Supreme Court upholds jail time for 3 former military officers in China spy ring

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld prison sentences of 10 to 18 months for three former Military Intelligence Bureau officials found guilty of running a spy ring for China after they retired.

The three convicted individuals were retired Colonel Chang Chao-jan (張超然), retired Colonel Chou Tien-tzu (周天慈), and former Major General Yueh Chih-chung (岳志忠), according to the court.

They were sentenced to prison after being convicted of developing a spy ring for China beginning in 2008, in return for China's rewards, Taipei District Court ruled last year.

According to the district court, Chang introduced Chinese intelligence officials to Chou and recruited him in 2008, and Yueh was later drawn into their operation after meeting with the Chinese officials twice in 2012 and 2016.

The court said that Chang and Chou attempted to recruit another individual in 2013, and the three tried to recruit yet another person in 2017, but both attempts were unsuccessful,

The district court sentenced Chang to 18 months in prison, while Chou and Yueh received 14-month and 10-month sentences, respectively, under the National Security Act.

Both prosecutors and the three individuals filed appeals.

Prosecutors argued that the prison sentences were too light and that Chang and the others' disclosure of information about themselves or other retired colleagues to Chinese intelligence officials violated the National Intelligence Service Act.

The three individuals, on the other hand, insisted on their innocence, according to a press release issued by the Taiwan High Court in April.

The second-instance court, however, upheld the lower court's ruling, but said it could only confirm that the three had provided basic personal information, such as their names, but was unable to determine what specific intelligence they had disclosed to Chinese officials.

After the second ruling, the three individuals appealed to the Supreme Court, while the prosecutors did not, sources told CNA on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that "there were no grounds for further appeal in the case," without providing additional details, including what information the three had provided to Chinese officials, how sensitive was the information, and how much money they had received.

The trials for this case were held behind closed doors, and the district court's judgment has not been published online.

Outside the court during the first trial last year, Chang denied being a Chinese spy, claiming he was incriminated by the interrogation records of Chou and Wang Da-wang (王大旺), another retired colonel who was indicted in the same case, but later acquitted, according to the Chinese-language Liberty Times.

After the Supreme Court handed down the final verdict, the prosecution was notified to bar the three from leaving Taiwan.