NEW YORK — A man convicted in the first trial highlighting U.S. claims that China harasses its critics overseas was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for his role in a creepy campaign to get a former official to return to his homeland.

Zhu Yong, a Chinese retiree who faces likely deportation from the U.S. after his prison term, expressed regret while suggesting he didn’t initially think through the implications of what he was doing.

“I also plead to the nation, the victims and every American citizen for their forgiveness,” he told a court through a Mandarin-language interpreter. He begged a judge for “a chance to renew myself.”

Zhu, 68, was one of three men found guilty of various charges in a 2023 trial that portrayed cross-border surveillance and stalking in New Jersey.

The target, a former Chinese city official named Xu Jin, was subjected to subtle and overt pressure to go back to China, where he and his wife have been accused of bribery, according to testimony. They deny the allegation.

— The Associated Press