Australian back from China appears in court on foreign interference charge

SYDNEY: Following his arrest the day before, the second person ever accused of breaking Australia’s’s laws against foreign interference appeared in a local court on Saturday( Apr 15 ).

Witnesses for Reuters claim that Alexander Csergo, 55, requested a postponement of the case until Monday when he appeared via video link in front of an area court in the Sydney neighborhood of Parramatta.

A bill of foolish strange disturbance against Csergo was filed in court documents that were reviewed by Reuters on Saturday. The offense took place between February 2021 and April 2023 in the American states of New South Wales and Shanghai.

Since the law was passed in 2018, he has been charged with the crime of aiding a strange power in interfering with Australia’s’s autonomy or regional interests.

According to the court record, Csergo was” reckless as to whether the conduct would support intelligence functions of a foreign lead and some of it was covert or involved magic.” He is alleged to have purposefully engaged in carry on behalf of or in partnership with individuals acting in the principal’s’s representative.

According to neighbors, Csergo had just returned from China and was detained on Friday at a home in the Bondi seaside district of Sydney.