China: Anti-corruption activists on trial
Event- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2013
- Event Description
Two Chinese anti-corruption activists went on trial under heavy security Tuesday, in Beijing's latest strike against a burgeoning rights movement. Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei appeared at a court in Beijing's Haidian district, their lawyers said. Scores of uniformed and plain-clothes police were deployed in various locations around the building, with at least 20 police vehicles. Both men are members of the New Citizens Movement, a loose-knit network of activists whose dinner discussions and small-scale protests calling for official disclosure of assets have drawn the anger of the authorities in Beijing. China's ruling Communist Party is in the midst of a highly-publicised anti-corruption campaign, which President Xi Jinping has pledged will target both high-ranking "tigers" and low-level "flies" in the face of public anger over the issue. But the party has cracked down harshly on independent activists who have the same goals, viewing organised anti-corruption protests as a challenge to its rule. Li's lawyer Jiang Yuanmin said that while Beijing has touted its anti-graft efforts, the activists were being targeted by authorities who wish to keep their wealth hidden from public view. "His behaviour does not constitute a crime," he said of his client. "People like Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei, they just want government officials to report their assets. "This goes against the interests of a vast majority of officials," he added. "So the government is afraid." The trial is likely to take at least two days, Jiang said, as the court was not allowing the defence to call any witnesses and Ding's lawyer refused to answer any of the court's questions in protest. Ding, 46, is a well-known human rights lawyer. Li, 42, was unemployed at the time of his arrest last May. A third member of the movement, Zhao Changqing, is expected to go on trial Thursday. Zhao was a student leader during the 1989 pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square and previously served eight years in jail. - 'They are terrified' - The trials come three months after a Beijing court pronounced Xu Zhiyong, a founding member of the New Citizens Movement, guilty of "gathering crowds to disrupt public order". The 40-year-old Xu, a prominent legal activist, was sentenced to four years in jail. Ding, Li and Zhao face similar charges and appeared in court in January. But the three men dismissed their lawyers in protest at the accusations against them, a move which triggered a delay to their trials. As at previous trials of New Citizens Movement members, the heavy police presence deterred any organised demonstrations in support of the defendants. Officers were checking IDs of passers-by outside the courthouse in northwest Beijing, and journalists were barred from approaching the building or lingering outside. As the proceedings got underway, one protester yelled "Ding Jiaxi is innocent!" before quickly being bundled off by police, according to a European diplomat who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the trial. In an open letter published Sunday by the human rights website China Change, Ding revealed that he had been threatened and abused by his interrogators in a process reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, China's decade of political and cultural upheaval beginning in the mid-1960s. "They are terrified of what we did," Ding wrote. "They want to try us in order to warn the others. They want to tell the Chinese people, people living in China, that it is a crime to demand that officials disclose their assets." "In essence, this is anti anti-corruption," he wrote. UPDATE 10/04/14: Sui Muqing and Jiang Yuanmin, Ding and Li's lawyers, walked out of the trial and denounced it as not in conformity with Chinese law after the court refused to provide original (as opposed to photocopied) evidence of the trial. However, it appears that unlike in January, when Ding and Li replaced their lawyers to delay the trial, Sui and Jiang will continue to represent the accused.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Intimidation and Threats
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of association
- Right to Protest
- Source
Bangkok Post(Beijing) | Radio Free Asia | [China Post](http://China Post | BBC News | VOA News | Radio Free Asia | Yahoo News
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 39.90403000000002
Longitude: 116.407526
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 17 April 2013, Mr. Zhao Changqing and Mr. Ding Jiaxi, members of the anti-corruption New Citizens' Movement allegedly suspected of having participated in organizing the campaign for public disclosure of assets, were reportedly taken into custody on charges of "unlawful assembly." UPDATE 08/04/2014: Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei went on trial in Beijing under heavy security. The two were detained for having called on China's political leaders to disclose their assets, and are charged with "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." There have been obvious irregularities in both the trial and questioning methods. Ding alleges that he was severely beaten in custody; the defence is not being allowed to speak in their clients' defence, call witnesses or to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses; Ding's lawyer was questioned and physically abused by police during the lunch break; and foreign diplomats were unable to enter the courtroom. Another New Citizens' Movement activist, Zhao Changqing, is due to be tried on 10 April. UPDATE 10/04/14: Sui Muqing and Jiang Yuanmin, Ding and Li's lawyers, walked out of the trial and denounced it as not in conformity with Chinese law after the court refused to provide original (as opposed to photocopied) evidence of the trial. However, it appears that unlike in January, when Ding and Li replaced their lawyers to delay the trial, Sui and Jiang will continue to represent the accused. UPDATE 18/04/2014: Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Li Wei, and Zhang Baocheng all found guilty of "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." Ding received three and a half years in prison, Zhao received two and a half, and Li and Zhang received two. All four are likely to appeal. UPDATE 18/06/2014: Ding and Li's sentences upheld by Beijing's intermediate court.