Boston man charged with spying on Chinese dissidents in U.S.

A Boston-area man arrested final week has been accused of spying on Chinese dissidents on behalf of the nation’s ruling communist social gathering, in response to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts introduced that 63-year-old Litang Liang, of Brighton, was charged with one rely of appearing as an agent of a international authorities with out notifying the U.S. legal professional normal and one rely of conspiracy to behave as an agent of a international authorities with out notifying the legal professional normal.

Mr. Liang is accused of surveilling Chinese dissidents within the Boston space and relaying info again to the Chinese authorities between 2018 by way of 2022.

He can also be accused of organizing counter-protests in opposition to pro-democracy dissidents and figuring out prospects for the PRC’s legislation enforcement arm, the Ministry of Public Security.

“This case demonstrates, once again, the lengths that the PRC government, including its Ministry of Public Security, will go to target people in the U.S. who exercise their rights to speak out against the PRC,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, who works within the DOJ’s National Security Division, stated in a press launch.

Mr. Liang spied on Chinese household associations and neighborhood organizations that had pro-Taiwan leanings, in response to prosecutors.

He can also be accused of taking photographs of an individual who “sabotaged” PRC flags in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood in October 2018.

Further, he recorded a dissident at a “Boston Stands with Hong Kong” march in August 2019 and took photographs of anti-PRC dissidents who have been demonstrating exterior of the Boston Public Library in September 2019.

All of the documentation Mr. Liang is accused of compiling was despatched to both the PRC, the Ministry of Public Safety or the United Front Work Department, which stories on to the Chinese Communist Party.