2009-12-25 21:36:21frank
[中国] 起草「零八憲章」劉曉波被判刑11年
看了兩個多小時的電視新聞，全都是在說陳雲林訪台的事，連他在涵碧樓時播放什麼歌曲，及其來龍去脈與原由；司儀介紹時說錯的名字，等等都鉅細靡遺的報導。英、美、日主要媒體都有特派記者以專稿發布的劉曉波被判十一年的事，卻遭冷落，甚至沒有報。
讀了不少劉曉波的文章，論理清晰，條理分明，立場公正，就單單以文章而言，是我很喜歡的一位知識份子。再看看他身為中國知識份子，本著良心，不畏強權，不斷發聲追求民主，真是令我欽佩。
唸國中的時候，國文課本裡有一個極為生硬的文章－索忍尼辛的「給自由中國」，我還依稀的記得一些文字，上網把它找出來：「不管是什麼事情，共黨制度也都不能容忍有一點點的偏差，與其說，它所需要的是富足的寶島，毋寧說它需要抑制，脫離它制度的偏差。」當時老師要我們把這段話背下來。我想劉曉波會被關起來，多少就是因為這個原因吧！
高中時唸三民主義，當時老師也要我們背下鄧小平所提出的「四個堅持」：
1. 必須堅持社會主義道路
2. 必須堅持無產階級專政（即人民民主專政）
3. 必須堅持共產黨的領導
4. 必須堅持馬列主義、毛澤東思想
為甚麼叫「四個堅持」呢？因為這四項議題在中國國內是不允許爭論的。起草「零八憲章」，雖然我不知道其內容為何，但是一定是否定這四項堅持。幾次到中國，深深地覺得中國是一個比美國更加資本主義化的國家。再想想那四個堅持的第一項：堅持社會主義道路.... 這真是一個「具有中國特色的社會主義市場經濟制度」啊！
到底是江澤民的「三個代表」還是像劉曉波這樣的知識份子所提出的「零八憲章」可以真正地為人民生活帶來幸福、尊嚴與希望呢？哪一個是真的「偉大、光榮、正確」？
感謝歐美等強國關注劉先生，雖無法免其牢獄之苦，至少保住了性命。在台灣號稱與中國關係良好的國民黨，對這件事是充耳不聞、視若無睹，畢竟國民黨一直都是迫害者，無法理解這種拿自己的生命和強權對抗者。中共視為仇寇的民進黨呼籲放人，無論喊得多大聲，都只是狗吠火車罷了！
以下引用了各大媒體的報導：美國的紐約時報、華盛頓郵報；英國的國家廣播電台、泰晤士報與衛報；日本的獨賣、日經與朝日，這些媒體都有記者的專稿。(所引用媒體的報導)只有台灣的央廣與西班牙的國家報是引用外電報導加以編輯的。其中泰晤士報的報導有許多人物的描寫與對話，頗有紀傳體的神韻，讀起來較有人氣。
堅持改革遭重判11年 劉曉波始終無悔
【中央社╱台北25日電】 2009.12.25 03:13 pm
中國大陸異議人士劉曉波今天一審被判刑11年，當局指控他參與起草的「零八憲章」涉及「煽動顛覆國家政權」，但劉曉波對因提倡改革及堅持言論自由入獄始終無悔。
劉曉波由於參與起草倡導政治改革的「零八憲章」，去年底遭到拘押，今年6月被以涉及「煽動顛覆國家政權」的罪名正式逮捕。
聽到劉曉波遭到重判，弟弟劉曉暄為劉曉波喊冤，認為他根本無罪，只不過行使憲法所保障的言論自由，「審判並不公平，判刑也太重，這完全是政治審判。」 ［原來中國的憲法也保障言論自由啊！］
國際社會及人權組織對劉曉波的關切不曾間斷，美國今天一如既往呼籲中國當局釋放這位人權捍衛者，香港關心大陸民主運動的團體也發起示威活動，抗議北京當局的判決。
劉曉波1955年12月生於吉林省長春市，曾是北京師範大學中文系講師。1989年六四天安門事件前夕，劉曉波中斷在美國哥倫比亞大學訪問學者行程，趕回中國參與民運，與侯德健、周舵、高新在天安門廣場絕食聲援學運，名噪一時，被稱為「天安門廣場四君子」。
