Human rights in China: dissident poet Wang Zang and wife could face trail soon, lawyer says
- Activist and his wife Wang Li have been in police detention in Yunnan province for almost seven months on nebulous charge of subverting state power
- Lawyer Lu Siwei, who has been denied access to his clients, says case has been passed to the court, where they will plead not guilty
The trial of Chinese dissident poet Wang Zang and his wife Wang Li on charges of subverting state power moved one step closer last week, their lawyer said, after the case was passed to the courts.
The couple have been in separate police detention centres in southwest China’s Yunnan province since the end of May and were charged in July. The offence of subverting state power carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The Wangs’ lawyer Lu Siwei said on Monday the case had now been passed to the Intermediate People’s Court of Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, meaning the couple could soon face sentencing.
He said he had not yet received the official charge statements from the prosecutors and would wait until he had to finalise his defence strategy.
Lu said that because of its vague definition, the subversion charge was used by the authorities as a catch-all for a range of perceived offences, and was often used to suppress free speech.