BLOGGER JIA XIAOYIN RELEASED BY POLICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHANGHAI 000027 DEPT FOR EAP/CM, AND DRL NSC FOR LOI, KUCHTA-HELBLING E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/14/2034 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR SOCI TINT CH SUBJECT: BLOGGER JIA XIAOYIN RELEASED BY POLICE REF: A. (A) 08 SHANGHAI 527 ¶B. (B) 08 SHANGHAI 437 ¶C. (C) 08 SHANGHAI 514 ¶D. (D) 08 SHANGHAI 448 ¶E. (E) 08 SHANGHAI 522 ¶F. (F) 08 SHANGHAI 471 CLASSIFIED BY: CHRISTOPHER BEEDE, POL/ECON CHIEF, US CONSULATE SHANGHAI, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Shanghai police released blogger Jia Xiaoyin from jail on January 13, six months after he was arrested for "spreading rumors" about the Yang Jia trial and charged with libel. The case had been widely criticized in the legal community because of the lack of a legal basis for charging libel in this type of case. Consulate contacts said Shanghai prosecutors and police deliberated over Jia's case for several weeks before deciding to release him, and legal contacts in Suzhou, Jia's hometown, said as recently as January 9 that they doubted Jia would be released anytime soon. End Summary. Suzhou Blogger Released -------------- ¶2. (C) On January 13, Shanghai police quietly released Jia Xiaoyin, the 23-year-old Suzhou blogger who was arrested in July 2008 for stating in his blog that the murder of six police officers by Yang Jia was justifiable (see reftels). According to Jia's lawyer, Zhang Peihong, Jia was released after prosecutors withdrew the libel charges against him, ending Jia's six-month ordeal. ¶3. (C) The case had provoked outrage from advocates for internet freedom and the legal community. Zan Aizong, an independent Zhejiang journalist who has his own blog, told Poloff on December 2 that Jia's case is "completely fabricated" by the Shanghai police because of police officers' anger about Jia's blog (Ref A). Jia's defense attorney, Zhang Peihong, had first questioned the legality of the charges against Jia in October, stating that under Chinese law, a government agency (in this case, the police) cannot be a victim of libel (Ref B). A Decision Several Weeks in the Making -------------- ¶4. (C) Tong Zhiwei, a law professor at the East China University of Politics and Law, who followed the libel case closely and whose law journal published a series of articles discussing the case and calling for Jia's release from prison, said he started hearing in mid-December that the charges against Jia might soon be dropped by the prosecutor. ¶5. (C) As recently as January 9, however, legal contacts in Suzhou, Jia's hometown, expressed doubt about his future. Tang Haiyan, the President of the Suzhou Bar Association, and Suzhou University Law Professor Zhu Zhongyi both said that although there was no legal basis for a libel charge against Jia, they were not optimistic that he would be released. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Jia's case has received considerable attention in East China, especially among young people who frequently post blogs on the internet. At this point, it is unclear if Jia's release represents a victory for the legal process in Shanghai because the prosecutor was unwilling to charge Jia with libel, or if the Shanghai police felt that after six months in jail, Jia had "learned his lesson" for "spreading rumors." There also is a possibility that Shanghai officials were concerned that a guilty verdict in this case would have led to protests, which the municipal government would like to avoid in the current climate. Post will continue to meet with contacts to analyze the outcome of this significant case and its impact on internet freedom and the legal process in East China. CAMP