The US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced on Wednesday that a Chinese national who intimidated and harassed a person who supported democracy in China had been sentenced to nine months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors said that 26-year-old Xiaolei Wu, a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, was found guilty in January of one count of cyberstalking and one count of sending threatening communications across state lines.
Our reporter has contacted Wu’s Massachusetts-based legal representation agency, the Federal Public Defender Office, for a statement.
Our reporter was informed by Berklee College of Music on Wednesday that Wu is no longer registered as a student there. After the event in 2022, the school had previously suspended him.
According to the documents, Wu reportedly informed the Chinese government about the individual and promised that its delegates would “greet” their relatives.
According to the documents, Wu also allegedly asked people to locate the person’s residence and openly disclosed their email address online in the hopes of receiving abuse.
Joshua S. Levy, the acting US attorney, described Wu’s actions as extremely severe.
He used the worry that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government would retaliate to intimidate and threaten a defenseless person who had put up a harmless pro-democracy flyer on the Berklee campus, according to Levy.
“Mr. Wu’s use of violent threats to intimidate this courageous victim and anyone who might wish to speak out against him succeeded in his purpose of creating fear.
