A Chinese-American academic was found guilty in a Brooklyn court on Tuesday after being found to have worked as an illegal agent for Beijing.
Wang Shujun, a pro-democracy activist who founded a New York pro-democracy group, used his position to spy on dissidents and share information with the Chinese government for more than a decade.
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Prosecutors say Mr Wang led a double life working for Beijing’s Ministry of State Security, presenting himself as a pro-democracy, anti-China government activist that allowed him to gain the trust of and disseminate information to genuinely similar thinkers.
Chinese-American scholar Wang Shujun holds a press conference after being convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court on charges of acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, in New York, USA, on August 6, 2024. (Reuters/Luc Cohen)
A federal jury returned its verdict Tuesday, finding Wang guilty of unlawful agency.
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“While the indictment may have read like the plot of a spy novel, the evidence that the defendants were covert agents of the Chinese government is shockingly true,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The People’s Liberation Army Honor Guard held a flag-raising ceremony at Bayi Square to commemorate the 97th anniversary of China’s Army Day on August 1, 2024, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China. (Ma Yue/VCG via Getty Images)
Wang Shujun has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued that his communications were not under the control of Chinese authorities.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
