A Chinese man who allegedly cyberstalked and threatened a pro-democracy Chinese classmate appeared in Boston federal court for a pretrial hearing on Wednesday as part of the preparations for a trial scheduled to begin in January.
Xiaolei Wu, 25, was a student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston at the time of the incidents, which occurred October 22-24. The FBI arrested him on December 14. Wu, who is a citizen of the People's Republic of China, has pleaded not guilty and has been free on bail.
Wu appeared in court with his lawyer, Jessica Hedges, on Wednesday. He sat quietly in the front row of the courtroom rather than in the dock because this was a pretrial hearing. Discussion focused on planning for the trial scheduled for January 22 that may take four to five days. Between now and the trial, each side will call witnesses or experts and conduct multiple pretrial meetings.
Hedges told VOA Mandarin she had no comment on the day's proceedings.
Five-year term, fine possible
After Wu's arrest in December on a single count of stalking, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted him in January on one count of cyberstalking and one count of interstate transmissions of threatening communications.
If found guilty, Wu could face up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to Department of Justice charging documents, Wu is accused of sending messages via WeChat, email and Instagram to a classmate who had posted fliers on campus that read "Stand with Chinese People" and "We Want Freedom."
He allegedly told the classmate, "Post more, I will chop your bastard hands off."
Wu also allegedly told the classmate that he had informed the public security agency in China about his actions and that the agency would "greet" the classmate's family there
In addition, charging documents alleged that Wu solicited others to find out where the classmate was living and publicly posted the classmate's email address in the hopes that others would abuse the classmate online.
Berklee declined to share details about the incident with VOA Mandarin on Tuesday but said the school was taking the matter seriously and had taken appropriate steps.
The college president, Erica Muhl, resigned earlier this week after starting a leave of absence at the end of June. The school gave no reason for her departure.
In May, Muhl met with Qin Gang, then China's foreign minister, in Beijing. According to a Chinese government news release, Muhl said Berklee was willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China and serve as a bridge and bond between the United States and China.
On Wednesday, the Chinese government announced the removal of Qin as its foreign minister. The press release, along with other information about Qin's diplomatic activities as foreign minister, was purged from the official website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the end of last year, just a week before the FBI arrested Wu, Qin, the then-Chinese ambassador to the U.S., visited Berklee. A press release issued by the Chinese Embassy said that Qin "looks forward to Berklee College of Music playing a greater role ... to bring more positive energy to Sino-US relations."
