Opinion | Chinese activist detained 'for inciting subversion of state power'

Activist and former independent candidate to the National People's Congress Liu Ping has been detained on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power after being taken away by state security officials last month. 

Shanghai-based legal scholar Zhang Xuezhong was informed of the charges against Liu at a police station in Xinyu, in southeastern China's Jiangxi province, on Tuesday when he filed a request to legally represent and meet her.

No further information was given to him and his request to immediately meet Liu had been denied, Zhang wrote on a Sina Weibo microblog, which has since been deleted. 

The East China University of Politics and Law scholar declined to speculate on what action might have led to the charges.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo is currently serving an 11-year sentence on the same charges. Whereas Chinese criminal law allows for jail terms of up to five years, longer sentences can be imposed in cases considered serious.

Liu Ping was one of eight people who were taken from their homes in Xinyu by unidentified men on April 27, said Jiang Xuehua, a fellow Jiangxi activist from Changzhou. "They were preparing to go to Suzhou for the Lin Zhao anniversary, when they were nabbed," she said.