China jails activists for urging officials to disclose assets, says lawyer
Four New Citizens’ Movement activists sentenced by Beijing court for 'gathering a crowd to disturb public order' after they called on officials to reveal their assets
China sentenced four activists to jail for up to three-and-a-half years on Friday for urging officials to reveal their assets, a lawyer said, the latest convictions in a crackdown on dissent that has drawn international criticism.
The sentences mark China’s latest rebuff of the West’s condemnation of what it calls the suppression of free expression that some rights groups say is the worst in recent years.
Ding Jiaxi was sentenced to three-and-a-half years, Zhao Changqing got a two-and-a-half year sentence and Li Wei and Zhang Baocheng got two-year terms, the Haidian court in Beijing said on its microblog. They were charged with “gathering a crowd to disturb public order”, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
But Sui Muqing, a lawyer representing Ding, said the real reason for the convictions was that the activists had pressed for government officials to disclose their assets.
“It’s nothing but an announcement to the world ... that calling on officials to disclose their assets is a crime.”
“It’s nothing but an announcement to the world that we can’t mention asset disclosure and that calling on officials to disclose their assets is a crime,” Sui told reporters by telephone.