'Super Vulgar Butcher', Chinese activist, may face subversion charge

Police in Fujian province have applied to prosecution authorities to formally charge a detained activist nicknamed "Super Vulgar Butcher" with subversion, defamation and provoking trouble, his lawyer said on Sunday.

Lawyer Yan Xin said prosecution authorities in Xiamen informed him on Saturday that city police had applied for permission to formally arrest "Butcher", whose real name is Wu Gan, on three criminal charges: "inciting the subversion of state power", defamation and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".

Yan said that after police submitted a request to formally arrest a suspect, prosecution authorities had seven days to decide whether to grant permission. The prosecution is expected to make a decision by July 3.

Yan said if Wu, an influential online campaigner, was convicted of all the charges, he was likely to be jailed for more than 10 years.

A Xiamen City People's Procuratorate staff member who answered the phone on Sundaysaid he was unable to answer press inquiries.

Wu, 43, was detained by police in Jiangxi province on May 27 on two criminal charges: defamation and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", after he set up a mock grave outside the Jiangxi high court targeting the court chief.

Wu had gone to Jiangxi a week earlier to join a protest staged by four lawyers over a rape and murder case, which allegedly involved the torture and jailing of four innocent people.