Maximilian Krah says: didn’t know anything about China espionage

In the espionage process against his former employee, the AfD politician Maximilian Krah testified as a witness before the Higher Regional Court in Dresden and declared that he knew nothing about his alleged agent activity for China. He only learned from the media that his office employee at the time was suspected in the European Parliament, said Krah on Wednesday in court. He was “not warned” beforehand.

“At no time, I am noticed by the public office, be it by the Federal Republic or the EU,” said the AfD politician, who was a member of the EU from 2019 to March 2025 and is now in the Bundestag. The security check in the EU Parliament is “very thorough”, which is why he rely on “that everything would already be good”.

In the procedure, the federal prosecutor accuses the accused Jian G. that he spied on China for years. He has to answer for secret service in the particularly difficult case. His lawyer denied the allegations against his client at the start of the trial in August.

G., who is a German citizen, is said to have been working for a Chinese secret service since 2002 and has been sent to this hundreds of sensitive documents. He is said to have used his function as an assistant from Krah in Brussels for information procurement.

He also collected information about leading AfD politicians, for example about the “position” of party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. He is also said to have spied Chinese opposition and dissidents in Germany.

In his interrogation in court, Krah stated that in his then office in the EU Parliament, all employees and also the accused G. had access to his personal account and thus to emails, appointments and documents. “I hate all these stuff,” said Krah. Their viewing and sorting since the task of the employees, “so that I am free for pure politics”. G. also made notes for discussions and meetings.

When asked why he hired G., whose trade company he had represented as a lawyer in earlier years, Krah referred to his “practical knowledge” through his import export company and his language skills. Krah was a member of the foreign trade committee in the EU Parliament.

GS arrest in April 2024 made headlines. At that time, Krah was the top candidate of the AfD for the European elections. The AfD politician terminated his employee after his arrest. Krah himself no longer sits in the European Parliament. He lay down his mandate after moving into the Bundestag in the Bundestag election in February through an AfD directorate in Saxony.

In the process, a suspected complicity GS is the Chinese Yaqi X. In her statement at the beginning of the negotiation, she gave G. from 2023 information about flights, freight and passengers from Leipzig/Halle Airport, where she worked in the logistics sector at the time. According to the federal prosecutor, it is said to have forwarded information in particular on the transport of military vehicles, troops and combat drones for the Bundeswehr and to Israel to G.

For the time being, further appointments are scheduled for the trial at the Higher Regional Court. The Dresden General Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Krah itself. It is therefore about accusation of money laundering and bribery as a mandate carrier in the European Parliament. Krah is said to have accepted money from China. He denied the allegations in the media, and on Wednesday he made no statements in court.