Secret defence forces, the trial to the outstanding nature took place in private. Two elders of the Directorate-general for external security (DGSE), were sentenced Friday in Paris at 8 and 12 years in prison for treason. They were deemed the foundation for " delivery of information to a foreign power ", " undermining the fundamental interests of the Nation ", "intelligence with a foreign power" for the benefit of China.
Pierre-Marie H., age 69, a former civil servant for defence, has been sentenced to 12 years of criminal detention. The prosecutor general's office had requested against him the maximum sentence, 15 years. Henry M., 73 years old, a career soldier who has spent most of his life in China, for its part, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, while the prosecutor general's office had requested 10 years of imprisonment against him.
Read also How the DGSE has obtained information on offshore finance
The wife of Pierre-Marie H., who was charged with " concealment of property derived from intelligence with a foreign power of a nature to prejudice the fundamental interests of the nation ", has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment of which 2 years suspended sentence. The court of assizes, composed of only professional judges, pronounced, in respect of all three the additional penalty of deprivation of civic rights for 10 years.
The officers of pre-trial detention in December 2017
The information are rare. It is a case of "penetration by a foreign power of the French intelligence," said the lawyer general Monday, before asking for the camera. Application accepted : "It seems necessary not only to protect the people brought to testify and to prevent the disclosure of information relating to the national defense ", explained the president.
Read also How the DGSE and the ISB to recruit at Forum cyber security
The former officials have been indicted and placed in detention in December 2017, while they were already retired. Twenty years earlier, Henry M. had been appointed official representative of the DGSE in Beijing. But he was recalled to France in the beginning of 1998, after embarking on a liaison with the interpreter for the chinese ambassador. He retired a few years later and returned to China in 2003, where he married the ex-performer.
Pierre-Marie H. was arrested at Zurich airport with cash after meeting a chinese contact on an island in the Indian ocean. He has never been stationed overseas. As pointed out Monday, the attorney general, it is a trial " rare by the skills, which is rare by the quality of the accused, which is rare by the period of prevention ".
