Chinese political activist imprisoned for organizing against government corruption

In an ideal world, an organization pushing for legal justice and transparency around state officials’ assets would have been embraced by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption and law enforcement campaigns.

But in reality, the founder of the organization was put in prison for doing exactly what Xi has advocated.

Xu Zhiyong, a political activist and a legal scholar was sentenced to four years in jail on Jan. 26, right before the 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year. He was found guilty for “gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place.”

“It made a mockery of the recent speeches by President Xi Jinping and leaders of the Supreme People’s Court emphasizing the need the prevent further wrongful convictions by requiring verification of evidence in open, fair court hearings,” wrote Jerome A. Cohen, the co-director and professor of the US-Asia Law Institute at New York University School of Law in an editorial on South China Morning Post.

Xu, a 40-year-old law lecturer at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, organized the New Citizen Movement in 2012, an affiliation advocating the rule of law, equal access to education and more open government.

The group was regarded as a loose organization with around 5,000 participants across the country. Occasionally they have organized quietly to have dinners together and discuss social and political injustices. According to Xu’s own explanation of the movement, the group has no intention to “overthrow” anything, but to “establish” justice and grant more rights to citizens.

As the first high-profile legal and political activist detained under President Xi’s leadership, Xu’s sentence was a big blow to the confidence of those who believed the new administration would be more tolerant towards political dissidents or activists.

According to Human Right Watch, the government has arrested 18 members of the group since last April. The verdict was widely criticized abroad. The US Department of State immediately released its press statement saying “the United States is deeply disappointed by reports that a Chinese court has convicted prominent Chinese legal scholar,” and asked for the immediate release of Xu.

Conversely, China’s state-owned media are widely running editorials against Xu, calling the verdict “righteous” and “ helping make the bottom line clear.” Global Times, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, published a commentary saying, “China wishes to have a steady society and must remain vigilant on potential social upheaval. ”

Xu and his lawyer remained silent during most time on the trial, knowing the verdict on such dissident cases in China are mostly predetermined by officials. But Xu used his closing statement to deliver an impassioned manifesto, saying he is not guilty because China’s constitutional guaranteed what he has done.

According to an interview of Xu’s lawyer Zhang Qingfang in the New York Times, the judge only allowed Xu to read through his closing statement for about 10 minutes before stopping him and calling it irrelevant.

But the Microsoft Word document of his closing statement was quickly circulated among Chinese social networks after the verdict, sparking wide discussion on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China before officials deleted it. The English version of his statement was first published on China Change, a commentary blog for rights activists in China, and was widely quoted by foreign media.

Xu’s verdict came right before the 2014 Chinese New Year, an occasion where families meet and celebrate. Only two weeks before his sentence, Xu’s wife Cui Zheng gave birth to their daughter.

“My delivery was smooth, but it felt unusually painful,” Cui wrote in an open letter in Chinese to Xu last week, “I don’t want you to give up, even if there is only a theoretical chance of success.”