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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, February 11, 2012

China: Seven years in prison for reading a poem



Communism in Action . . . .
Court gives veteran activist seven-year prison sentence for inciting "subversion" of state power with a poem.


A Chinese court has sentenced a veteran dissident to seven years in jail, his son said.

Zhu Yufu was jailed for "inciting subversion of state power" by a court in Hangzhou, eastern China, after a trial hearing on 31 January when prosecutors cited a poem and messages he had sent on the internet, his son Zhu Ang told Reuters.

Zhu Yufu
The poem said: "It's time, Chinese people! It's time. The Square belongs to all." References to a "square" might evoke memories among many Chinese people of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, though the poem did not mention it or the 1989 pro-democracy protests.

Prosecutors also cited text messages that he sent using Skype.

"The court verdict said this was a serious crime that deserved stern punishment," said Zhu Ang, 31, who said he was allowed to attend the court hearing with his mother. "Now my mother is terribly upset, even if we saw this coming."

He said the verdict cited his father's online calls for mobilization in the name of democracy.

The sentencing of Zhu followed the jailing of two other Chinese dissidents in December who received prison terms of 10 and nine years on subversion charges. Such charges are often used to punish ardent advocates of democratic change.
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(UK Guardian)

Proper thinking will be rewarded by the Party.


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