On December 23, Xu Wanping, a famous democracy and human rights activist in Chongqing City, was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment by the Chongqing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court on the charge of “trying to overthrow the government.” Later that day, Liu Yang, Xu’s defense lawyer who is the director of the Chongqing Fenghang law firm and was officially assigned to the Xu’s case, notified Xu’s wife, Chen Xianying, of the sentence.
On November 3, Xu Wanping was initially brought to a secret trial for “overthrowing the government” by the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. The formal document containing an accusation of the charge, was handed to the court on October 8, 2005 by the local procuratorate. However, as of today, the procuratorate and the court still refuse to provide a copy of this accusation to Chen Xianying.
At present, Chen Xianying is returning to Chongqing from her hometown in Hunan Province and she has not seen the verdict yet. She told an Epoch Times reporter that attorney Liu did not reveal more details to her; he only said that Xu Wanping had never admitted his guilt nor signed the verdict. Chen Xianying expressed that she would continue to appeal against the case.
Currently, a few lawyers fighting for justice are willing to accept Chen Xianying’s request to help Xu Wanping appeal. Before this, Chen Xianying hired Wen Haibo as Xu’s defense laywer, assistant to the famous Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, but was turned down by authorities who claimed that the lawyer could not meet with the litigant because it “pertains to national secrets.” During the trial, authorities refused to let relatives audit the trial by using that claim again.
Xu Wanping’s family and friends urgently has called upon the international society and friends inside and outside China to pay attention to this case. They are also appealing to the authorities concerned to correct this misjudged case and immediately release Xu Wanping on the verdict of not guilty.
Xu Wanping’s friends said that Xu Wanping always pursues principles of peace, rationality, and non-violence, while abiding by the law. He was always the promoter and impetus behind the country’s movement towards democracy. He is a person who never have an intention to overthrow the government. Therefore, the crime that has been imposed is the authorities’ extremely absurd behavior that violates administrative and judicial laws.
Xu’s friends also pointed out that early last June, the Chongqing police fabricated the “Xu Wanping Drug Scandal” by planting drugs on Xu Wanping. This time, so-called the charge of “overthrowing the government” is definitely another meticulous trick schemed by authorities to frame Xu Wanping.
Xu Wanping is 44 years old. He was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and lost his job because he joined the June 4 democracy movement in 1989 and later prepared to establish the “China Action Party” to abolish the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In 1998, for organizing the “China Democracy Party,” Xu Wanping was sentenced to three years of imprisonment by the CCP authorities using the fabricated charge of “instigating laid-off workers to cause trouble.”
In 2001, after his prison term, Xu became actively involved in activities of pushing forward China’s democracy, justice, human rights, and freedom of social activities.
The day before June 4, 2004, Xu was framed by authorities for concealing heroin. After being beaten by the anti-drug public security team, he was even tied to a chair for 48 hours.
