US Department of Justice Charges 5 Individuals for Transnational Repression on behalf of PRC Secret Police

Washington, DC (March 16, 2022) Today, the US Department of Justice unsealed and authorized complaints against five Individuals charged with stalking, harassing, and spying on US Residents on behalf of the PRC secret police. The defendants are alleged to have participated in transnational repression schemes to silence critics of the People's Republic of China (PRC) residing in the United States and abroad. The charges include attempting to disrupt the campaign of a candidate for US Congress and scheming to destroy a PRC dissident's artwork criticizing the PRC government. 

• Download Liu et al. Complaint unsealed

• Download Qiming Lin amended complaint

• Download Shujun Wang complaint

The Campaign for Hong Kong releases a statement from its President, Samuel Chu:

"We have known of these activities by PRC security police and their assets in the US. And for many of us, this is a lived reality and the threats we deal with daily. Today's complaints made tangible and relatable how embedded, varied, and far-reaching the PRC's repressive tactics are - from outright physical violence against US citizens to burning an anti-CCP sculpture in public, from manufacturing scandals to interfering in a federal election to bribing US officials.

Beijing's malign influence campaign extends and penetrates deep into the diaspora and American communities and neighborhoods. They are sowing seeds of distrust among the diaspora network, leading to increased self-censorship. And according to DOJ, the work of at least one PRC "asset" led directly to a political-motivated arrest in Hong Kong in April 2020. Transnational repression is not an abstract, invisible force - it has real-life and human consequences and costs. A little over a year ago, I visited and stood alongside the artist Chen Weiming at his Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo, CA. Just days later, one of his works was destroyed in a deliberate act of vandalism and intimidation. Now we know that act of sabotage was directly linked to and at the PRC secret police's direction.

That's why we are actively working with the White House, federal agencies, associations of governors, and the conference of mayors across the country to ensure that we are prepared to expose and counter these acts and threats to national security on US soil. Make no mistake-these crimes are threatening our collective freedom of speech and basic human rights all of us enjoy as Americans. Today's unsealing of these complaints by the Department of Justice is a critical and urgently needed step to concretize and make real what we, as activists and as Americans, are facing every day."

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