A Shanghai court has announced that husband-and-wife corporate investigators Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng will have an open trial, reversing an earlier decision in response to suggestions from the defendants and prosecutors. The British/Chinese-American couple were charged with illegally obtaining private information after being hired to investigate a sex tape of a GlaxoSmithKline executive amid a bribery probe of the company. From Laurie Burkitt at The Wall Street Journal:
The degree of openness wasn’t immediately clear. But the move raises the possibility that U.S. and U.K. officials will be allowed to observe the proceedings against Peter William Humphrey, a 58-year-old British national, and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, a 61-year-old American. U.S. consular officials had previously said the court planned to bar foreign consular officials and families of the investigators because of privacy issues.
[…] An open trial makes it more likely that the court will disclose some of the proceedings through its official social-media accounts or through one of China’s official news services. But it isn’t likely that the court will be open to foreign journalists. Foreign reporters are rarely allowed to observe Chinese court proceedings. Local reporters sometimes attend, but attendees are generally selected by court officials. [Source]
