Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei accepts job at Berlin university

Celebrated Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said Thursday he will move to Germany to accept a new professorship, three months after his arrest amid a crackdown on dissidents sparked international outrage.

Meanwhile a company Ai allegedly controls faced tax evasion charges in a Beijing court.

The 54-year-old co-designer of Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium told AFP he was "very happy" to accept a guest professorship" at Berlin University of the Arts.

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"I hope to be able to contribute something important in the future," Ai told AFP by phone text message.

"We have been in contact with the university for over a year now, so it was not a new decision," he said, adding it was "not clear" when he would be able to leave China.

Ai was arrested for "economic crimes" on April 3 during a sweep of dissidents in China, triggering condemnation from Western governments, artists and human rights groups around the world.

Later charged with tax evasion, he was eventually released on bail on June 22 and ordered to remain in Beijing.

His provocative art as well as blogs and social campaigns against perceived injustices have made him one of the most outspoken and well-known critics of China's communist regime.

He received emergency surgery in Germany in 2009 for head injuries allegedly inflicted during a stint in police detention related to his work exposing corruption in the building of schools that collapsed in the Sichuan quake.

As the authorities hardened their stance on independent bloggers and dissidents earlier this year, his newly built Shanghai studio was torn down and he was prevented from attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for jailed writer Liu Xiaobo.

A month before his arrest Ai, who lived in New York for most of the 1980s, announced plans to set up a studio in Berlin.

"Most of my activities have been in Europe and I cannot really show my work in China… It's very discouraging what's happening here and if I want to continue to develop my work, I have to find a base," he said at the time.

In a separate development, a design firm allegedly controlled by Ai denied charges of tax evasion at a court hearing in Beijing.

Police have charged Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd. with evading "a huge amount of taxes" and destroying accounting documents.

Ai was not allowed to attend the proceedings.

"If we wish the modern society to function effectively, cases like this should be conducted openly with transparency and public witness," Ai was quoted as saying by CNN.

"Otherwise a lot of problems would emerge."