(TibetanReview.net, Oct06’20) – Baimadajie Angwang, a man said to be from Tibet and was caught spying on Tibetans in New York City for the Chinese government while being a New York Police officer, has a fighting chance to flee to the Chinese Consulate near his home after Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom ordered him released from a Brooklyn federal jail to be confined to his home on $1 million bond. However, the Oct 1 order is subject to appeal which has to be disposed of before the release order could be implemented.
“We don’t have an extradition treaty with the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” US Attorney Michael Keilty has told the court while opposing his bail application. “Should he be released on home detention, electronic monitoring, all he has to do is go through that tunnel, cross that bridge, walk into one of those buildings and we can never get him again.
“He’s gone.”
But Bloom disagreed, saying detaining Angwang, 33, a husband and father of a 2-year-old, with no trial date in sight would mirror the injustices of countries like the People’s Republic of China, or PRC.
“There is a big difference between this country and most countries, especially the PRC. There is a presumption of innocence in this country,” brooklyneagle.com quoted her as saying.
Bloom has cautioned Angwang’s wife Heidi that home confinement meant he could never leave the property for any purpose except for court appearances.
Angwang’s $1 million bond was reported to have been ensured by nine friends and family members, including his former colleagues in the US Marine Corps and his mother-in-law, who works as a server at Resorts World Casino in Ozone Park.
Angwang allegedly fed information about Tibetan-Americans and Tibetan immigrants to two officials from the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department starting in 2014, according to his criminal complaint. The United Front Work Department seeks to neutralize opposition to Chinese policies, including the occupation of Tibet, the report noted.
Angwang who supposedly came from Tibet as an adult and received asylum in the USA as a victim of Chinese persecution, does not seem to speak Tibetan, but only Chinese and English.
