Chinese democracy leader Zhou Yongjun jailed for fraud

A former student leader of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement has been sentenced to nine years in jail, the latest in a series of tough prison terms to be handed down by the Chinese authorities.

The arrest of Zhou Yongjun aroused widespread controversy in Hong Kong, whose police handed him to their counterparts in mainland China after he tried to enter the former British colony from the United States on a false Malaysian passport.

A court in the southwestern city of Shehong has convicted Mr Zhou, 42, of attempted fraud for a transaction attempted in Hong Kong.

One of his lawyers, Mo Shaoping, said his client had faced a minimum sentence of ten years given the large amounts of money involved but was given a lighter sentence because he never took possession of the money.

Mr Mo told The Times: “In our view he should not have been put on trial in China for this so-called fraud since it involved a bank in Hong Kong and the whole case was alleged to have taken place in Hong Kong.”

Mr Zhou has denied the charges and will appeal.

The former activist won global attention in 1989 when he and two other students knelt on the steps of the Great Hall of the People next to Tiananmen Square to plead with Communist leaders to acknowledge their calls for political reforms and an end to corruption.

Hundreds were subsequently killed in a brutal crackdown by the Chinese government, which sent tanks on to the streets of Beijing.

Details of the charges against Mr Zhou are vague, as is common in China’s opaque legal system.

The case stems from a complaint by the Hang Seng bank in Hong Bank about a suspicious request for the transfer of funds out of an account registered to Wang Xingxiang — the name in Mr Zhou's fake passport. The signature on the transfer form for HK$6 milllion (£550,000) did not match that of the original account holder and the name Wang Xingxiang was placed on a money laundering watch list.

Mr Zhou said he was the victim of bad luck and mistaken identity. He says he obtained the fake passport through an immigration agency, a common practice among Chinese exiles who often find themselves stateless after Beijing refuses to renew their passports.

He has lived in the United States since seeking asylum there in 1992 and holds permanent residency. He was put on trial in November, a day after President Obama ended a state visit to China.

Mr Mo argued that it was strange for a court in China to try someone for a crime that took place in Hong Kong. He added that police in Hong Kong believed that the signature under dispute was not in the writing of Mr Zhou. He wondered how the Chinese court could have reached a different conclusion – especially since the signature was written in English.

Amnesty International has said it believes the case is politically motivated.

It is the third time since 1989 that Mr Zhou has been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities. The circumstances surrounding his most recent return to the custody of Chinese police remain unclear, but his case has caused a furore in Hong Kong.

Albert Ho, of the Hong Kong opposition Democratic Party, has complained that instead of being returned to his port of origin or of embarkation, Mr Zhou was transferred to the mainland without his consent. He said: “That is extremely alarming to the people of Hong Kong.”

Britain handed back the colony to Chinese rule in 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems”, which gave the territory more political and economic freedoms than the mainland. Activists have argued that Mr Zhou’s case calls into question that principle.