spies sought to gain information on Samuel Cogolati (lower right pic), a Belgian co-chair of the Greens party and prominent China critic, by attempting to coerce Eric Dosogne (upper right pic), the then mayor of the Wallonian town Huy and one of Cogolati’s political opponents.
intelligence services approached Dosogne — who had a close relationship with the Chinese state due to a city friendship agreement — in 2020.
Belgian security services were monitoring the phone of the agent that approached Dosogne and warned the local politician of the risks of interference and espionage at least two times. Services later warned Cogolati and the chairman of the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS), Paul Magnette, of the threat.
Cogolati — who was placed on a sanctions list by Beijing in March 2021 — has been a key voice pushing back against Alibaba's logistics hub investment in Liège, criticizing Uyghur forced labor in China and pushing to restrict the use of Huawei in Belgian 5G networks.
He was previously the target of a cyberattack for his work in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a coalition of lawmakers critical of Beijing.
politico.eu/article/samuel