FORMER STUDENT OF ST ANTONY�S COLLEGE, OXFORD, DR XU ZERONG, (ANGLICIZED NAME � DAVID TSUI)

St Antony�s remains concerned about the welfare of its former student Dr Xu Zerong, who has been detained and then imprisoned in Guangdong province of China since 2001. An appeal against his swingeing prison sentence of 13 years was unsuccessful. The appeal verdict was handed down by the Guangdong Provincial High Court on 18th December 2002. The Court called on a panel of three judges to review the original evidence and to listen to the submission of Dr Xu�s Defence Counsel. No formal Court Hearing was held.

In the original trial verdict, given on 20^th December 2001, Dr Xu had been found guilty on two charges: (1) illegally providing an overseas source with intelligence that endangered national security; and (2) engaging in illegal publishing activities in the People�s Republic of China. For these offences he received prison sentences of 10 years and 5 years respectively, plus deprivation of political rights for three years, and a fine. (The total sentence of 15 years was reduced to 13 years, the Court taking into account time already spent in custody).

Dr Xu�s lawyers challenged the original verdict on several grounds, including that the Korean War materials he obtained � published in the 1950s -- were marked for internal reference and not classified as either secret or top secret; the materials were shared with a South Korean associate in order to further research on the Korean War; and there was insufficient evidence to prove that a commercial transaction had taken place in the transfer of these materials. In sum, supplying material that was not marked either secret or top secret to a Korean research institute did not constitute the crime of endangering national security, and the materials were supplied solely for research purposes.

With regard to the charge that Dr Xu had engaged in an illegal publishing business on the Chinese mainland, his lawyers argued that Dr Xu was not personally liable and that any charge should have been directed against the publishing houses said to have been involved.

Finally, since the alleged crimes were said to have taken place before a revised criminal code came into effect in 1997, Dr Xu�s lawyers argued that he should have been tried under earlier legal provisions dating from 1979.

In the final section of the report on the Appeal Hearing, the Court states that it "upholds" the earlier verdict that Dr Xu had engaged in illegal publishing activities. Thereafter the judgment becomes more complex because the Court appears to have changed the basis of the other legal charge against Dr Xu, but it has not changed either the verdict or the sentence. That is, it "revokes" the conviction that he provided intelligence to a source outside China; but then states that he is guilty of providing national secrets to a source outside China.

As regards sentencing, the Appeal judgment confirms exactly the penalties originally handed down by the Shenzhen Intermediate People�s Court in December 2001. It states that Dr Xu has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment amounting to 15 years on both charges, reduced to 13 years in light of the time already spent in custody before being brought to trial; that he will be deprived of his political rights for three years after his release from prison; and that he has been fined RMB50,000.

The College will continue vigorously to protest the severity of this sentence and the refusal of the authorities in China to accept the strong case for Dr Xu�s immediate release, or at least a more lenient sentence. It will also seek to clarify the legal basis of the Appeal, which took place without a full Court Hearing, and the content of the judgment. The length of the sentence remains particularly troubling in light of Dr Xu�s engagement in what would be regarded in most countries as normal scholarly activity. His treatment by the Chinese authorities raises concerns about the possibly adverse implications this case may have for other students of Chinese origin who wish to undertake research on the political or diplomatic history of China.

The College also remains seriously concerned about reports that Dr Xu has been suffering from ill-health.

Sir Marrack Goulding
Warden of St Antony�s College, Oxford.
July 2006