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Dec 21, 2009
Dissident to be tried Wed
<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> BEIJING - LEADING Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo will be tried this week on subversion charges, his wife said on Monday, more than a year after he was detained following his co-authoring of a bold pro-democracy petition. 'He will be tried on Wednesday,' his wife Liu Xia told AFP by phone. 'I have no hope whatsoever, I can't even attend the trial.' The 53-year-old writer, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, was arrested last December after co-authouring Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for greater democracy in China. Rights groups in China said they had feared that after holding Liu for more than a year without trial, officials would rush the case through the courts during the Western holiday season in a bid to attract less global attention. 'We are seriously concerned that Liu will not get a fair and open trial, and his legal rights will not be respected,' said Jiang Yingying, a researcher for China Human Rights Defenders. Both the United States and European Union have urged China to free Liu and end the harassment and detention of political dissidents - calls that Beijing has rejected as 'unacceptable.' Liu's case will be heard at the Beijing Number One Intermediate People's Court, Liu Xia said. -- AFP
Home > Breaking News > Asia > Story
Dec 21, 2009
Dissident to be tried Wed
<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> BEIJING - LEADING Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo will be tried this week on subversion charges, his wife said on Monday, more than a year after he was detained following his co-authoring of a bold pro-democracy petition. 'He will be tried on Wednesday,' his wife Liu Xia told AFP by phone. 'I have no hope whatsoever, I can't even attend the trial.' The 53-year-old writer, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, was arrested last December after co-authouring Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for greater democracy in China. Rights groups in China said they had feared that after holding Liu for more than a year without trial, officials would rush the case through the courts during the Western holiday season in a bid to attract less global attention. 'We are seriously concerned that Liu will not get a fair and open trial, and his legal rights will not be respected,' said Jiang Yingying, a researcher for China Human Rights Defenders. Both the United States and European Union have urged China to free Liu and end the harassment and detention of political dissidents - calls that Beijing has rejected as 'unacceptable.' Liu's case will be heard at the Beijing Number One Intermediate People's Court, Liu Xia said. -- AFP
