Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong goes on trial
The founder of a grassroots movement to boost accountability for China’s officials has gone trial on charges of disrupting public order but stayed silent during the closed-door proceedings in protest, his lawyer said.
The trial against New Citizens founder Xu Zhiyong reflects determination by the administration of leader Xi Jinping to quash the loosely knit activists before they can challenge Communist Party rule, even though their goals largely overlap with the party’s stated drive to root out public corruption and build a fairer society.
“If it is a crime to demand a clean government, to ask officials to declare assets, and to demand equity in education, then how can this country have equality and justice?” said Du Guowang, an activist for education equity with no link to the movement. “This government has no confidence, but is fearful.”
Xu has participated in small public rallies that have, among other issues, called for officials to declare their assets as a way of curbing corruption - something party leaders have expressed willingness to consider, but have resisted while pushing a high-profile crackdown.
The proceedings opened on the day a US-based journalist group released a report linking relatives of Mr Xi and other political leaders to offshore tax havens, renewing allegations that the communist elite has benefited from China’s economic boom and hidden the proceeds overseas.
Since April last year, authorities have detained about 17 people linked to the New Citizens movement, putting three of them on trial in the south-eastern province of Jiangxi late last year. No verdict has been issued for the Jiangxi trials.
The trial against Xu opened the second round of prosecutions. At least six other activists will appear in court this week in Beijing, and political and legal observers believe all will be found guilty and jailed for several years.
Xu stayed quiet in court as a way of protesting against what he considered the trial’s injustice, according to a brief account sent by text message by his lawyer, Zhang Qingfang. The charges against Xu stem from public gatherings at which activists unfurled banners calling for asset disclosures or equality in education.
Willy Lam, a political observer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that the New Citizens group drew the attention of authorities partly because the movement had adherents in several provinces.
“The government has no rational reason to arrest them, to prosecute these people,” Mr Lam said.
“But it is seen as a threat to political stability. It has a cross-provincial network, and that’s a big no-no.”
The US Embassy in Beijing has called for the immediate release of Xu, saying the prosecution is “retribution for his public campaign to expose official corruption and for the peaceful expression of his views”.
More than a dozen diplomats from the US, European Union, Britain, Canada and Australia turned up to attend the trial but were told the courtroom was too small to accommodate them, and that foreign nationals have no place in a case against a Chinese national, according to the diplomats.
A large group of police – in uniform and plain clothes – prevented reporters and Xu’s supporters from getting near the courthouse, and were seen hauling people away.
State media outlets have alleged that the movement is aimed at subverting China’s state with backing from the West. “They want to forcibly change or even subvert China’s basic political system,” an editorial in the state-run nationalist newspaper Global Times said last month.
