Detained Chinese scientist Tang Juan to be released on bail as defence cites coronavirus risk

Tang Juan, a Chinese researcher arrested in California last month for allegedly concealing her ties to China’s military, will be released on bail, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

The decision by US Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman, expected to take effect next week, came after Tang’s lawyers returned to court after a first failed attempt to release her on bail, saying that coronavirus cases in the jail where she is being held have put her at risk of infection.

Lawyers for the defence have argued that even if Tang – who had been a visiting medical researcher at the University of California, Davis – is eventually found guilty, she might only face a short prison sentence, and that an outside benefactor not yet identified by the court has volunteered to house her and help ensure she does not flee the country.

Tang was denied bail once, on July 31 – after her arrest and before her indictment – because the court found that she was a flight risk.

Tang’s lawyers argued that circumstances have changed, and that the original ruling should no longer apply. For one thing, by the time a trial takes place on the charges she faces of visa fraud and making false statements, she might have already spent more time in jail than what she could be sentenced to. Tang’s lawyers have pointed out that a trial might not be scheduled until next year or even 2022.

“The problem addressed by the judge was how could the government reasonably keep someone – charged but not proven guilty – confined in jail pending a trial almost two years later when the punishment, even if there was a conviction, would likely be six months or less and even at its worst little more than a year?” said Malcolm Segal, a lawyer on her defence team.

“And, is it fair to do so during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought diagnosed cases of the virus to the jail?”