A NUMBER of Falun Gong leaders will be taken to court this week as human rights groups protested against secret trials of members of the banned group.
Authorities in the northern city of Shijiazhuang have accused a branch leader of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement of revealing state secrets and are likely to sentence him this week, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.
Duan Rongxin and another Falun Gong member, Xiu Xinmu, had been accused of circulating on the Internet contents of government documents preparing the June crackdown on the movement.
A member of Xiu's family said Xiu was sentenced this week, but the court has refused to give them details of the sentence.
Human rights groups protested against the secret trial and urged the international community to put pressure on China to stop the purge.
The centre said Duan's sentence was also likely to be kept secret.
