China starts new investigation of journalist

The possibility of resuming the case undercuts speculation that withdrawal of the case last month was intended as a prelude to releasing the researcher, Zhao Yan. The timing also means that a final decision on how to proceed with the politically delicate case will be delayed until weeks after President Hu Jintao has returned from his visit this week to the United States.

Until now, prosecutors and other Chinese officials have

refused to clarify the status of the case or even take telephone calls from the defence team. The new investigation period was disclosed Monday afternoon after one of Zhao’s defense lawyers reached a prosecutor on the telephone for the first time in weeks. The prosecutor said that in late March, days after the withdrawal of the case, the authorities had initiated a new

At the end of that period in early May, investigators will decide whether to reinstate the charges. Technically there is still a chance that Zhao will be freed. But Mo Shaoping, the lead defense lawyer, said he also spoke Monday to a person in a higher office who indicated that the prosecution against Zhao would probably be “resumed.” Zhao, 44, has been jailed for 19 months on charges of fraud and disclosure of state secrets to The Times. He has denied the charges, and The Times has said Zhao did not provide the newspaper with any state secrets. On March 17 a Beijing court granted a prosecution request to withdraw the case. The move prompted speculation that Zhao might be released, possibly in a good-will gesture in advance of President Hu’s trip.

Instead, Zhao, an employee of the Beijing office of The Times, remained in jail even though there no longer were any charges against him. Now, one question is whether prosecutors used the withdrawal as a procedural manoeuvre to delay a trial, which had been scheduled for late March. Legal experts say Zhao should have been released after the withdrawal, regardless of any intention to reopen the case.

“This is a man who has been held for a long time after the indictment was withdrawn,’’ said John Kamm, a human rights campaigner, whose Dui Hua Foundation, based in San Francisco, works to free political prisoners in China. ‘’I think it is a terrible black eye for the Chinese justice system. It’s a terrible black eye because there is no transparency, there is no accountability.’’

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