Chinese Court Denies Retrial For Jailed US Businessman
By Peter Wonacott
Wall Street Journal
February 11, 2005
SHANGHAI -- China's highest court has rejected an appeal by a U.S.businessman serving a 16-year sentence for tax fraud, in a case that has drawn criticism of the Chinese legal system from U.S. diplomats and members of the U.S. Congress.
The decision by the Supreme People's Court marks the latest legal setback for Jude Shao, a 42-year-old Chinese-American who had filed several petitions for a retrial after being jailed in Shanghai in 1999 for tax fraud. A prison official handed Mr. Shao the court's written refusal for a retrial on Jan. 31 -- more than two months after the date on the three-page ruling, according to Mr. Shao's sister, Shao Jingli. Her brother wasn't told the reason for the delay, says Ms. Shao, who was given the Nov. 22 ruling during a prison visit earlier this month and then passed it on to Mr. Shao's supporters.
The latest ruling upholds a complex decision that has become politically contentious. In addition to his own appeals and lobbying by his supporters, several members of the U.S. Congress have come to Mr. Shao's defense, some singling out the case as an irritant in U.S.-China affairs. The attention has cast a harsh light on China's bumpy legal reforms and the trouble that may befall those caught up in Chinese courts.
"While it was a long shot for the [Supreme People's Court] to actually order a retrial, the denial is disappointing nonetheless," said Chuck Hoover, who is spearheading efforts to free his former business-school roommate at California's Stanford University. The "legal avenue seems closed off to Jude," Mr. Hoover wrote in an e-mail to The Wall Street Journal.
After reviewing his case and new documents he submitted, the court wrote to Mr. Shao that it found "clear facts and sufficient evidence to prove that you have committed the crime" of tax fraud, according to an e-mail copy of the ruling that was seen by The Wall Street Journal. The court referred questions about Mr. Shao to the State Council, or cabinet, which didn't respond to a fax seeking comment about the case. Most government offices were closed Thursday because of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Mr. Shao, a naturalized American citizen who returned to China to import medical supplies, has sought to prove his innocence of defrauding the government of $393,000 in taxes. He has claimed that witness testimony was faulty, that court records of his tax payments were incomplete and that Chinese police cooked up details of confessions he didn't make. He also has said he was denied a lawyer until 10 days before his trial. After being convicted, Mr. Shao submitted documents retrieved from a laptop computer that he said proved that he didn't evade taxes or forge value-added-tax receipts to obtain government payments illegally.
In May 2003, a panel of six Chinese legal scholars took the unusual step of siding with the Shanghai-born Mr. Shao. The panel, which Mr. Shao retained to review his case, concluded that evidence didn't support a guilty verdict and it recommended a retrial.
Following the panel's findings, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch wrote a letter to Xiao Yang, head of China's high court, saying, "Mr. Shao has fallen prey to legal conflict that has denied him his freedom, and cast great doubt on the success of legal reform in China." Mr. Hatch's letter, along with several others from members of the U.S. Congress and State Department, as well as articles in the Western media, have been posted on www.freejudeshao.com, a Web site set up by Mr. Shao's supporters. James A. Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, also raised Mr. Shao's case with Chinese leaders in November at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit; the date of the court's ruling suggests it rejected Mr. Shao's appeal shortly afterward.
Nearly six years into Mr. Shao's prison term, his supporters acknowledge they have all but exhausted legal options to prove his innocence in a Chinese court. They now hold out hope that the mounting political pressure will pay dividends. In July 2004, Mr. Shao applied for medical parole, citing a heart condition, a path that may lead him out of prison while allowing China to stand by the guilty verdict.
