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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Support for call by wife for review of imprisoned cyber-dissident Yang Zili’s trial: Reporters without borders

Yang Zili, a Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to eight years in 2003 for posting an article on the web...now we're hoping for a miracle...

Reporters Without Borders today voiced support for a request for a review of cyber-dissident Yang Zili¡'s trial, which his wife, Lu Kun, has made on the grounds of new evidence that shows that he was convicted on trumped-up charges. The Beijing intermediate court turned down her request, but she filed a new request to the supreme court and is still awaiting its decision. Yang has been in prison since 2001.

A computer specialist and founder of the website www.lib.126.com, Yang was arrested on 20 April 2001 after writing articles for his website that advocated political freedoms, criticised the crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement and deplored the economic hardship of China’s peasants. He also posted articles by other members of his group, which used to meet once a week to discuss political reform. He was sentenced by the Beijing intermediate court on 28 May 2003 to eight years in prison for “subverting state authority.” The sentence was confirmed on appeal on 10 November 2003. The three other members of the group who were arrested with him also received long prison sentences. Xu (a journalist) and Jin (a geologist) got ten years, while Zhang (a writer) got eight years. (more)

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