Brother-in-law says verdict for China dissident accused of subversion will be Friday

Verdict for Chinese dissident due Friday

BEIJING — A court tried a high-profile Chinese dissident Wednesday on subversion charges after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance.

Liu Xiaobo was detained a year ago, just before the release of an unusually direct appeal for political liberalization he co-authored called Charter 08. More than 300 people, including some of China’s top intellectuals, signed it before it was released.

The defendant’s brother-in-law, Liu Hui, said Wednesday’s trial lasted about two hours and that prosecutors accused him of “serious” crimes. He said the verdict would come Friday on Christmas Day, in what would be the latest example of authorities moving against activists around major holidays — a pattern rights groups say is aimed at having the prosecutions go unnoticed.

Liu Hui was allowed into the No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing, but authorities kept out U.S. and other diplomats and the defendant’s wife, Liu Xia.

The vaguely worded charge of inciting to subvert state power is routinely used to jail dissidents and carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

Liu Hui said the prosecution did not say what sort of jail term they wanted if Liu Xiaobo is found guilty.

“The prosecution said that the crime was a serious one, with serious incidents,” Liu Hui said.

Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organizing the Charter 08 appeal, but others who signed it have reported being harassed.

Abolishing the law on inciting to subvert state power is among the reforms advocated in Charter 08. “We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes,” the petition says.

Liu Hui said his brother-in-law admitted “to practicing his freedom of speech, but did not admit to trying to overturn the state’s power.”

“There are no activities, or violent actions that can sustain an accusation of inciting to subvert state power,” Liu Hui said.

He said Liu Xiaobo appeared to be healthy and in good spirits.

The United States and European Union have urged Beijing to free Liu, and sent diplomats to the courthouse Wednesday.

“We were told all the passes were given out. We understand no one can get in,” Gregory May, first secretary of the U.S. Embassy, said before the start of the trial.

“We call on the government of China to release him immediately. We urge that any judicial proceedings be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.”

Nicolas Weeks, the first secretary of the Swedish Embassy, said diplomats from at least 15 countries were outside the court. Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

Lawyer Shang Baojun, who was swarmed by media and police when he arrived, said earlier that Liu planned to plead not guilty at the No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing.

Liu Xia said she has not seen or spoken to her husband since March, when police arranged a short, supervised meeting in a Beijing hotel room.

Liu Xia said Tuesday that she had been told she could not attend her husband’s trial. The only other family member allowed into the court was Liu Xiaobo’s younger brother.

Human Rights Watch, the China-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders and others have said some of Liu’s supporters in China, including prominent bloggers, were warned not to try to attend the trial or write about it online.

“The only purpose of this trial is to dress up naked political repression in the trappings of legal proceedings,” Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The New York-based Human Rights in China said in a statement Tuesday that one of the original signers of Charter 08, Zhang Boshu, was fired Monday from China’s top think tank, the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In the statement, Zhang said he had been fired because of his articles promoting constitutional reform.

Associated Press writer Isolda Morillo contributed to this report.