Communists’ big push to stifle voices of dissent

CHINA

COMMUNIST authorities in Beijing are to purge a large number of activists, human rights lawyers and academics in an attempt to destroy a small club of liberal thinkers and ‘‘clear the air’’ of criticism before the Chinese New Year.

With the country 10 days away from the holiday that will usher in the Year of the Horse, at least nine members of the heavily-persecuted New Citizens’ Movement are to appear in court over the next week.

They face trials described by lawyers involved as a ‘‘humiliating’’ mockery of proper legal procedure. Some of the defendants have endured days of interrogation, while lawyers have been restricted from meeting their clients and denied free access to video evidence. One of China’s most famous dissidents said that the unprecedented concentration of court dates was proof that Beijing was in a state of panic.

To push so hard to propel nine trials through the courts before the new year suggested that the Communist leadership regarded crushing domestic dissent as a bigger concern than the inter- national reputation of its legal system, said Hu Jia, a formerly imprisoned activist.

The nine include Xu Zhiyong, 40, a university teacher and new father who co-founded the New Citizens’ Movement in 2012 and who has been in detention since July. Hours after his wife gave birth last week, authorities at the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court set the timing of Dr Xu’s trial for today. With lawyers expecting him to receive the maximum penalty for ‘‘assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place’’, Xu is unlikely to see his son before the boy is 5.

Zhang Qingfang, who will act as Xu’s lawyer this week, said that his client planned to remain silent during the trial because the judges had denied his request that witnesses and co-defendants named in the case should be allowed to testify in court.

The trials could lead to individual activists facing many years in jail on charges traditionally used by the Communist authorities to stifle voices of dissent. In the past, people have been detained for carrying umbrellas or wearing T-shirts that simply bore the Chinese characters for ‘‘citizen’’.

Chang Jianguo, the lawyer for the activist Zhang Baocheng, who also stands trial this week, said that the authorities were desperate for the cases to disappear as soon as possible, and hinted that he was also being gagged.

‘‘I am going to see my client on January 22 and tell him that I have no ability to defend him. I have been told from various sides not to speak out and not publish information to the outside world. It is like we are wearing a mask, handcuffs and ankle restraints while trying to mount a defence.’’

Western diplomats have said that the flurry of legal activity is intended to crush a largely quiet, non-confrontational movement that is viewed by the regime of President Xi Jinping as a direct challenge to its authority.

The New Citizens’ Movement calls primarily for greater transparency among officials and for the Communist Party to govern China by following more closely the country’s constitution. By focusing on the existing constitution, the New Citizens draw embarrassing attention to many areas of party rule which are unconstitutional.