China to try critic of government's quake response

[Coventina]

Source: Washington Post

BEIJING -- A Chinese court on Monday abruptly scheduled a trial for an activist who criticized the government's response to last year's devastating Sichuan earthquake, giving his lawyer only one day to prepare and prompting him to mount an immediate legal challenge.

Huang Qi's lawyer Mo Shaoping said the judge told him Monday that the trial would start Tuesday morning, leaving less than 24 hours for Mo to look through the indictment and build a defense against the charge of possessing state secrets.

"This is a totally illegal process," Mo said. "They are intentionally creating difficulties."

He said the law requires that the defendant be informed 10 days before the trial starts, while lawyers need to be told at least three days ahead. His assistant has gone to the Wuhou District Court to see if the trial date can be changed.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020200095.html

[scytherius]

1. China is a Republican's wet dream. nt

nt