Reality sometimes catches up with fiction. The Assize Court of Paris specializing in military affairs is preparing to judge from Monday a story worthy of a spy film. After being presented to a judge in May 2018, two ex-agents of the Directorate General of External Security (DGSE) are suspected of having supplied information to China and therefore of treason to the French State.
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Already suspected of compromise in the 90s
When they were arrested in December 2017 and placed in pre-trial detention, the two men have just retired. According to several specialists, one of these two agents had already been suspected of compromise during his duties in China in the late 1990s.
Both official representative to the Chinese services and point of contact for other foreign agents, his proximity to the Chinese interpreter of the ambassador already worried at the time. He was removed from office after a year, then repatriated to France, but not prosecuted.
Two men face up to 30 years in prison
The spy then goes private. He sets up a consulting company and continues his back and forth between France and the Middle Kingdom. He then recruited the second accused, still on active duty, dragging him into his turpitudes. The two men are suspected of having supplied China with information on the functioning of the French intelligence services.
From this Monday, they appear in particular for "delivery of information to a foreign power", "attack on the fundamental interests of the nation", "intelligence with a foreign power". The two risk up to 30 years in prison.