A 61-year-old Uighur living in Sweden as a political refugee since 1997 has been charged with spying for China on Uighur expatriates, a Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday.

The man was identified in court documents as a Swedish citizen. He was arrested in Stockholm on June 4, 2009.

He has been charged with aggravated espionage conducted "during the period January 2008 up until June 3, 2009," prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand told AFP.

"He passed information to a Chinese diplomat and a Chinese journalist who, on assignment from the Chinese intelligence service, carried out operations in Sweden for the Chinese state," the indictment filed with Stockholm district court on Tuesday claimed.

Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Central Asian people residing in northwest China's Xinjiang region, have accused Beijing of decades of religious, cultural and political oppression.

The man spied on Uighurs active in associations in Sweden, Norway, Germany and the United States, Lindtsranbd said.

According to the indictment, he "made it appear as though he sympathised with the ethnic Uighurs, took part in conferences and meetings with them, and kept secret that he was passing information about them to representatives for the Chinese state."

The information included details about their "political asylum, health conditions, country of residence, travels and telephone numbers."

The indictment said he was paid and received personal favours for his services.

"The crime is considered aggravated because it was systematic, conducted professionally over a lengthy period, and may have caused or cause future serious harm to a large number of people," it said.

Lindstrand said the man "denied committing any crime."

"He says the meetings took place because he was asked by (exiled US-based Uighur leader) Rebiya Kadeer to negotiate with someone who represented the Chinese state, in other words the journalist he met with. That's his explanation," he said.

"He may have been given such an assignment ... but my argument is that he has de facto passed on information on personal status and political affiliations which is not allowed under the law on illegal intelligence gathering," he added.

Kadeer would be one of the witnesses heard during the trial expected to start in Stockholm in late January or early February, Lindstrand said.

The man was released from custody in August but has been slapped with a travel ban.

If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.