Five people believed to be working for China's secret police were arrested and charged by the Department of Justice for spying and harassing Chinese nationals in the U.S. for speaking out against the communist regime.
According to a DOJ press release Wednesday, Qiming Lin, 59, of China, Shujun Wang, 73, of Queens, New York, Fan ''Frank'' Liu, 62, of Long Island, New York, and two other defendants that remain at large were charged with various crimes relating to efforts by the Chinese secret police to spy on and harass Chinese nationals in the U.S.
The agency said the defendants engaged in ''transnational repression'' schemes targeting U.S. residents whose ''political views and actions'' were not favored by the Chinese government.
''Transnational repression harms people in the United States and around the world and threatens the rule of law itself,'' Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division said in the release. ''This activity is antithetical to fundamental American values, and we will not tolerate it when it violates U.S. law.
''The Department of Justice will defend the rights of Americans and those who come to live, work, and study in the United States. We will not allow any foreign government to impede their freedom of speech, to deny them the protection of our laws or to threaten their safety or the safety of their families.''
Some of the actions by the group included interfering with the candidacy of a U.S. veteran running for Congress who was a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing by trying to undermine his campaign.
The group is also accused of planning to destroy the artwork of a Los Angeles artist critical of the regime and planted spying equipment in his studio and car so he could be monitored from China by its government, according to the release.
''As alleged, all of the defendants charged today at the direction of the PRC secret police, engaged in a series of actions designed to silence the free speech of Chinese dissidents in the United States,'' said Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI's New York Field Office.
''Transnational repression schemes pose an increasing threat against U.S. residents who choose to speak out against the People's Republic of China and other regimes. The FBI is committed to protecting the free speech of all U.S. residents, and we simply will not tolerate the attempts of foreign governments to violate our laws and restrict our freedom.''
If convicted, Liu and another suspect face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison for conspiring to commit interstate harassment, and up to 15 years in prison for criminal use of a means of identification. Liu and Sun face up to five years each for conspiring to bribe a federal official. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors, the release said.
Alexander A. Solomon and Emily J. Dean, assistant U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District of New York, are prosecuting the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian D. Morris of the Office's Asset Forfeiture Section and trial attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
The FBI is also involved in the investigation, the agency said.
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