Renowned Chinese journalist Yang Tianshui was sentenced to 12 years in jail for subversion by a secret tribunal on Tuesday, May 16. The secret court, located in Zhenjiang City in Jiangsu Province, did not allow his friends or relatives to attend the court hearing. The written judgment will be issued after five days of this pronouncement.
On the day of the trial, dozens of dissidents from across the country including Zhao Xin, Li Hai, Yang Zaixin, Chen Shuqing, Zhang Jiankang, Liu Jingsheng, Zeng Ning, Chen Xi, Li Renke, Liao Shuangyuan, Li Guotao, Deng Yongliang, and Fan Ziliang held a 24-hour hunger strike to support Yang Tianshui and protest the sham trial.
Yang Tianshui, born Yang Tongyan, graduated from the History Department of Beijing Normal University in 1982. In 1990, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the charge of “counter-revolution.” After being released in May 2000, he continued to work on promoting democracy in China. On December 24, 2004, Yang was detained by the Chinese authorities for his “suspected involvement in instigating subversion of the state power.” On January 24, 2005, he was released on bail pending trial. On December 23, 2005, he was abducted from in front of his home by local national security officers and later placed formally under arrest for the “subversion of state power.”
Yang Tianshui Protests By Not Making an Appeal
Attorney Li Jianqiang disclosed that Yang Tianshui entered a plea of not guilty to the charges filed against him at his trial. Attorneys Li Jianqiang and Lan Fang also openly acted as defense lawyers for Yang Tianshui.
So far, Yang Tianshui has no plans to appeal because he regards his trial as illegal. Attorney Li Jianqiang said that Yang refused to appeal to a higher court in protesting the legality of the court.
Pronouncing the Judgment at the Court Is Rare
As for pronouncing the judgment in court, Zhao Xin and Zeng Ning both said that it is rare, and against all expectations. The majority of similar cases had their judgment pronounced on a chosen date after the trial–some cases can drag on like this for a very long time.
