Chinese dissident to plead not guilty
56 mins ago
BEIJING – A Chinese dissident who criticized the government's response to a massive earthquake last year that left almost 90,000 people dead or missing will plead not guilty in a state secrets trial that opens next week, his lawyer said Thursday.
Mo Shaoping, who will represent the activist Huang Qi, said the trial, starting next Wednesday at a court in Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan, will be closed to the public.
Huang is charged with illegally possessing state secrets, an ill-defined charge often used by Communist leaders to clamp down on dissent and imprison activists.
"Huang Qi has denied the accusations to me," Mo said in a phone interview. "We intend to plead not guilty, firstly because we don't believe this is a case of state secrets and secondly because we don't think he obtained any information illegally."
Mo, one of China's best-known human rights lawyers, said the "state secrets" charge meant he could not discuss the specifics of the case.
Huang had posted articles on his Web site 64Tianwang.com criticizing the government's response to the May 2008 magnitude-7.9 temblor after visiting affected areas and meeting parents whose children died in the collapse of badly built schools.
Public complaints by parents, who blamed corruption and shoddy construction, have become an extremely sensitive issue.
Human rights groups said Huang was forcibly taken away by three unknown men on June 10 and police informed his mother six days later that he had been detained.
Mo said Huang, 45, who is in police custody, has not been allowed visits from his family since his detention.
56 mins ago
BEIJING – A Chinese dissident who criticized the government's response to a massive earthquake last year that left almost 90,000 people dead or missing will plead not guilty in a state secrets trial that opens next week, his lawyer said Thursday.
Mo Shaoping, who will represent the activist Huang Qi, said the trial, starting next Wednesday at a court in Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan, will be closed to the public.
Huang is charged with illegally possessing state secrets, an ill-defined charge often used by Communist leaders to clamp down on dissent and imprison activists.
"Huang Qi has denied the accusations to me," Mo said in a phone interview. "We intend to plead not guilty, firstly because we don't believe this is a case of state secrets and secondly because we don't think he obtained any information illegally."
Mo, one of China's best-known human rights lawyers, said the "state secrets" charge meant he could not discuss the specifics of the case.
Huang had posted articles on his Web site 64Tianwang.com criticizing the government's response to the May 2008 magnitude-7.9 temblor after visiting affected areas and meeting parents whose children died in the collapse of badly built schools.
Public complaints by parents, who blamed corruption and shoddy construction, have become an extremely sensitive issue.
Human rights groups said Huang was forcibly taken away by three unknown men on June 10 and police informed his mother six days later that he had been detained.
Mo said Huang, 45, who is in police custody, has not been allowed visits from his family since his detention.
