Shanghai Court Sentences Petitioner Xu Zhengqing to Three Years in Prison

A local court in Shanghai sentenced petitioner Xu Zhengqing to three years in prison on October 17, according to reports available through Human Rights in China (HRIC) and the International Herald Tribune. Xu has been in police custody since January 29, when he traveled to Beijing to attend memorial services for former senior leader Zhao Ziyang. The Shanghai Putuo District Procuratorate charged Xu with "creating disturbances," a crime punishable by up to five years imprisonment under Article 293 of China's Criminal Law.

According to a June 28 press release from HRIC, petitioners who had joined Xu in Beijing issued an open letter to protest his prosecution and to cite contradictions between official accusations and the events that they witnessed. HRIC's October 17 press release notes that the procuratorate twice rejected proposed indictments from public security officials, sending Xu's case back for further investigation before charging him. The formal indictment based charges against Xu on his disruption of public order by failing to pay a bus fare, causing congestion in the corridor of a train, and drawing attention from a crowd on a train platform.

Despite a general requirement under Article 152 of China's Criminal Procedure Law that trial judges open their proceedings to the public, the judges excluded all but six of Xu's family members and friends from his September 13 trial and October 17 sentencing. Public security officials took into custody at least 20 fellow petitioners gathered outside the courthouse on September 13. They took into custody about a dozen fellow petitioners on October 17, including defense witnesses Ai Furong, Chen Daili, and Chen Xiuqin.

Both HRIC and the Chinese Rights Defenders note that Xu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, could not defend him during sentencing because proceedings took place while Mo was out of the country. According to Reporters Without Borders, Mo received only four days' notice and was unable to reach Xiaogan city, Hubei province, in time for the May 18, 2004 trial of another dissident client, Du Daobin. Labor Rights Now notes that Mo received only four days' notice and instructions to undergo 10 days of quarantine for the SARS virus in 2003, forcing him to miss the January 15 trial of dissident laborers Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yuliang.