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| April 3, 2008 |
By JIM YARDLEY
April 4, 2008
BEIJING -- A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced an outspoken human rights advocate to three and a half years in prison after ruling that his critical essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said.
The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights activists in China, quickly brought outside criticism of China at a time when the government is already facing international concern over its handling of the Tibetan crisis.
Mr. Hu's case has been followed closely, especially in Europe, and
critics say his conviction is part of a government crackdown to silence dissidents before Beijing plays host to the Olympic Games in August.
Diane Sovereign, a spokeswoman for the United States embassy in Beijing, described the United States government's reaction to the verdict as "dismayed."
"Mr. Hu has consistently worked within China's legal system to protect the rights of his fellow citizens," Ms. Sovereign said. "These types of activities support China's efforts to institute the rule of law and should be applauded, not suppressed or punished."
Mr. Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, herself a well-known blogger and rights advocate, was distraught in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"I feel hopeless and helpless," said Ms. Zeng, who is under house arrest with the couple's infant daughter in their suburban Beijing apartment, though she was allowed to visit her husband on Thursday.
Asked why Mr. Hu was arrested and convicted, she said: "The fundamental reason is to silence him. He had been speaking up and all he said was plain truth. It makes them unhappy. But they can do this to him because they're unhappy?"
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised Mr. Hu's case during a meeting with China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi. The European Union presidency has criticized the subversion charge and called for Mr. Hu's release.
Li Fangping, the defense lawyer, said the court showed leniency by
sentencing him for less than the maximum five-year term. Mr. Li said the sentence also forbids Mr. Hu from making any public political statements for one year following his release from prison.
"Three and a half years is still unacceptable to us," Mr. Li told a throng of reporters outside the courthouse. "There is a major disagreement between prosecutors and the defense over punishing someone for making peaceful speech. We still believe the charge does not stand."
Prosecutors in China rarely discuss cases after a verdict. But Xinhua, the country's official news agency, reported that Mr. Hu had confessed to the charges. "Hu spread malicious rumors and committed libel in an attempt to subvert the state's political power and socialist system," the court verdict stated, according to Xinhua.
In his human rights work, Mr. Hu has volunteered to help AIDS patients and plant trees to fight desertification, the conversion of the land into a desert.
In recent years, he has maintained regular contacts with dissidents and other advocates on issues ranging from environmental protection and legal reform. He has also served as a one-man clearinghouse of information about peasant protests and dissidents, subjects that are often censored in the Chinese media.
He was detained on Dec. 27 last year and then later charged with
"incitement to subvert state power," a charge based on six essays and interviews in which he criticized the Communist Party. Mr. Hu wrote a long, blistering essay detailing how police had tortured two people who had protested about having their homes illegally seized in Beijing. In that essay, he also criticized the Communist Party's human rights record.
The timing was sensitive. Mr. Hu posted the essay on his personal blog in advance of last fall's 17th Party Congress, a key political meeting in wIn another blog posting, Mr. Hu wrote about China's political formulation known as "one country, two systems" under which Hong Kong is part of China yet is allowed a more democratic political system. Mr. Hu argued that all of China should be democratic.
Last year, Mr. Hu also co-wrote an article that criticized the Communist Party for failing to fulfill its Olympic promises to improve human rights before the Beijing Games, though that article apparently was not included as evidence.
Mr. Li said that Mr. Hu continues to maintain his innocence, though he
has acknowledged outside the courtroom that some of his comments were "excessive" in the context of existing law. All of the articles used as evidence have been censored on China's Internet.
China's subversion laws, like those over state secrets, are deliberately vague and grant prosecutors considerable leeway in determining "subversive" speech — even though freedom of speech is included in the Chinese constitution.
"The line between 'freedom of speech' and 'endangering state security' is very ambiguous," Mr. Li said. "In the criminal law, the article concerning subversion of state power contains only 30 words. And neither lawmakers of the judicial branch have given any further explanation."
The lawyer added that the defense team had tried during the trial to clarify what constituted free speech, and what did not. "Only in that way can we protect the freedom of speech from being restrained or disregarded in the name of state security," Mr. Li said.
Human rights groups have called for Mr. Hu's release and condemned his arrest and conviction.
Mr. Hu now has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the verdict. His health is also an issue; he has Hepatitis B and also takes medication for a deteriorating liver condition. Mr. Li said Mr. Hu has the option of applying for medical parole if he chooses not to appeal.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zeng, Mr. Hu's wife, was anguished. "I'm very disappointed and very pained," she said. "Yesterday, I thought he could be back home today."
Howard W. French contributed reporting from Shanghai. Zhang Jing contributed research from Beijing.