Tue, Dec 10, 2013

Beijing police have recommended that state prosecutors bring charges against an anti-corruption activist campaigning for Chinese officials to reveal their wealth, saying he broke the law by organising demonstrations, lawyers have said.

Xu Zhiyong, who has also pushed for greater civil rights, was formally arrested in August in a case that has exposed shortcomings in the government's drive against deep-rooted corruption. Western governments have sparred repeatedly with Beijing over human rights and both the US and European Union have expressed concern about Xu's case.

Xu, founder of the "New Citizens' Movement", advocates working within the system to press for change. He had called on officials online to disclose their assets and fellow activists have gone into the streets to urge citizens to fight corruption.

In a letter of recommendation that Xu be prosecuted, Beijing police said he organised activities during which he hung banners in public calling for asset disclosure and equal access to education.

Xu has also campaigned for the right of children from rural areas, who lack the correct residence paperwork, to be educated in cities, where many live with their migrant worker parents.

Police said Xu's activities "created serious disturbances in public order in public places" and that he interfered with the work of public security officials, according to the document. Beijing police did not respond to a request for comment.

"This represents the opinion of the public security authorities. Usually, the prosecutors will not make any changes, or just a few small ones," said Si Weijiang, a lawyer who was initially hired as counsel but then not allowed to represent Xu. Si said it could be at least another month before the official letter of indictment is issued, and only after that would there be a trial.

Zhang Qingfang, a lawyer who has been allowed to represent Xu, said the trial could be six months away. "Right now it's difficult to say," he said.

China has detained at least 16 activists in the asset disclosure campaign, in what rights groups say is the new leadership's first crackdown on anti-corruption campaigners. Three of the activists went on trial last week in the poor southern province of Jiangxi.

Xi Jinping's appointment as Communist party chief in a once-in-a-decade leadership change last November had inspired many Chinese with hope for political reform, spurring citizens nationwide to push for the asset disclosures.

But the detentions suggest the Communist party will not tolerate any open challenge to its rule, despite the claims of greater transparency.

Xu has long been a thorn in the government's side. In 2009, he was briefly arrested on tax evasion charges which his defenders said were trumped up in an attempt to stifle his work. The charges were dropped after a public furore.