Court acquits Chinese citizen accused of espionage

The Prague Municipal Court acquitted a Chinese citizen accused of espionage for a Chinese intelligence agency, ruling that the alleged act was not a crime. The defendant, Yang Yiming, denies the charges, claiming he was engaged in regular journalistic activities and that the information he gathered did not threaten Czech security. Yang is the first person prosecuted under this specific law in the Czech Republic. Prosecutor Martin Bíly alleges that Yang, as a member of the Chinese intelligence, arrived in 2022 and registered as a foreign journalist for a Chinese newspaper, using this cover to collect political and economic information.