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Czech authorities
announced on Jan. 22 that an individual suspected of working for the Chinese intelligence agency had been detained under a newly enacted espionage law.
“On Saturday, January 17, in the early morning hours, a person suspected of affiliation with the Chinese intelligence service was detained by the Czech Police,” the Czech intelligence agency, the Security Information Service (BIS),
said in a translation from Czech on the social media platform X.
The person had been formally charged with engaging in “unauthorized activity for a foreign power,” the BIS stated.
Officials did not disclose the individual’s identity or any personal details.
Czech police stated in an earlier social media
statement that the operation was carried out in close collaboration with the BIS. They said the case is currently being handled by the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague, which is expected to release further information.
Prosecutor Martin Bílý
told The Epoch Times’ Czech bureau that the prosecutor’s office had initiated criminal proceedings against a “foreign national” for the offense of conducting unauthorized activities on behalf of a foreign power.
The decision to apprehend the suspect was driven by concerns that the person could be “unavailable” to law enforcement authorities and continue alleged criminal activities during the investigation, according to Bílý.
The case marked the first formal prosecution under the expanded Criminal Code, which came into effect last February, according to the Czech news agency
CTK.
Under a newly added provision of the Criminal Code, a person could face up to five years in prison—or up to 15 years during a state of war—if found guilty of unauthorized activities for a foreign power.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš later on Jan. 22
said the implications of the espionage case could be “far more serious” than summoning an ambassador, according to public Czech Radio.
The criminal investigation came as the Czech new coalition government signaled a shift in its
approach toward Beijing after years of strained bilateral ties, partly due to Prague’s
close engagement and
business cooperation with Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy the Chinese communist regime views as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary.
Jakub Janda, the director of the European Values Center for Security Policy, a Prague-based think tank,
said on X that the fresh criminal case will “definitely impact relations” between the new Czech government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Espionage Warnings
The case also came amid growing concerns about espionage and influence operations by the CCP on Czech soil.
For years, the Czech national counter-intelligence agency, BIS, has warned about the CCP’s covert activities, which include gathering sensitive information and building a network of influencers in the Czech Republic to further its interests.
In the latest annual
report, the agency assessed that members of the Chinese intelligence services continue to operate within the country, collecting information that it said could be utilized to “more precisely shape China’s approach toward the Czech Republic on the international stage.”
In addition, the agency said Chinese operatives also sought to cultivate relationships with pro-Beijing individuals in the Czech political scene.
“Their primary goal has been to find sympathizers in all political parties who would support the rapprochement of the two countries, promote China’s interests, suppress unwanted Czech-Taiwanese cooperation, and avoid raising issues of human rights and democracy in China,” the BIS said in an English version of the
report, released last October.
Concerns that sensitive data could end up in the hands of the CCP prompted the Czech government to block an investment deal by a Beijing-based company that sought to operate a satellite station in Moravia, the country’s eastern region, according to the report.
The Epoch Times’ Czech bureau contributed to this report.
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Udumbara
