Leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) will be tried tomorrow on subversion charges, his wife said, more than a year after he was detained following his role in a bold pro-democracy petition.
“He will be tried on Wednesday,” wife Liu Xia (劉霞) said by phone yesterday.
“I have no hope whatsoever, I can’t even attend the trial,” she said, saying that authorities had barred her from attending.
The trial will take place at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, Liu Xia said, adding that she would wait outside the courthouse if she is denied entry.
Rights groups in China have said they fear that officials will rush the case through the courts during the Western holiday season in a bid to attract less global attention.
“We are seriously concerned that Liu will not get a fair and open trial, and his legal rights will not be respected,” said Jiang Yingying, a researcher for China Human Rights Defenders, a network of activists.
Both the US and EU have urged China to free Liu and end the harassment and detention of political dissidents.
Beijing says the calls are “unacceptable.”
“We oppose any foreign forces using this as an excuse to interfere in China’s internal affairs and judicial sovereignty,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) told reporters last week.
The 53-year-old writer, who was imprisoned for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, was arrested last December after co-authoring Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for political reform.
His lawyer Shang Baojun (尚寶軍) said previously that the dissident would face the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” — related both to Charter 08 and to articles posted on the Internet after 2005.
The charge, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, is routinely brought against those who voice opposition to the Chinese Communist Party.
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