Li Zhuang's defense team - Yang Xuelin (l) and Si Weijiang (r)

Economic Observer Online
Translated by Guo Wei
Apr 22, 2011
Original article: [Chinese]

In an unexpected turn of events, prosecutors in a high-profile legal case asked an intermediate court in the southwestern city of Chongqing to accept their request to drop charges against the defendant, Li Zhuang (李莊), a Beijing-based lawyer who is currently serving an 18-month sentence on separate charges.

The prosecution stated that new evidence produced by the defence contradicted that held by the prosecution and raised doubts about whehter Li Zhuang actually committed the crimes he is being accused of.

The hearing had just entered it's third day when the prosecution submitted a request to drop the charge that Li incited a witness to alter their testimony so that it was no longer in keeping with the facts of the matter during a 2008 trial in which Li Zhuang was acting as defense counsel for an individual being tried on charges of suspected embezzlement.

The court agreed to the request to have the charges dropped.

Li Zhuang's defense team, led by lawyers Si Weijiang (斯偉江) and Yang Xuelin (楊學(xué)林), presented evidence to support their case their client was not-guilty of the charges.

However, the withdrawal of charges against Li Zhuang doesn't necessarily mean that the case is finished, if the Chongqing procuratorate returns the case to public security agencies for further investigation, then it is possible that newly discovered evidence could be the basis of a new trial.

Li Zhuang was originally sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges of falsifying evidence and inciting others to bear false witness on January 8, 2010, but his sentence was reduced to 18 months by the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on appeal in February that year.

Li Zhuang's case has attraced much attention from China's legal community as it highlighted concerns among some lawyers that the Chongqing government was trampling legal procedure in its zeal for convictions as part of a crackdown on criminal gangs, others have also reported that the case involves high-level political figures.

This article was edited by Paul Pennay

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