Court Fails to Deliver Verdict on Chinese Researcher

A Chinese court verdict in the case of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, who is accused of fraud and leaking state secrets abroad, has failed to materialise.

A decision on the case, which has become the focus of US human rights pressure on China, was expected by today.

But Mr Zhao's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told Reuters there appeared virtually no chance the court would deliver its verdict in the legally mandated time.

"We believe the court should have delivered a verdict by today. There may be a discrepancy of one or two days in how they calculate the time but, even so, it certainly won't issue one in that time," Mr Mo said. He added that a judge from Beijing's second intermediate court indicated last week that there would be a delay but did not explain why.

"We will wait a day or two and then plan to apply for the court to have Mr Zhao removed from detention," said Mr Mo, adding that holding Mr Zhao beyond the next few days would count as "unlawful detention".

Chinese prosecutors have accused Mr Zhao, a Chinese citizen, of giving the New York Times information about rivalry between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, in the run-up to Mr Jiang's retirement as the head of the central military commission in 2004.

They also accused him of defrauding a man when Mr Zhao worked for a Chinese newspaper. Mr Zhao says he is innocent of both charges.

China dropped the charges against Mr Zhao in March, weeks before President Hu visited Washington, raising hopes for his release. But he remained in detention and the charges against him were revived in May.

Mr Zhao's June 16 trial in Beijing was closed to the public and media, potential defence witnesses and even his family. His lawyers were barred from commenting publicly on the specifics of the trial. Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, has said of the case: "We've never seen any proof that Zhao Yan was guilty of anything but journalism."