A Chinese academic scholar has been convicted of spying on US activists for Beijing.
Wang Shujun, a Chinese academic, has been found guilty of acting as a foreign agent in the United States, after a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted him of gathering information on New York-based activists supporting democracy in China and sharing his findings with Beijing.
Shujun, 76, convicted on four counts including acting as a foreign agent without notifying US attorney general and lying to US authorities, following a week-long trial in Brooklyn federal court.
“The indictment could have been the plot of a spy novel, but the evidence is shockingly real,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, said in a statement.
“Wang was willing to betray those who respected and trusted him.”
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He further added: “Wang was actually spying on the activists and sharing his findings with four officials in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), an intelligence service.”
Shujun emigrated to the United States in 1994 and was detained in March 2022.
After Chinese academic scholar convicted of spying on US activists for Beijing, his defence lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma said Wang spoke to the intelligence officials about the pro-democracy movement to win their support and promote social change, and was not acting as their agent.
Margulis-Ohnuma said he respected the jury’s decision and would request a sentence that spares Wang the “agony” of prison.
“We look forward to sentencing,” Margulis-Ohnuma told reporters after the verdict.
“He’s a 76-year-old man. He certainly didn’t mean to hurt anyone. He’s spent his life fighting the communist regime.”
