Case Description

In 2021, the upcoming launch of the Fujian ship received widespread attention, and there were publicly available satellite images of the Fujian ship on the internet. These publicly available information made many military enthusiasts mistakenly believe that the aircraft carrier could be easily photographed. At the end of 2021, military fan Luo purchased a drone with remote high-definition camera function to shoot a Fujian ship. Luo claimed that "this will have good discussions in the military fan circle". When Luo was illegally filming a Fujian ship, it was discovered by national security agencies that the content he filmed was identified to involve two classified military secrets and one classified military secret. In the end, Luo was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and one year's probation for the crime of illegally obtaining state secrets.

Lawyer Analysis

Article 282, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who illegally obtains state secrets by stealing, spying, or buying shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years. The crime of illegally obtaining state secrets belongs to an act offense, and is not conditional on serious circumstances or consequences. Once illegally obtaining state secrets, it constitutes a crime.

For the definition of state secrets, Article 2 of the Law on Guarding State Secrets stipulates that state secrets are matters related to national security and interests, determined in accordance with legal procedures, and only known to a certain range of personnel within a certain period of time.

For the scope of state secrets, Article 9 of the Law on Guarding State Secrets stipulates that the following matters related to national security and interests, which may harm the security and interests of the state in the fields of politics, economy, national defense, diplomacy, etc. after leakage, shall be determined as state secrets: (1) secret matters in major decision-making of state affairs; （2） Secret matters in national defense construction and armed forces activities; （3） Secret matters in diplomatic and foreign affairs activities, as well as confidential matters that bear confidentiality obligations to the outside world; （4） Secret matters in national economic and social development; （5） Secret matters in science and technology; （6） Maintaining national security activities and investigating secret matters in criminal offenses; （7） Other confidential matters determined by the national confidentiality administrative department. Any secret matters of a political party that comply with the aforementioned provisions are classified as state secrets.

Among them, for the scope of military secrets, Article 8 of the "Regulations on Confidentiality of the People's Liberation Army of China" stipulates that military secrets include the following matters that comply with Article 2 of the regulations: (1) national defense and armed forces construction plans and their implementation; （2） The plan and implementation of military deployments, operations, and other important military operations; （3） Combat readiness exercises, military training plans, and their implementation; （4） Military intelligence and its sources, basic information on communication, electronic countermeasures, and other special situations, as well as the designations of units below the military level and special units; （5） The organizational structure of the armed forces, the basic information of their tasks, strength, quality, and status, as well as the designations of units below the military level and special units; （6） National defense mobilization plan and its implementation status; （7） The development, production, equipping status, replenishment and maintenance capabilities of weapons and equipment, as well as the tactical and technical performance of special military equipment; （8） Important projects, achievements, and applications in military academia and national defense science and technology research; （9） Matters that should not be disclosed in military political work; （10） The distribution and use of national defense expenses, as well as the financing, production, supply, and reserve of military materials; （11） Military facilities and their protection; （12） Information related to military aid, military trade, and other foreign military exchanges; （13） Other matters that require confidentiality.

For the classification of state secrets, Article 10 of the Law on Guarding State Secrets stipulates that the classification of state secrets is divided into three levels: top secret, confidential, and secret. Top secret state secrets are the most important state secrets, and leakage can cause particularly serious damage to national security and interests; Confidential state secrets are important state secrets, and leakage can cause serious harm to national security and interests; Secret level state secrets are general state secrets, and leakage can cause harm to national security and interests.

Foreign espionage and intelligence personnel often disguise themselves as military enthusiasts, active in online military forums, using the flaunting mentality of some military enthusiasts to incite military enthusiasts to steal and disseminate military equipment information; Or use news media, scientific research and academic, business consulting, etc. as cover to bribe and lure our personnel to steal military intelligence; Even instructing our personnel to establish early warning observation posts near military bases and military industrial units, to keep up with the latest trends in military equipment production, testing, installation, deployment, and other aspects in real-time. Illegally filming and disseminating military equipment may violate the espionage crime, the crime of illegally obtaining state secrets, and the crime of stealing, spying, buying, and illegally providing state secrets and information for overseas.