A jury yesterday found a Boston man not guilty of US charges that he acted as an unlawful agent of China's government by supplying officials information about pro-Taiwan individuals, dissidents and groups in the local Chinese community.
Litang Liang (梁利堂), 65, was acquitted in federal court of charges that he acted as an unregistered Chinese agent in a case brought in 2023 that US authorities had portrayed as part of their commitment to counter efforts by China's government to silence its critics abroad.
Photo: Reuters
Liang, a China-born US citizen, had denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.
His lawyer during the trial called the charges "ridiculous" and an effort to chill the free speech of a local community activist who advocated for the "reunification" of Taiwan with China.
"Justice has finally arrived," Liang told reporters through a translator following the verdict.
US attorney Leah Foley, whose office pursued the case, said in a statement that while prosecutors "respect the jury's decision, we are disappointed in the verdict."
Liang had worked at a hotel and for years had been an active member in his union as well as a community organizer and activist in the Chinese-American community in Boston, according to his lawyer, Derege Demissie.
Assistant US attorney Timothy Kistner told jurors on Friday during closing arguments that China's government sought out Liang because it "wanted someone already involved in the community who knew the people who were there."
Prosecutors said that Liang from 2018 to 2022 provided Chinese officials with information on individuals and shared details about dissents and groups with pro-Taiwan leanings.
Prosecutors said that in 2018, after traveling to Beijing for meetings with an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, Liang founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, which focused on promoting China's goals with Taiwan.
Prosecutors said Liang, also at the direction of Chinese officials, in 2019 organized a counter-demonstration against pro-democracy protesters, and in 2022 provided an official with a Chinese agency tasked with investigating political dissents information on two potential local recruits.
Demissie in his closing argument to the jury countered that Liang made no secret of his activism and that his prosecution infringed Liang's right to free speech under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
"This case would have meant nothing if it did not involve China," Demissie said. "That's what this is about. And it had the purpose of scaring people, and it achieved that purpose."
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