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Chinese dissident refuses to appeal espionage sentence

Prominent US-based dissident Yang Jianli (楊建利) has refused to appeal his five-year jail sentence for espionage, saying China's judicial system was arbitrary and manipulated, his lawyer and wife said yesterday.

Yang was sentenced on May 13 on charges of spying for Taiwan and illegal entry despite concerns by the US and UN over the case.

"Yang Jianli has decided not to appeal his case," lawyer Mo Shaoping said. "I've spoken with him two times since he was sentenced and he believes that the verdict is unjust and illegal and he does not want to participate in this kind of procedure anymore."

Yesterday was the final day to lodge an appeal.

Since his arrest in April 2002, the Harvard University research fellow has been one of the most high-profile dissidents in Chinese custody. US Vice President Dick Cheney raised his case during an April visit and the UN Human Rights Commission cited a lack of due process in his arrest and trial.

"The family wanted him to appeal, but he refused. He said that he had totally lost confidence in the system and that he felt like the whole procedure was a sham," Christine Fu Xiang, Yang's wife, told reporters by telephone from her home in Boston.

Yang wrote a six-page statement on his refusal to appeal, citing his illegal detention, a trial that went 164 days beyond limits set by law, a refusal of the court to allow for private, unmonitored discussions with his lawyer and a refusal for him to meet with family members, Fu said.

"The whole legal procedure was manipulated by the government in an arbitrary and functional manner," Yang said in the statement. "I refuse to be put on show any longer with the so-called `People's Court' ... there is nothing to appeal because the verdict was illegal and invalid."

The statement also detailed what he said was inhumane treatment in detention including being beaten, placed in solitary confinement and being handcuffed until his arms were bruised, Fu said.
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