China Acquits Journalist of Leaking Secrets
N.Y. Times Researcher Draws Three Years in Prison on Separate Fraud Charge

By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 26, 2006

BEIJING, Aug. 25 -- The surprise acquittal of a New York Times researcher Friday on charges of leaking state secrets was a blow to state security officials and suggested former president Jiang Zemin's power has ebbed, according to human rights lawyers and advocates.

Although Zhao Yan, a researcher for the newspaper's Beijing bureau, was sentenced to three years in prison on an unrelated fraud charge, the dismissal of the more serious charge was greeted with relief by Zhao's supporters. He had originally faced as long as 10 years in prison.

Calling the verdict a "welcome surprise," Jerome A. Cohen, an expert on Chinese law who advised the Times, said the case was "a rare example of a court being allowed or instructed to acquit on a charge of the utmost sensitivity."

Zhao, 44, was detained in September 2004, 10 days after a Times story accurately predicted that Jiang would resign his last official position as head of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission. The Times has denied that Zhao was the source for news about Jiang's retirement, which was viewed as a highly sensitive state secret, and Zhao has maintained his innocence. President Bush had lobbied on Zhao's behalf.

The acquittal was an encouraging "development that should make both the Ministry of State Security and the political leaders who put politics in command of the legal system more cautious the next time," Cohen said.

Hu Jia, a vocal Beijing activist under constant surveillance by state security officials, said Jiang and his hard-line supporters had tried to suppress Zhao but that the former president's "power and influence are not big enough."

The publication of a three-volume collection of Jiang's writings and speeches just before his 80th birthday last week has been interpreted by some analysts as a flattering way of saying goodbye to the former leader before he can influence upcoming party congress meetings.

Hu also said Zhao's case was "the result of wrestling between different political groups."

The on-and-off nature of the case may have reflected that struggle. Charges against Zhao were dropped in March, weeks before President Hu Jintao visited the United States. But Zhao remained in jail, and prosecutors reinstated the charges in May.

The prosecution's case relied almost entirely on a handwritten note Zhao had prepared that described a possible leadership dispute over military promotions. It was unclear how State Security Ministry agents gained access to the memo.

Zhao has already served two years of his sentence and could be out of jail in a year.

"If the verdict is what it appears to be, we consider it a vindication," Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, said in a written statement. "We have always said that to the best of our knowledge the only thing that Zhao Yan committed is journalism.''

Zhao plans to appeal the verdict on the remaining charge, said his attorney, Mo Shaoping.

The fraud charge stems from an accusation that Zhao, while reporting for a Chinese newspaper before he joined the Times, promised to help a man avoid service at a labor camp in exchange for $2,500. The man never complained to police or filed a legal complaint, but claimed Zhao took the money and failed to help. Zhao maintains his innocence and had a witness testify on his behalf.

The fraud charge was leveled only after authorities began investigating the state secrets charge, lawyers said.

"Both of the charges are groundless. My brother didn't take a penny from that guy," said Zhao's older sister, Zhao Kun. She saw her brother for the first time in two years when she and Zhao's 20-year-old daughter were allowed into Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for the verdict.

"We only saw him for a few minutes. He was wearing a yellowish shirt, and he looked a lot thinner than before. He was handcuffed again after the verdict," Zhao Kun said.

Her brother's sentence, along with a four-year sentence handed down Thursday to a Chinese peasant who had exposed forced abortions and sterilizations, were "clearly meant to send a message to both journalists and activist lawyers that their efforts to defend the rights of ordinary people will not be tolerated," said Sharon Hom, executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China.

"Zhao's case only causes more concern about the freedom with which journalists -- foreign and local -- will be able to operate during the 2008 Olympics," Bob Dietz, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. "Once the Games are over and the world's attention turns away, what will happen to those Chinese journalists who report critically or help visiting journalists to do their job?"

Researcher Jin Ling contributed to this report.