LONDON, May 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Two men, including a former parliamentary

researcher, will face trial in London next year on charges of spying for
China, a judge said on Friday.

Christopher Cash, 29, and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged last month
under the UK's counter-espionage Official Secrets Act.

They made their first appearance at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in
London on Friday, where judge Jeremy Baker told them they would go on trial
"in the spring or summer of next year".

No firm date was set for the case. Neither man entered a plea and both spoke
only to confirm their personal details.

They were released on conditional bail and a further preliminary hearing will
take place at the same court on October 4.

Cash previously worked at the UK parliament as a researcher, where he had
contact with senior Conservative members of parliament.

He is accused of having "obtained, collected, recorded, published or
communicated to any other person articles, notes, documents or information
which were calculated to be, might be, or were intended to be, directly or
indirectly, useful to an enemy".

He is alleged to have committed the offence between January 2022 and February
last year.

Berry, who held various teaching posts in China from 2015, is accused of the
same offence between December 2021 and February 2023.

The charges were announced on the same day that prosecutors in Germany
arrested three German nationals on suspicion of sharing information on
maritime technology with Beijing.

The authorities in Beijing have dismissed both as an attempt to "smear and
suppress" China.