The transfer comes because the ruling Communist Celebration doubles down on stifling dissent forward of a key assembly this autumn when Xi is predicted to additional tighten his grip on energy with a nearly remarkable 3rd time period.
Xu Zhiyong, a veteran civil rights activist and criminal pupil, pleaded now not accountable in entrance of an area court docket in Linshu county, jap Shandong province, in a day-long listening to that used to be closed to the general public at the grounds that “it concerned state secrets and techniques.”
An individual with direct wisdom of the case stated the court docket stated on the finish of the trial that sentencing could be introduced “at a later date.”
Supporters and rights teams known as the trial “grossly unfair” and the fees “trumped up.”
“The sort of political case has not anything to do with the legislation or proof. The entire trial procedure is ruled by means of political forces in the back of the court docket,” stated Teng Biao, a outstanding Chinese language human rights attorney now founded in the US. “It is a political trial and political persecution.”
“For political prisoners, the second one prison time period is typically longer than the primary,” Teng stated.
Open letter
Xu, 49, used to be detained in February 2020 within the southern town of Guangzhou after spending just about two months in hiding. He used to be certainly one of a number of rights activists rounded up by means of government after a personal amassing within the southeastern town of Xiamen in December 2019.
In his letter, Xu introduced a blistering assault on Xi’s insurance policies, from the tightening of the Communist Celebration’s controls at the economic system to its suppression of freedoms in Hong Kong and its dealing with of the preliminary Covid outbreak in Wuhan.
“I don’t believe you might be an evil particular person. You might be simply now not sensible sufficient,” he wrote. “Subsequently, I encourage you once more — which I imagine could also be a broadly held sentiment: Mr. Xi Jinping, please step down.”
Teng, the US-based criminal activist, stated the open letter had most likely contributed to Xu being charged with subversion — probably the most critical political offense, which carries a most penalty of existence imprisonment.
“(Since) Xi got here to energy, he has bolstered his dictatorship and promoted a character cult round himself. It used to be extremely courageous for Xu to write down a letter calling for Xi’s resignation in China — however in fact, the government would by no means tolerate such articles,” Teng stated.
A central determine
Xu, a former college lecturer with a doctorate in legislation from the distinguished Peking College, first got here to prominence in 2003, when he took up the case of a college scholar who used to be crushed to dying in detention in Guangzhou. His campaigning with a number of different criminal students driven the Chinese language govt to abolish a infamous gadget during which rural migrants have been arbitrarily detained, fined and expelled by means of police in giant towns.
In 2010, he co-founded the New Electorate Motion with like-minded activists, together with Teng, to recommend for civil rights and political reforms.
Since his unencumber from jail in 2017, Xu has persisted to talk up on political and social issues, publishing pointed essays on his non-public weblog, whilst a rising checklist of his fellow activists, criminal students, human rights attorneys and reporters were ensnared by means of Xi’s clampdown on dissent.
“I am deeply desirous about our country’s long term; I’m afraid {that a} gadget this is so tightly wound up is a dangerously brittle one; and, I am anxious that there’s no significant or substantive type of civil society that may take care of the placement.”
Teng, who has recognized Xu for 20 years, stated Xu used to be a “central determine” in China’s civil rights motion. “The motion and the wider civil society are within the throes of a chilly wintry weather — a pattern that has proven no indicators of making improvements to. The Communist Celebration’s crackdown on human rights is ready to proceed for many future years,” he stated.
“The Chinese language government have focused Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi now not as a result of they dedicated any across the world identified crime, however just because they cling perspectives the federal government does now not like. Those unfair trials are an egregious assault on their human rights,” stated Amnesty Global’s China Campaigner Gwen Lee.
“Having confronted torture and different ill-treatment all over their arbitrary detention, Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi now face being sentenced to years in the back of bars in secretive trials which were rigged from the beginning.”
