[huridocs-tech] Chinese activist sentenced for posting material on Internet

DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK: South and East Asia

Chinese activist sentenced for posting material on
Internet<luxinhua-sentence.htm>
by Bobson Wong, Digital Freedom Network

(January 15, 2002) A member of the outlawed China Democracy Party (CDP) was
convicted of subversion yesterday and sentenced to four years in prison,
according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and
Democracy.

Lu Xinhua, founder of the Wuhan branch of the banned party, was detained on
March 11, 2001 in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province,
according to the Center. On April 20, he was formally charged with inciting
to subvert state power. He was sentenced by the Wuhan Intermediate Court.

Lu was convicted for an article of his in which he attacked Chinese
President Jiang Zemin. The article said that only a system of "mutual
supervision" and a more stable system of laws would reduce corruption in
China, according to Agence France-Presse. In recent years, China has
focused considerable resources on fighting government corruption.

The Center said that Lu was the most active dissident on the Internet in
Wuhan. He often posted on overseas Web sites essays promoting democracy in
China and reports on human rights violations in Wuhan.

Another activist on hunger strike

The Center also announced that Wang Jinbo, an activist who was sentenced
last month for using the Internet to send political material, had begun a
hunger strike on January 9 because prison guards have not permitted his
family to see him.

Wang was sentenced on December 13, 2001 by the Intermediate People's Court
in the Shandong city of Linyi. He was found guilty of several "crimes,"
including the publication of articles on the Internet from foreign Web
sites and the posting of a message on the Internet urging the Chinese to
re-evaluate the June 4, 1989 government crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.

Banned party

When China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
in October 1998, many pro-democracy activists in China felt they could play
more of a role in the country. Their optimism was short-lived. After
several dissidents tried to register the China Democracy Party (CDP) as an
official opposition political party in 1998, CDP members throughout China
were arrested. The party is now banned.

To date, at least 25 individuals are being detained by China for using the
Internet for political or religious purposes. (See the complete list at
http://dfn.org/focus/china/netattack.htm .)


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