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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― For nearly a year, six Chinese crew members of the cargo ship that crashed into a bridge and spilled 50,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay have been detained by federal authorities.

Although they are under arrest as material witnesses, life is not as bad as it could be. They are not in jail.

Living rent-free in apartments and hotels, they have been permitted to roam one of the most beautiful cities in the world. They continue to draw their salaries, and each also receives $1,200 per month for witness fees, which exceeds the $900 monthly salary of at least one detained seaman.

But, as good as that deal may sound, the men have been fighting to return to their families and their lives in China. They already have been unable to celebrate important family birthdays and tend to sick relatives. One crewman's wedding had to be delayed.

"They are unhappily detained," said Douglas Schwartz, a lawyer representing the ship's captain, Mao Cai Sun.

The sailors are stuck here in legal limbo because of their duties aboard the Cosco Busan. On Nov. 7, 2007, the ship struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, gashing its hull and releasing oil that killed thousands of birds and fouled beaches.

Prosecutors want the crewmen to testify in federal criminal cases against the ship's U.S. pilot John Cota and Cosco Busan operator Fleet Management Ltd., which is accused of obstruction. Cota and Fleet Management, both of whom also face several lawsuits, have pleaded not guilty.

"Under these circumstances, the United States submits that the current status of the material witnesses is reasonable," prosecutors wrote defending the lengthy detention of the crew.

Chinese officials here said they are monitoring the situation and hope the crew can return soon. "We believe they are situated pretty well," said Defa Tong, a spokesman for the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. "Some of them are going to school to learn English."

Although the trial is scheduled for April, the government recently agreed to let the crew have their testimony videotaped. That started Oct. 27 with one of the lowest-ranking crew members and is scheduled to culminate in December with the Chinese captain's testimony.

The crew's lawyer have asked a judge to let the men return home after completing their depositions, but federal prosecutors also want them to testify in a suit against the ship's Busan's owners.

The crew's legal predicament stems from a 1984 law, which updated a much older law allowing the arrest of witnesses who might flee before testifying in criminal cases. Legal experts said some other countries, including England, have similar laws.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, federal authorities arrested dozens of Muslim men as material witnesses connected to terrorism. Some of those detentions lasted several months and never resulted in charges being filed, prompting civil libertarians to criticize the Bush Administration's use of the law.

Most of the roughly 3,000 people annually arrested on material witness warrants are illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border who are held until they can testify against the smugglers who transported them to the United States, legal experts said. A Department of Justice spokeswoman said there are currently 404 people being detained as material witnesses.

Lang Xian Zheng was the first Cosco Busan sailor deposed. Zheng and another crew member who has also been deposed are scheduled to ask a judge Friday to let them go home.

Zheng had told investigators he was standing watch in heavy fog on the ship's bow when the bridge suddenly loomed.

"Bridge pier," Zheng screamed too late into his hand-held radio. "Bridge pier."

Cota, who was at the controls when the ship crashed, is charged with failing to fully disclose the prescription drugs he was taking on two annual medical reports required by the U.S. Coast Guard. Fleet Management is charged with ordering at least one of the Chinese crew members to alter navigational documents after the accident. Both are also charged with environmental crimes.

The second officer of the ship, Shun Biao Zhao, has admitted altering and forging navigational documents after the crash. Kong Xiang Hu, the chief officer and highest-ranking crew member under the captain, admitted signing one of these documents. Both men contend Fleet executives ordered the alterations and signings, which the company denies.

The two—and the four other crew members who are not accused of any wrongdoing—have been granted protection from prosecution if they testify truthfully.

"This case is unique because the delay was partially brought on by the material witnesses' evasiveness and participation in obstruction of justice," Assistant U.S. attorney Jonathan Schmidt wrote in defending the crew's lengthy detention.

The crew's lawyers declined to make the men available, citing their delicate legal situation.

The Chinese crew was officially detained Dec. 27.

"This is a lengthy detention," said University of Georgia law professor Ronald Carlson, a leading material witness law expert who argues that the law needs reformed. "These witnesses are being detained humanely. Still, there is that undeniable desire to return home."

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