Shanghai Court Upholds Three-Year Sentence for Xu Zhengqing

February 28, 2006

The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court conducted an appeals hearing on January 20 and upheld the original guilty verdict against petitioner Xu Zhengqing, according to a press release issued on the same day by Human Rights in China (HRIC). Xu was originally sentenced to three years imprisonment on a charge of "creating disturbances," a crime under Article 293 of China's Criminal Law. HRIC noted that over 100 supporters appeared outside the courthouse for Xu's appeal hearing, and that public security officials forcibly removed the supporters and temporarily detained them in a nearby school building.

The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court conducted an appeals hearing on January 20 and upheld the original guilty verdict against petitioner Xu Zhengqing, according to a press release issued on the same day by Human Rights in China (HRIC). Xu was originally sentenced to three years imprisonment on a charge of "creating disturbances," a crime under Article 293 of China's Criminal Law. HRIC noted that over 100 supporters appeared outside the courthouse for Xu's appeal hearing, and that public security officials forcibly removed the supporters and temporarily detained them in a nearby school building.

Xu is a land rights activist who has campaigned against government confiscations of land after losing his own home in Shanghai. Public security officials took Xu into custody on January 29, 2005, when he attempted to attend memorial services for Zhao Ziyang. They forced him to return to Shanghai and beat him while accompanying him in transit from Beijing. On January 31, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau detained him for "creating disturbances." On February 25, they formally arrested him for causing public disorder while in transit from Beijing. Shanghai public security officials placed Xu's father, Xu Yongdao, under surveillance in November 2005. Xu's father had sent an open letter to HRIC, requesting that U.S. President George W. Bush raise Xu's case during a November 2005 official visit to China.

For more information on Xu's case, see the CECC's analyses of his sentencing in October 2005 and detention in January 2005.