cheng (鄭).

The High Court in Kaohsiung sentenced Cheng to one year and seven months in prison for violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act.

The case is still ongoing after an appeal.