China says dissident's secretary also under probe

China says dissident's secretary also under probe

BEIJING (Reuter): China yesterday appeared to be building a case against its most prominent dissident, Wei Jingsheng, with police confirming that his secretary is also being held in connection with suspected criminal activities.

A Public Security Ministry spokesman said the secretary, Tong Yi, was "being investigated for matters that violated the laws of China".

He declined to specify the charges that might be brought against Wei and Tong, saying that nothing can be revealed until investigations are completed.

Tong, who maintained close relations with the foreign press in Beijing, has not been heard from since China announced on Tuesday that Wei was being "interrogated and placed under surveillance ... because he violated the law on many occasions and is suspected of having committed new crimes when he was deprived of his political rights and on parole."

Wei, known as the father of China's modern democracy movement, was paroled in September after serving 14-1/2 years of a 15-year jail sentence.

The 43-year-old activist was grabbed by police on Friday while returning to Beijing from the nearby port of Tianjin and had not been seen since by relatives or colleagues.

Wei's sister, Wei Ling, said yesterday that police had told her father the activist would be held "for a time". They rejected the father's request to see his son, saying that any family visits would have to wait.

Wei Ling said a squad of police had raided Wei's office on Monday, presumably looking for evidence against him.

The report of Wei's renewed detention sparked diplomatic moves by the U.S. government, which said it appeared to be a case of silencing a citizen merely for his views.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said: "The United States very much regrets that China has taken this step."

He said American diplomats in Beijing held a meeting with Chinese officials "in which we expressed our concern" about Wei but the U.S. message stopped short of a formal protest.

McCurry took issue with the Chinese view that Wei had violated laws, saying "to the best of our knowledge, Wei has only exercised his universally recognized right to freedom of opinion and expression ... the only thing he has done is to express opinions about conditions that exist within China."