MCLC: Zhu Yufu jailed for inciting subversion

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Zhu Yufu jailed for inciting subversion
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Source: The Guardian (2/10/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/10/china-jails-dissident-zhu-yufu


China jails dissident Zhu Yufu over poem sent on Skype
Court in Hangzhou gives veteran activist seven-year prison sentence for
inciting subversion of state power
By Reuters in Beijing

A Chinese court has sentenced a veteran dissident to seven years in jail,
his son said.

Zhu Yufu was jailed for "inciting subversion of state power" by a court in
Hangzhou, eastern China, after a trial hearing on 31 January when
prosecutors cited a poem
<http://uncut.indexoncensorship.org/2012/01/zhu-yufu-subversion-poetry-chin
a/> and messages he had sent on the internet
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet>, his son Zhu Ang told
Reuters.

The poem said: "It's time, Chinese people! It's time. The Square belongs
to all." References to a "square" might evoke memories among many Chinese
people of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, though the poem did not mention it
or the 1989 pro-democracy protests.
Prosecutors also cited text messages that he sent using Skype. There was
no suggestion that the online chat service helped police to collect
evidence.

"The court verdict said this was a serious crime that deserved stern
punishment," said Zhu Ang, 31, who said he was allowed to attend the court
hearing with his mother. "Now my mother is terribly upset, even if we saw
this coming."

He said the verdict cited his father's online calls for mobilisation in
the name of democracy.

"Basically, the only chance that my father had to say anything was when he
was being taken out after the hearing, and he stopped and said: 'I want to
appeal.'"

The jailing comes as the Chinese vice-president, Xi Jinping, who is
expected to succeed Hu Jintao as Communist party chief later this year and
as state president from early next year, leaves on Monday for Washington,
where he is likely to face criticism over China's punishment of
independent political activity and clampdown in Tibetan areas.

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, who will host Xi, met advocates to
discuss the "deterioration" of rights in China, the White House said on
Thursday, signalling the issue is likely to figure in talks. At a briefing
about the trip, a senior Chinese diplomat, Cui Tiankai, indicated his
government would not welcome being publicly criticised by the Obama
administration over rights. "There are some people who always grab hold of
the human rights banner when they want to speak ill of China," he said.

The sentencing of Zhu followed the jailing of two other Chinese dissidents
in December who received prison terms of 10 and nine years on subversion
charges. Such charges are often used to punish ardent advocates of
democratic change.