When Wu saw the poster, he threatened to chop her. [his victim’s] Keep your hands off me,” if she keeps posting them around the campus where they both studied. Prosecutors say he also provided her details to her mother, a senior Chinese government official.
In messages shared with the court, Wu told the victim that her family in China should expect a visit from state security officials, informing her of her actions, and saying that if the victim did He said he was warned that authorities would take him into custody. I’m going back to my country.
According to a photo shared by the victim on his Instagram account in October 2022, the pro-democracy poster includes the slogan “We want freedom… We want democracy… Stand with the Chinese people.” It is said that Permanent resident of the United States.
After seeing the flyer, Wu launched a targeted harassment campaign via email and social media, prosecutors said. “I have already called the reporting center. The public security bureau will come and greet your family,” Wu said in the message. In an email sent to the victim several days later, he wrote: Please stay safe. ”
Prosecutors told the court that as a result of the incident, the victim’s family in China had received “repeated visits” by government officials and she no longer felt safe returning to China. Ta.
After his arrest in December 2022, a federal jury found Wu (who was living in the U.S. on a student visa) guilty in January of one count of cyberstalking and one count of transmitting interstate threatening communications. was lowered.
After completing his nine-month sentence, Wu will be released on supervised release for three years, according to a statement from the Department of Justice on Wednesday.
“Mr. Wu’s criminal conduct is extremely serious,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. “He exploited fears of possible state retaliation. [People’s Republic of China] The government harassed and threatened innocent individuals who posted harmless pro-democracy flyers on Berkeley’s campus. ”
FBI Special Agent Jody Cohen praised the courage of Wu’s victims in coming forward. “It is deeply disturbing that Mr. Wu used the authoritarian nature of the People’s Republic of China as a weapon to intimidate this woman,” she said.
A lawyer representing Mr. Wu did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday.
In an earlier memorandum, Wu’s lawyers said they acknowledged that Wu’s actions over the two-day period were reactive, impulsive and immature. They said their client’s behavior reflected the clash of two cultures. “His own closely guarded upbringing in communist China and the democratic norms of the United States, many of which were still relatively new to him at the time of the crime.” After the case is concluded, Wu will be deported by immigration authorities and will not be allowed to re-enter the United States, his lawyer said.
The number of Chinese students visiting the United States has fallen by more than 20% since 2019, according to State Department statistics, and has not recovered from the immediate drop caused by the pandemic.
Part of the decline is due to Beijing’s crackdown on groups that support exchanges, but Chinese students and academics are also facing increased surveillance at the U.S. border. In 2020, the Trump administration tightened visa regulations for the approximately 92 million Chinese Communist Party members and their immediate family members, limiting U.S. visas to one-time entry and one-month stay.
