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Agence France-Presse

A French court has sentenced to jail two former agents from the foreign intelligence service after convicting them of sharing secrets with China.
Following a trial in Paris conducted in the utmost secrecy, the former officers with France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) were convicted on Friday of “sharing intelligence” with a foreign power.
Pierre-Marie H., 69, was handed a 12-year jail sentence while Henri M., 73, was given an eight-year term.
Pierre-Marie H.’s wife was convicted of concealment and sentenced to four years, with two suspended.
Curious case of the French ex-spies who ‘passed secrets to China’
Both men, now retired, were charged and detained in December 2017, although they were allowed out on bail.
In 1997, Henri M. was appointed the DGSE’s man in Beijing, where he was the second secretary at the embassy. He was recalled in 1998 after having an affair with the ambassador’s Chinese interpreter.
He retired a few years later and returned to China in 2003, where he married the former interpreter, setting up a home on Hainan island in southern China.
Pierre-Marie H., who had never been posted abroad, was arrested at Zurich airport carrying cash after meeting a Chinese contact on an Indian Ocean island, according to media reports.


The DGSE has seen a surge of interest in its work thanks to the hugely popular TV drama Le Bureau des Legendes - known as Le Bureau outside France.
The series contains some characters working for the DGSE who it turns out are sharing secrets with foreign powers.



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France

Two former French spies jailed for sharing secrets with China

The former officers with France’s Directorate-General for External Security were convicted on Friday of ‘sharing intelligence’ with a foreign power. Photo: AFP

Ex-Swedish China envoy acquitted over talks to free jailed bookseller Gui Minhai

Ex-Swedish ambassador to China Anna Lindstedt arrives at the district court in Stockholm. Photo: AFP

Sweden's ambassador to China Anna Lindstedt. Photo: Courtesy of Embassy of Sweden

Curious case of Pierre-Marie H and Henri M, French ex-spies who ‘passed secrets to China’

According to several media reports, the two men, colleagues at the DGSE in the 1990s, were working for China. File photo: Shutterstock

Tourists relax on Sanya Bay beach as buildings stand along the coast in Sanya, China, on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak at Hainan island's Boao Forum on April 10, and investors hope the leader will come bearing gifts: new tax concessions to attract more tourists to this tropical destination nestled along the South China Sea near the Vietnam border. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Chinese academic accused of being an Australian spy slams ‘outrageous slander’ in Beijing-run tabloid

Feng Chongyi, who was detained for 10 days in China in 2017, told the South China Morning Post that allegations in the Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, were “outrageous slander”. Photo: Handout

A federal officer enters the home of New South Wales Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane as Australian Federal Police and ASIO officers executed a search warrant in connection to alleged links to China and allegations of Chinese government influence, in Sydney, Australia, June 26, 2020. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. AUSTRALIA OUT. NEW ZEALAND OUT

China moves ahead with prosecution of Canadians Kovrig and Spavor on spying charges

China is moving ahead with the prosecution of Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on charges of spying. Photo: Reuters

Revealed: Canada spy report written hours before Meng Wanzhou’s arrest predicted ‘shockwaves around the world’ once Huawei CFO was taken in

Vancouver airport security footage shows Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou (left) before her arrest on December 1, 2018. Photo: SCMP

Sabrina Meng Wanzhou left B.C. Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver around 8 p.m. local time, nearly five hours after the judge delivered his decision. CTV

FILE PHOTO: Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier/File Photo

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One former agent was recalled from his post in Beijing after having an affair with the French ambassador’s Chinese interpreter, whom he later married
The other had never been posted abroad, but was arrested at Zurich airport carrying cash after meeting a Chinese contact on an Indian ocean island



The retired agents, aged 69 and 73, were detained in 2017. One had been living on Hainan island since 2003, the other was arrested at an airport with a bag full of cash.


Espionage

Hainan