BEIJING â€" We’ve been tracking the situation of Liu Ping, the rights activist from Xinyu in Jiangxi Province, for more than a year - and last month we reported that the authorities had detained her and planned to charge her with subversion, according to her daughter and lawyers hired by her daughter.
More than a month since Ms. Liu, 48, disappeared at the end of April, one of her two lawyers was informed last week she had been formally arrested, said her daughter, Liao Minyue, 20, a college student in Anhui Province.
But in what Ms. Liao said was good news, the charges against her mother have been reduced: instead of subversion, Ms. Liu is accused of “illegal assembly,†Ms. Liao said. One of two lawyers for her mother, Zheng Jianwei, confirmed that in a telephone conversation. Ms. Liao spoke via online written messages.
“It’s a piece of good news,†she wrote. “Because my mother doesn’t fit the charge of ‘illegal assembly,’ and under it, her lawyers have the right to apply to see her.†As we reported last month, Ms. Liao has had sleepless nights over fears her mother was being badly treated in detention, which has happened before, according to both women.
But Mr. Zheng cautioned his client still faces “under five years†in jail if prosecutors decide to impose the heaviest punishment.
He ridiculed the new charge, saying it didn’t fit Ms. Liu. He didn’t know if she had gone out in a group to call for officials to disclose their assets, he said, but she had gone out with an umbrella printed with the words “Citizen†and “Freedom, Righteousness, Love.â€
“If that’s how they define the crime, we may as well all stay at home,†he said, adding that Ms. Liu was just using a “citizens’ right to express themself.†“Do we need permission to speak, as well?†he asked.
Ms. Liao believes public pressure contributed to prosecutors being reluctant to press the heavier charge, while the local police were keen to do so. “The prosecutors and police had a disagreement,†she said. Calls to the Xinyu city prosecutor’s office weren’t answered Thursday.
“It’s definitely because there were many online voices, attention from the media,†she said. Her mother’s lawyers advised her that the state could not prove subversion, so “if the prosecutors sentenced her for that they would definitely have been reviled and condemned by a lot of people,†she said.
Ms. Liu, a former worker at a steel factory, had been increasingly speaking out about rights issues that many ordinary Chinese sympathize with: workers’ rights, standing as an independent candidate in local National People’s Congress elections, and, recently, urging top officials to disclose their financial assets.
Mr. Zhang plans to apply for bail for Ms. Liu, her daughter said.
