Chinese student sentenced to 9 months in prison for harassing pro-democracy activist in Boston

BOSTON — A erstwhile Berklee College of Music pupil from China was sentenced Wednesday to 9 months successful situation for stalking and threatening a idiosyncratic who posted a flyer successful enactment of ideology successful the Asian country, authorities said.

The leaflet that was posted connected the field successful Boston connected Oct. 22 read, “Stand with Chinese People,” on with different statements specified arsenic “We Want Freedom” and “We Want Democracy,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office successful Boston said.

In response, Xiaolei Wu, 26, threatened to chop disconnected the person’s hands, reported their household to China’s nationalist information agency, asked others to find retired wherever the idiosyncratic was surviving and publically posted their email address, prosecutors said.

“Mr. Wu’s transgression behaviour is precise serious. He harnessed the fearfulness of imaginable retribution from the PRC authorities to harass and endanger an guiltless idiosyncratic who had posted an innocuous, pro-democracy flier connected the Berklee campus,” acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said successful a statement. “Mr. Wu’s convulsive threats achieved his extremity of instilling fearfulness successful his effort to soundlessness this brave unfortunate and others who mightiness privation to talk retired against the PRC government.”

The idiosyncratic who posted the flyer is simply a U.S. imperishable nonmigratory primitively from China who has household members inactive surviving there, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Wu was convicted successful January of 1 number of stalking and 1 number of interstate transmissions of threatening communication. Along with the nine-month situation sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper sentenced him to 3 years of supervised release.

Wu’s lawyer did not respond to an email requesting comment.

“Today, Xiaolei Wu learned determination are superior consequences for harassing, threatening, stalking, and infringing connected a chap student’s law rights solely due to the fact that she was captious of the ruling Communist Party of China,” Jodi Cohen, peculiar cause successful complaint of the FBI’s Boston Division, said successful a statement. “What Mr. Wu did — successful weaponizing the authoritarian quality of the People’s Republic of China to endanger this pistillate — is incredibly disturbing.”