2014-11-27
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Photo courtesy of Guo Feixiong
Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou will try two prominent rights activists on Friday on public order offenses after they took part in street protests for press freedom and called for greater government transparency and protection for human rights.
Activists Yang Maodong, better known by his nickname Guo Feixiong, and Sun Sihuo, better known as Sun Desheng, will stand trial at the Tianhe District People’s Court in Guangzhou on charges of “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order.”
Both men were detained in August 2013, several months after taking part in anti-censorship protests outside the cutting-edge Southern Weekly newspaper buildings in Guangzhou, and after they called on Chinese leaders to declare details of their own and their families’ assets.
“[Guo Feixiong] will be pleading not guilty, and has prepared a very full defense,” his defense lawyer Zhang Lei told RFA after visiting his client in the Tianhe District Detention Center on Thursday. “We were able to discuss some of the details of tomorrow’s trial.”
Petition
Guo was detained in Aug. 8, 2013 after he petitioned the government to ratify U.N. human rights treaties.
However, his case was sent back for further investigation twice by the state prosecution service in Guangzhou’s Tianhe district, leading to repeated delays in the trial.
Zhang hit out at Guo’s treatment at the hands of the police-run detention center, as well as the repeated extension of his pretrial detention.
“He has been detained now for 469 days straight, and has no access to outdoor exercise, which is clearly in breach of the rules governing detention centers,” he said.
“There have been a number of illegal breaches of due process in this case, which have negatively impacted my client’s right to a defense lawyer,” Zhang added. “This has violated my client’s basic human rights, and we will be pointing this out during the trial.”
Sun’s lawyer, Chen Jinxue, said he was surprised to find his client in manacles as the trial approached.
“He has been subjected to ill-treatment in the detention center, and he has been wearing manacles and leg irons for more than a week now…even to meet with his lawyer,” Chen said. “Manacles and leg irons are usually only used on suspects of serious crime.”
“He has also been unable to receive clothing and bedding [from his family] inside the detention center.”
