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China Adds to Uncertainty Over Jailed Times Aide
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: March 24, 2006
BEIJING, March 23 — The United States on Thursday continued to press China about the status of a jailed researcher for The New York Times, but the uncertainty about his fate deepened as a Chinese government spokesman appeared to cast doubt on whether he would soon be released.
The case against Zhao Yan, 44, a Chinese researcher in the Beijing bureau of The Times, was withdrawn last Friday by a court order. His lawyer said the withdrawal of the charges against him — one count of fraud, another of disclosing state secrets to The Times — meant that Mr. Zhao would soon be released, possibly on an equivalent of bail.
But the Chinese authorities have since remained silent about the status of Mr. Zhao, and he is still behind bars. Asked on Thursday afternoon about the case, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, criticized foreign news organizations for making "irresponsible statements," and he then offered a cryptic response.
"You ask if Zhao Yan will soon be released," Mr. Qin said during a regular news briefing for foreign reporters. "From what I have learned, the actual situation is not like what you are talking about."
Pressed for specifics, Mr. Qin refused to elaborate and also declined to identify the source of his information. "I think my information channel will be more authoritative than yours," he said.
The suggestive but vague comments underscored the confusion surrounding a case that has brought international criticism of China. Mr. Zhao has spent 18 months in prison without a hearing. His arrest is directly linked to a Sept. 7, 2004, article in The Times that disclosed an unexpected offer by former President Jiang Zemin to resign his final leadership post as chief of the military.
The article prompted a high-level government investigation to determine who had leaked the information about Mr. Jiang's offer.
Mr. Zhao has denied the charges, and The Times has also denied that he leaked any state secrets to the newspaper.
During the past week, American officials have met with their Chinese counterparts to try to clarify the status of his legal case and to press for his release. On Thursday, the State Department issued a new statement on the case, calling on China to release Mr. Zhao.
"We have repeatedly stated that we believe that Mr. Zhao should be released on the lack of merit of the case against him," the State Department said. "We urge China to honor its constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression."
Mo Shaoping, Mr. Zhao's lawyer, said he filed a second motion with Beijing prosecutors this week asking that his client be freed immediately. Mr. Mo repeated that the decision by prosecutors to withdraw the case meant that Mr. Zhao should be released. He said that prosecutors must introduce new charges based on new evidence if they intended to prosecute him in the future.
Some foreign and Chinese legal experts agree that the rationale used by prosecutors to withdraw the case was unusual. Prosecutors asked for the withdrawal to provide more time to investigate the lesser fraud charge. Such an explanation is usually given when prosecutors want to delay, not withdraw, a case. But legal experts say this unorthodox wording could have been an intentional way to drop the case without prosecutors or state security agents admitting error. It also could potentially allow for Mr. Zhao to be released, but on a restricted basis, akin to bail.
On Thursday, prosecutors in Beijing told family members of Mr. Zhao that they were awaiting instructions from higher officials. Zhao Kun, an older sister of Mr. Zhao, visited the prosecutors' office on Wednesday and Thursday but was denied an audience with the authorities overseeing the case.
Ms. Zhao said she asked to meet with the chief prosecutor on Saturday, a day when the office schedules meetings between prosecutors and the public. But she said she was told that she would not be eligible for a meeting because the case against her brother had been withdrawn.
Another official in the office told Ms. Zhao that local prosecutors were not authorized to give her any information about the case.
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: March 24, 2006
BEIJING, March 23 — The United States on Thursday continued to press China about the status of a jailed researcher for The New York Times, but the uncertainty about his fate deepened as a Chinese government spokesman appeared to cast doubt on whether he would soon be released.
The case against Zhao Yan, 44, a Chinese researcher in the Beijing bureau of The Times, was withdrawn last Friday by a court order. His lawyer said the withdrawal of the charges against him — one count of fraud, another of disclosing state secrets to The Times — meant that Mr. Zhao would soon be released, possibly on an equivalent of bail.
But the Chinese authorities have since remained silent about the status of Mr. Zhao, and he is still behind bars. Asked on Thursday afternoon about the case, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, criticized foreign news organizations for making "irresponsible statements," and he then offered a cryptic response.
"You ask if Zhao Yan will soon be released," Mr. Qin said during a regular news briefing for foreign reporters. "From what I have learned, the actual situation is not like what you are talking about."
Pressed for specifics, Mr. Qin refused to elaborate and also declined to identify the source of his information. "I think my information channel will be more authoritative than yours," he said.
The suggestive but vague comments underscored the confusion surrounding a case that has brought international criticism of China. Mr. Zhao has spent 18 months in prison without a hearing. His arrest is directly linked to a Sept. 7, 2004, article in The Times that disclosed an unexpected offer by former President Jiang Zemin to resign his final leadership post as chief of the military.
The article prompted a high-level government investigation to determine who had leaked the information about Mr. Jiang's offer.
Mr. Zhao has denied the charges, and The Times has also denied that he leaked any state secrets to the newspaper.
During the past week, American officials have met with their Chinese counterparts to try to clarify the status of his legal case and to press for his release. On Thursday, the State Department issued a new statement on the case, calling on China to release Mr. Zhao.
"We have repeatedly stated that we believe that Mr. Zhao should be released on the lack of merit of the case against him," the State Department said. "We urge China to honor its constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression."
Mo Shaoping, Mr. Zhao's lawyer, said he filed a second motion with Beijing prosecutors this week asking that his client be freed immediately. Mr. Mo repeated that the decision by prosecutors to withdraw the case meant that Mr. Zhao should be released. He said that prosecutors must introduce new charges based on new evidence if they intended to prosecute him in the future.
Some foreign and Chinese legal experts agree that the rationale used by prosecutors to withdraw the case was unusual. Prosecutors asked for the withdrawal to provide more time to investigate the lesser fraud charge. Such an explanation is usually given when prosecutors want to delay, not withdraw, a case. But legal experts say this unorthodox wording could have been an intentional way to drop the case without prosecutors or state security agents admitting error. It also could potentially allow for Mr. Zhao to be released, but on a restricted basis, akin to bail.
On Thursday, prosecutors in Beijing told family members of Mr. Zhao that they were awaiting instructions from higher officials. Zhao Kun, an older sister of Mr. Zhao, visited the prosecutors' office on Wednesday and Thursday but was denied an audience with the authorities overseeing the case.
Ms. Zhao said she asked to meet with the chief prosecutor on Saturday, a day when the office schedules meetings between prosecutors and the public. But she said she was told that she would not be eligible for a meeting because the case against her brother had been withdrawn.
Another official in the office told Ms. Zhao that local prosecutors were not authorized to give her any information about the case.
From my own experience with the law in China and that of some of my Chinese friends there, it seems that someone is waiting for a bribe to release him. Or they want to try to use his release as an act of international goodwill, which makes you wonder if that wasn't the reason he was arrested to begin with.
Anyway, for those following the case, the good news is that charges have been dropped and it should only be a matter of time before he's released.
Freedom of the press!
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