Detained actress due to be freed
Businesswoman Liu Xiaoqing's release is said to be imminent - more than two years after the former actress' high-profile detention for alleged tax fraud. She has already spent 18 months longer in jail than mainland law says a suspect can be held without trial.
The arrest of the 52-year-old former movie star in June 2001 was hailed as the beginning of a crackdown by the central government on tax evasion by wealthy individuals.
Police alleged Liu had evaded 130,000 yuan in taxes and that her two companies - Beijing Xiaoqing Culture and Arts Company and Beijing Xiaoqing Real Estate Company - had cheated the state of 14.5 million yuan (HK$13.6 million) in taxes.
She was formally arrested last year and has spent more than 400 days in the Beijing Municipal Detention Centre.
Amid the speculation about her release last night, it was unclear whether Liu would be released on bail or freed without charge. But legal experts said it would be an embarrassment to the authorities if they freed her without charge, having held her for so long.
Guo Zili, a law professor at Peking University, said: 'The government acted rashly in arresting Liu, [hoping] to make her an example.'
He said the government might now be bound to release her because the evidence had failed to stand up and because of sympathy in official quarters for her situation.
The professor said: '[The outcome of this case] is independent of how excellent the lawyers are or what our judicial system wants. It really depends on what our senior officials decide.'
The mainland's criminal law allows suspects to be freed on bail. But according to Professor Guo, that status can be easily revoked.
'Unlike the bail system in western countries, bail is more a privilege in China. The law does not say the authorities must give bail to a suspect, only that it may be granted.
'The authorities can always find a reason to decline bail,' he said.
Qian Lieyang, of the Zhongfu law firm who represented Liu, agrees.
'People who run the system can always find justification in [our] laws to extend the detention,' he said recently.
He said suspects can only be held in custody for a maximum of 8.5 months - meaning Liu had been detained at least 18 months longer than what the law allows.
Yesterday, detention centre staff would only say they were awaiting prosecutors' instructions.
