The lawyer for jailed China-based New York Times researcher Zhao Yan (趙岩) said yesterday the state had announced its intention to resume prosecution procedures only weeks after dropping the case.
"The prosecution office told me today that they have decided to resume the investigation and prosecution of Zhao Yan," lawyer Mo Shaoping (
"There are no such regulations in China's criminal law on `resuming investigation and prosecution.' This is illegal, they have no right to continue to detain Zhao Yan," Mo said.
Zhao's disappearance into police custody in September 2004 caused a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing.
Many had expected he would be released before Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The resumption of the case comes after Beijing's Number Two People's Procuratorate, the prosecuting body, told Mo on March 17 that charges against Zhao of leaking state secrets had been dropped.
Zhao was charged on Oct. 20, 2004, with "divulging state secrets," a charge that carries the maximum penalty of death.
He was detained days after the New York Times reported that former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (
At the time of the report, Jiang's plan to retire was a closely guarded secret.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
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COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a