Democracy advocate charged with subversion

Updated June 25, 2009 11:44:18

A leading Chinese activist, jailed since last December, has been charged with subversion after calling for improved human rights in China.

Liu Xiaobo is a prominent scholar who has been in prison before for his support of the democracy movement. Amnesty International has condemned the arrest and called for his immediate release.

Presenter: Karon Snowdon
Speaker: Roseann Rife, Asia Pacific deputy program director, Amnesty International

SNOWDON: Fifty-three year old former university professor, Liu Xiaobo, was jailed in 1989 for his part in the Tiamamen Square democracy protests.

He was again arrested six months ago for signing a pro democracy petition, Charter 08.

He was held in an unknown location, denied access to a lawyer, and has only now been formally charged.

The police statement quoted in the official media says he has been 'engaged in agitation activities, such as spreading of rumours and defaming of the government, aimed at subversion of the state and overthrowing the socialism system in recent years'.

Amnesty International has been calling for his unconditional release since his arrest in December.

Deputy Asia Pacific programme director, Roseann Rife, says Mr Liu could face years in jail.

RIFE: This is yet again this using of state security charges simply to silence people who are expressing opinions that the state doesn't like.

SNOWDON: Has he broken the law?

RIFE: Again, the state security laws are so vaguely written, and the other problem is that the minute state security is mentioned everything is removed from public view. But as far as we can tell this is absolutely just punishment for trying to urge reform.

SNOWDON: So, there's no specific law that he has broken in putting his signature to a document calling for improved human rights in China - as far as you know?

RIFE: The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution and that would certainly cover the signing of a document that is urging for reform. That is well within the legal system and his rights as a Chinese citizen, absolutely.

SNOWDON: Charter 08 called for political and human rights reform in China.

It was signed by about 300 others, but while many have been questioned, Liu Xiaobo is thought to be the only one charged so far.

The charges are a high profile statement by the authorities ahead of preparations for the 60th anniversary in October of the establishment of the Communist regime.

Amnesty's Roseann Rife says many of the demands in Charter 08 went further than the general statements in the Human Rights Action Plan, issued in April by the government, for implementation in two years.

RIFE: That's the ironic part of this, actually, that many of the things that the signatories of Charter 08 called for are actually the same sort of items that are mentioned in the national Human Rights Action Plan. So, I think you'll see a continued push, people actually urging the government to implement those rights.

SNOWDON: Do you see any changes in China over the last few years that give you any hope that things will change - albeit slowly over time in China - over these sorts of things?

RIFE: I think, we're seeing two different opposing forces, if you will, over the last two years. You've seen the authorities have really cracked down on human rights defenders like Liu Xiaobo. At the same time there's a growing movement of activists throughout the country. So, I think that is an optimistic sign that eventually it'll be impossible to stop this movement.

SNOWDON: But you're seeing the authorities, in your words, cracking down in the last couple of years against this very movement?

RIFE: Absolutely. Unfortunately, we saw the crackdown start in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

SNOWDON: So, are things worse now to your mind?

RIFE: In the last couple of years, yes, absolutely, it has become worse.