Two suspected of operating secret Chinese ‘police station’ arrested

First modification: 04/18/2023 – 03:27

Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, face charges of conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government without informing US authorities and obstructing justice.

The US Justice Department has been actively seeking evidence of what it calls “transnational repression” by US adversaries such as China and Iran, allegedly intimidating opponents living in the United States.

“We cannot and will not tolerate the Chinese government’s persecution of pro-Democratic activists who have sought refuge in this country,” Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace told reporters.

Prosecutors on Monday, April 17, unsealed charges against 34 Chinese officials for allegedly operating a “troll farm” with the aim of harassing government dissidents online.

All the accused officials are unaccounted for.

Lu and Chen are both US citizens who run a nonprofit organization that describes its function as a meeting place for migrants from China’s Fujian province, according to prosecutors.

In 2018, Lu tried to persuade an individual considered a fugitive in China to return home, again according to US prosecutors. In 2022, she helped open this alleged “police office” and received a request from the Chinese government to find a person living in California who was considered a pro-democracy activist.

The US investigation said that Lu and Chen admitted to the FBI that they had erased their communications with a Chinese official. It also details that this hidden police station closed in the fall of 2022.

This article is a translation of its original in France 24 in English, based on Reuters news wires