The Canadian suspected of spying on the NATO military headquarters in Belgium is expected to remain in detention until her trial, which could be a year or more away.

Biwei Zhang, 33, will remain in custody after a Belgian judge on Monday denied the former NATO intern’s appeal for release.

“Today, the Chamber of Indictments decided to extend the suspect’s pretrial detention by one month,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Zhang must appear before a judge at regular intervals — once a month for the first three months and every two months thereafter — to determine whether pretrial detention remains appropriate.

Because of the seriousness of the allegations and the risk that the suspect may abscond, it is “rather unlikely” that Zhang will be released before the trial, one Belgian legal expert told CBC News.

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The Canadian woman was arrested on July 24, a day after her home and workplace were searched, and was subsequently charged by Belgian authorities with “spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization.”

Sources have told Reuters and other media that the suspected third country is China.

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