Four more Chinese activists who urged officials to reveal their assets went on trial yesterday on charges of disturbing public order in the latest in a string of prosecutions of anti-graft campaigners.
The trials of members of the New Citizens’ Movement have sparked criticism from the West and rights groups, which see them as evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s determination to crush any challenge to its rule.
The government has waged a 10-month drive against the movement founded by Xu Zhiyong (許志永), one of China’s most prominent rights activists, who was jailed on Sunday for four years.
The four activists put on trial yesterday — Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜), Li Wei (李蔚), Zhang Baocheng (張寶成) and Yuan Dong (袁冬) — advocated working within the system to press for change, including urging officials to publish details of assets.
They were charged with “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
“These individuals, and their prosecution, are part of a pattern of arrests and detentions of public interest lawyers, Internet activists, journalists, religious leaders and others who challenge official Chinese policies and actions,” said Daniel Delk, a second secretary at the US embassy in Beijing.
Delk urged China to release the protesters immediately, lift curbs on their freedom of movement and guarantee them the freedoms ensured by China’s international human rights commitments.
Police accuse the activists of planning, organizing and carrying out nearly 30 instances of “street political activities,” from displaying banners to making speeches urging revelation of assets, according to a copy of Li’s arrest notice.
Ding, a lawyer based in Beijing, was in charge of “organizing and overall coordination” of the movement, while Li, who is unemployed, was “responsible for the collection of information and dissemination of labor,” the notice said.
Ding’s trial was adjourned after he dismissed one of his lawyers, Wang Xing (王興), while another lawyer, Cheng Hai (程海), voluntarily withdrew because of improprieties in the judicial proceedings, Cheng told reporters by telephone.
Li’s trial was also adjourned after he dismissed his two lawyers, said one of his two attorneys, Wang Quanzhang.
“From now on, at least the trial has stopped,” Wang Quanzhang said. “If we had continued, it would have been finished today and by tomorrow, or within two days, there could be a sentence.”
Ding and Li will both get 15 days to select new lawyers, Cheng and Wang Quanzhang said.
Court officials and police refused to let diplomats from eight countries observe the trials, said Raphael Droszewski, a first secretary at the EU’s delegation to China.
China has detained at least 20 campaigners for asset disclosure by officials, although not all belong to the New Citizens’ Movement.
Also yesterday, a Zhejiang court sentenced to death a man who went on a rampage in a hospital and killed a doctor because he was unhappy with the results of an operation on his nose, state media said.
The case of Lian Enqing (連恩青) underscored the difficulties in tackling violence in a sector plagued by corruption, with hospitals overwhelmed by patients and doctors badly paid.
In October last year, Lian, 33, went looking for the doctor who treated him at the ear, nose and throat department of a hospital in the province’s Wenling City.
Unable to find him, he produced a knife and stabbed to death the head of the department, according to Xinhua news agency. Lian stabbed two other doctors before he was restrained by security guards.
Lian’s sister told the court that he had suffered respiratory problems and discomfort after the surgery in March last year, Xinhua said.
“While the hospital confirmed that the surgery was successful, Lian felt he was being cheated by the doctors,” the report quoted his sister as saying.
She also said that her brother suffered from “persistent delusional disorder.”
Meanwhile, state media yesterday reported that a senior Chinese official called for stricter management of religious activities following explosions in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region that authorities say were masterminded by a religious extremist.
Police shot dead six people and six more died when explosives they were carrying detonated in Xinhe County, media reported.
Yu Zhengsheng (俞正聲), a member of the party’s seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, called for action to ensure religious practices do not spill over into illegal acts.
“Religious followers must expand consciousness of the state, the law and citizenship within religious circles so that the faithful naturally conduct religious activities within the bounds of law and policy,” the official said.
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