China Has Held U.S.-Based Dissident Incommunicado Since AprilERIK ECKHOLM BEIJING, Feb. 13 More than nine months after his detention for traveling on a false passport, a United States-based dissident from China is still being held incommunicado and his relatives have received no formal notice of the charges. The dissident, Yang Jianli, 39, is a permanent resident of the United States with doctorates from the University of California and Harvard. His wife and two sons, who live in Brookline, Mass., are American citizens. His sister, an optometrist from Maryland, and his brother, a Communist Party member and cultural official in Shandong Province, came to Beijing this week in their latest search for answers, which has been fruitless so far. "I just want to see my brother," said the sister, Yang Jianhua, 47, in a tearful interview. "For more than nine months now we haven't had any access, and no lawyers will take on the case, because they say they must see an arrest notice." The siblings visited several police and other bureaus but were given what they described as a runaround told that they must look elsewhere or that no inquiries were possible without an arrest document. Last June, the police told the brother by telephone that Mr. Yang was formally arrested, but they would not specify the charges or provide the written notice that is normally required by law. In a written response to questions today, China's State Council asserted that the Beijing Public Security Bureau "has, in accordance with the legal procedure, informed his relatives in China." Mr. Yang was originally detained for the false passport, but the authorities "discovered that Yang was suspected of other criminal activities," the response said. "The judicial department is now carrying on further investigation on him in accordance with the law," it said. Officials gave no hint of their suspicions, but if they charge Mr. Yang with subversion because of his democracy advocacy abroad, he could face stiff penalties. Mr. Yang moved to the United States in 1985 to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics at Berkeley. But in 1989, as pro-democracy demonstrations around Tiananmen Square reached a climax, he rushed back to China to take part. After the bloody crackdown on June 4 of that year, he fled to the United States and has been on a Chinese government blacklist ever since, repeatedly denied permission to visit. After the searing experience of 1989, Mr. Yang devoted himself full time to politics. He enrolled at Harvard, earning a doctorate in political economy. He started the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, which publishes an electronic newsletter, and he wrote magazine articles and testified before Congress. Last spring as worker demonstrations erupted in northeastern China, Mr. Yang decided to use a false passport and see things at first hand, his wife has said. He entered the country, but on April 26 he was detained in the southern city of Kunming. His wife, Christina Fu, flew to China to make inquiries but was refused entry at the Beijing airport. In late June, Mr. Yang's brother, Yang Jianjun, 52, received a phone call from the local police saying his brother had been formally arrested and was in jail in Beijing. Since then, the relatives say, they have heard nothing. "I just checked with a lawyer again today, and the lack of notice is clearly illegal," said the brother, clearly shaken by the official handling of the case. (2003-2-13) -------------------------- |