Federal prosecutors dropped their case against a New York City police officer they had charged with spying on ethnic Tibetans for China, an embarrassing reversal after they fought to keep him in custody.
(Bloomberg) — Federal prosecutors dropped their case against a New York City police officer they had charged with spying on ethnic Tibetans for China, an embarrassing reversal after they fought to keep him in custody.
US District Judge Eric Komitee dismissed the indictment against Baimadajie Angwang at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday.
Angwang, a naturalized US citizen born in China, was charged in 2020 with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, along with wire fraud, making false statements and obstruction of a national security background investigation by the US Defense Department.
The US “has determined it’s appropriate to seek dismissal based on the interests of justice,” prosecutor Matthew Haggans told the judge at the hearing.
Read More: New York City Cop Spied on Tibetans for China, U.S. Says
“The government is to be recognized for making a decision that is in the interests of justice rather than pursuing the case,” Komitee said in granting the motion to dismiss the case.
Angwang was scheduled to go on trial in July, but earlier this month prosecutors said that as part of their continuing investigation they had obtained “additional evidence bearing on the charges” and wrote to Komitee asking for the dismissal hearing.
The judge noted that Angwang’s lawyer John Carman had battled the government to get his client released from jail after his arrest. Komitee finally released Angwang on bail in February 2021 after he was held in custody since September 2020.
The case is US v. Angwang, 20-cr-442, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
(Updates with background of the case beginning in fifth paragraph)
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