Leading Chinese Activist Formally Charged

BEIJING – Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo, who co-authored a manifesto calling for sweeping reforms to China's rigid political system, was arrested for activities allegedly aimed at overthrowing the country's socialist system, state media said Wednesday.

Reuters

Veteran Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo in a March 1995 file photo.

Mr. Liu has been in police custody since they took him away on Dec. 8, a day before the political document was released.

"Liu has been engaged in agitation activities, such as the spreading of rumors and defaming of the government, aimed at subversion of the state and overthrowing the socialism system in recent years," Xinhua News Agency quoted a Beijing police statement as saying.

It gave no other details. Mr. Liu's lawyer said he has not been informed officially of the charges.

It marks the highest-profile arrest of a Chinese dissident since human rights activist Hu Jia was detained last year ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Mr. Hu was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for sedition last April.

China has always reacted sharply to any challenges to its one-party system, but is also cracking down on any dissent ahead of a gala celebrating the communist regime's 60th anniversary on Oct. 1.

Mr. Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he was only made aware of the Xinhua report when journalists started calling him for confirmation.

According to Xinhua, police have obtained permission from the courts to arrest Mr. Liu on suspicion of committing a crime. Mr. Mo said this indicates the investigation into Mr. Liu's case is still continuing and that he has yet to be formally charged. The next step would be indictment.

Agitating to subvert is a less serious charge than subversion and can be punished with five years in prison or less, or a period of deprivation of political rights, Mr. Mo said. Subversion carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mr. Liu, 53, is a former university professor who spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square.

In his writings, most published only on the Internet, Mr. Liu has called for civil rights and political reform, making him subject to routine harassment by authorities.

He was among more than 300 lawyers, writers, scholars and artists who signed "Charter 08" in December calling for a new constitution guaranteeing human rights, election of public officials, freedom of religion and expression, and an end to the Communist Party's hold over the military, courts and government.

Police detained Mr. Liu a day ahead of the charter's release, possibly because they considered him a key organizer, in addition to his role in drafting and revising the document, Mr. Mo has said.

The singling out of Mr. Liu for prosecution also seems to be an effort to warn others involved in the charter. Other signatories have been called in for talks with police but not arrested. A Peking University law professor, He Weifang, was reassigned to a post in the far western Xinjiang region after signing the document in an apparent rebuke.

Earlier this month, the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, called for Mr. Liu's "immediate and unconditional release." She also wrote a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao last month asking that Mr. Liu and other Chinese "prisoners of conscience" be released.

Mr. Liu has been held in an unknown location since December. The San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said earlier this month he was being kept at a hotel on the outskirts of Beijing – a claim that could not be verified.

Chinese law limits such "house arrest" to six months and Mr. Mo demanded on June 8 that Mr. Liu be released immediately, saying that it was illegal to hold him any longer.