Valentine's Day wait for wife of detained reporter
The wife of detained Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong spent Valentine's Day alone, a day before expiry of a deadline for his case to be passed on to a mainland court.
Mary Lau Man-yee said the detention of her husband, a China correspondent for The Straits Times of Singapore, would reach its 300th day today when the deadline for a decision on whether to bring a prosecution is due to expire.
'We had dinner together on Valentine's Day over the past 10 years but we don't have the opportunity to do so this year,' said Lau, who is also a journalist.
She said she hoped her husband, who is accused of spying for Taiwan, would be freed as soon as possible.
The case was referred to the Beijing No 2 People's Procuratorate on December 30 to decide if prosecutions should be lodged. Mainland law requires prosecutors to make a decision in a month, but they can request a half-month extension if the case is important or complicated. However, the procuratorate may send the case to a public security body for additional investigation, or carry out the investigation itself.
In cases where additional investigation is to be conducted, this must be completed within one month. A maximum of two additional investigations is allowed.
When an additional investigation is completed and the case transferred to the People's Procuratorate, the amount of time for examination and prosecution must be reassessed by the procuratorate.
State media said last August that between early 2000 and March last year Ching had set up a number of espionage channels for Taiwan in Hong Kong and on the mainland.
