{"id":8215,"date":"2017-03-31T10:37:53","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=8215"},"modified":"2017-03-31T10:37:53","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:37:53","slug":"an-absurd-verdict-jail-terms-for-china-activists-who-voiced-support-for-hong-kongs-pro-democracy-occupy-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/an-absurd-verdict-jail-terms-for-china-activists-who-voiced-support-for-hong-kongs-pro-democracy-occupy-protests","title":{"rendered":"An \u2018absurd verdict\u2019: Jail terms for China activists who voiced support for Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy Occupy protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two activists who voiced support on social media for Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy Occupy protests in 2014 have been sentenced to jail terms by a court in\u00a0Guangdong, south China, on Friday.<\/header>\n

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Su was found guilty of \u201cincitement to subvert state power\u201d by the Foshan Intermediate Court and sentenced to three years imprisonment. She was also stripped of her political rights for three years.<\/p>\n

\"su<\/p>\n

Su Changlan (left) and Chen Qitang (right). Photo: Apple Daily.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAn extremely absurd verdict,\u201d her lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said on his Twitter account. \u201cWhen announcing the judgement, they only read the prosecution\u2019s allegations and the court\u2019s decision, and didn\u2019t mention\u00a0the defence lawyer\u2019s arguments. After the verdict, they didn\u2019t ask Su Changlan whether she would appeal before banging the gavel\u00a0and saying that the adjudication was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another activist Chen Qitang \u2013 a freelance writer \u2013 was sentenced to four years and six months for the same charge, in a closely related case. He\u00a0took photos of the Occupy camp in Central and uploaded them on Chinese social network WeChat, and also voiced support for Su, according<\/a> to RTHK.<\/p>\n

Liu also said on Twitter\u00a0that the court did not allow Su to raise additional arguments in her defence as the hearing began.<\/p>\n

Su\u00a0was detained in October 2014 after making comments on social media in support of Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy Occupy movement.\u00a0She\u00a0previously worked as a volunteer for the New York-based Women\u2019s Rights in China group, and has been a long time campaigner for women\u2019s and children\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\"occupy<\/p>\n

Occupy protests in Admiralty. File Photo: HKFP\/Tom Grundy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Both Su and Chen were\u00a0tried in April last year, but the court repeatedly delayed\u00a0its verdict<\/a>. The two years and five months Su has already been detained\u00a0will count towards her sentence. The verdict says she will be released on October 26.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s verdicts, photos of which Liu uploaded to Twitter, said that Su, by fabricating rumours and slander, submitted\u00a0articles and commentary on online media many times, which \u201ccreated an influence, attacking the socialist system, [and] inciting others to subvert state power.\u201d<\/p>\n

It mentioned articles she submitted\u00a0to overseas websites such as Canyu.org, and the Women\u2019s Rights in China website.\u00a0Chen\u2019s verdict said he was guilty of similar actions, citing articles he submitted to overseas site Aboluowang. The titles of the articles cited did not refer to Occupy.<\/p>\n

According to the parts of the verdict that Liu posted online, Su\u2019s\u00a0defence lawyers argued that she\u00a0lacked an objective intent to incite subversion. She said in her own defence that she did not personally post the content online and that she was only recording factual events, not fabricating them.<\/p>\n

\"umbrella<\/p>\n

Photo: Tom Grundy\/HKFP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chen\u2019s defence lawyers argued that although the content of his articles was sharp,\u00a0they did not create a real and pressing threat to national security, and Chen was only exercising his right to freedom of expression. The verdict said he will serve time until May 24, 2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Extremely vague\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amnesty International researcher Patrick Poon told HKFP: \u201cSu Changlan and Chen Qitang shouldn\u2019t have been detained in the first place. They were just exercising their freedom of expression. The definition of \u2018inciting subversion of state power\u2019 is extremely vague. It\u2019s just difficult to imagine how writing articles online and posting messages in chat groups can incite people to subvert a state power which has been ruling China for over 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[W]hen they were first detained, they were accused of supporting the Hong Kong protests,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, that\u2019s not mentioned in the indictment and verdict. By sentencing them on the same day and the pre-arranged arrest of the nine people leading the Occupy protests, the Chinese and Hong Kong governments seem to be sending messages to discredit the Umbrella Movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe repeated delay in the court hearing is also incomprehensible, and violates the international human rights principle of fair trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Occupy<\/p>\n

Occupy protests. File Photo: HKFP\/Tom Grundy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The pair were targeted as part of a nationwide crackdown in mainland China between September and November 2014, which saw at least 100 people detained for expressing support for Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, the NGO\u00a0said in a press release.\u00a0The Chinese government views the Occupy protests as illegal acts\u00a0backed by \u201cforeign forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine Occupy activists in Hong Kong learned earlier this week that they would be charged with public nuisance. They received phone calls from police more than two years after the demonstrations ended\u00a0\u2013 and just a day after Sunday\u2019s chief executive election.<\/p>\n

Source\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/2017\/03\/31\/absurd-verdict-jail-terms-china-activists-voiced-support-hong-kongs-pro-democracy-occupy-protests\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two activists who voiced support on soci … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,43,1403,1333],"tags":[425,1130,1700],"views":7797,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8216,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8215\/revisions\/8216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}