Boston Man to Face Trial Over China Dissident Blacklist; Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss

The charges concern not Mr. Liang’s speech but his actions and the failure to report to the attorney general of his relationship with China, the judge ruled.

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston on June 21, 2024. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

A federal court in Boston has denied a local man’s motion to dismiss charges over providing a U.S.-based dissident blacklist to Chinese consulate officials in New York.

A grand jury indicted Liang Litang on May 4, 2023, for conspiring to act and acting as an agent of a foreign government from 2018 to 2022 and doing so without notifying the U.S. attorney general. Notification is required for anyone who acts as a foreign government agent without a formal diplomatic title.

Two months ago, Mr. Liang’s attorney filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to dismiss the indictment on freedom of speech and association grounds.

At a court hearing on June 21, defense attorney Derege Demissie said the government didn’t provide enough facts to prove that Mr. Liang acted under the “direction or control” of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Mr. Demissie argued that Mr. Liang and the PRC government only “acted in parallel” because of “mutual interest.”

Mr. Demissie also said the indictment was “a political prosecution of Mr. Liang, targeting him specifically because his views, and the views of the PRC, are at odds with those of the United States.”

Judge Indira Talwani disagreed. Referring to the communication records cited by the indictment, she said they clearly show that Mr. Liang received directions from PRC officials.

“I have to go by the facts. They may or may not be true. But they are in the indictment,” Judge Talwani said.

“The jury will have to decide if a foreign government gave directions.”

She didn’t make a ruling during the hearing last month and said she would decide after additional review.

Liang Litang (C) and his attorneys leave the courthouse of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston on June 21, 2024. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

According to the indictment, in July 2018, Mr. Liang reported to a Chinese consulate official in New York the name of an activist who Mr. Liang believed was responsible for removing Chinese flags in Boston’s Chinatown, according to the charging document.

The indictment also alleged that a month later, Mr. Liang told an associate that the Chinese consulate wanted “something done” regarding a list of people involved in the flag removal incident. Days later, the associate sent Mr. Liang a list of names in an email entitled “Black Name List.”

In addition to helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surveil Chinese dissidents in the Boston area, Mr. Liang also took part in the Chinese influence operations on U.S. soil, according to the indictment.

The complaint cited Mr. Liang’s travel itineraries to China, which included meetings with senior CCP leaders in the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The UFWD reports directly to the CCP’s Central Committee and directs communist influence operations outside China.

The indictment also accused Mr. Liang of “organizing a counter-protest against pro-democracy dissidents” and “providing the names of potential local recruits to the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security, an agency that is responsible for investigating political dissidents.”

Mr. Liang’s case was included in the State Department’s human rights reports released in April.

In the court order, Judge Talwani ruled that the indictment survives because it concerns not the content of Mr. Liang’s speech but his actions and the charge that he failed to report to the attorney general his relationship with the PRC.

Mr. Liang is scheduled for a jury trial on Jan. 6, 2025.