六四事件後，劉曉波被當局以「反革命罪」關押於北京秦城監獄，直至1991年1月獲釋。出獄後的劉曉波拒絕出國，繼續留在大陸從事自由寫作和民主運動，期間因呼籲平反「六四」、保障人權，於1995年5月18日至1996年1月又被囚禁半年多。
堅持改革的劉曉波，後因執筆「反腐敗建議書--致八屆人大三次全會」和「汲取血的教訓推進民主與法治進程--「六四」6週年呼籲書」，於1996年10月8日至1999年10月7日被「勞動教養」3年，關押在大連市勞教所。
獲釋後，劉曉波仍堅持發表大量針砭時弊文章，因此，成為當局重點監控對象，他和家人多次被問話、騷擾及監視。
劉曉波的堅持獲得國際社會的敬重，海外人權組織多次頒獎，藉此肯定他對捍衛言論自由及中國民主的貢獻。
劉曉波這次第三度入獄，眾所周知是他參與起草「零八憲章」，據稱還涉及他近年來發表的6篇文章。
「零八憲章」是為紀念2008年12月10日「世界人權宣言」發表60週年，由劉曉波等人起草，並由300多名中國各領域精英人士首批簽署的聲明。
「零八憲章」要求保護人權，公開選舉官員，保障言論和宗教自由，以及結束共產黨對軍隊、法庭和政府的一黨控制，在中國實行民主憲政。
對於一黨專政的中國而言，劉曉波的主張令中共當局無法容忍。去年12月9日在聲明發表前夕，劉曉波被警方帶走，一直關押至今年6月23日才被正式逮捕。
劉曉波被抓後，「零八憲章」的人氣不減，據報導，聯署人從最初的309人，發展至超過1萬人。
同時，國際社會及人權團體對劉曉波的關切不曾中斷。中國人權民運信息中心指出，美國總統歐巴馬上月訪中時，曾向中國國家主席胡錦濤提及劉曉波。
「天安門母親」丁子霖在歐巴馬訪中前夕也曾發表公開信，要求協助營救劉曉波。
上述行動與呼聲，盼不到中國當局的善意回應，終究作出今天的判決，為中國反人權、民主、自由的不佳形象再添一筆。
【2009/12/25 中央社】
http://udn.com/NEWS/MAINLAND/BREAKINGNEWS4/5329469.shtml
時間：2009/12/25 18:00
撰稿‧編輯：張子清 新聞引據：香港電台 、中央社、法新社
中國知名異議人士劉曉波，因為煽動顛覆國家政權罪，在25日被判處11年徒刑以及剝奪政治權利2年。對此，劉曉波的妻子劉霞25日下午表示，劉曉波已決定上訴。劉霞表示，目前最希望的是中國當局可以立刻釋放劉曉波。
針對劉曉波遭判刑，人權組織25日則是齊聲砲轟中國的政治氣候正漸趨嚴峻。人權觀察(Human Rights Watch)亞洲分部資深研究員班魁林(Nicholas Bequelin)說，劉曉波一案，扭轉了過去10年來顛覆罪輕判的趨勢。
全球人權監督機構國際特赦組織(Amnesty International)也譴責這項判決，並且相當擔心與劉曉波一同簽署「零八憲章」的成千上萬中國人民。
國際特赦組織表示，拘捕審判劉曉波，顯示中國政府不容許人民參與討論自己國家的政府體制。
另外，劉曉波的弟弟劉曉暄認為，劉曉波遭判刑，顯示大陸言論自由倒退。劉曉暄25日下午表示，劉曉波在2005年到2009年之間發表將近500篇文章，法庭卻只以其中的6篇內容判定劉曉波有罪，欠缺代表性。
http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=227882
新聞人物：劉曉波
劉曉波曾說視坐牢為民主事業的一部分。
北京法院以「煽動顛覆國家政權罪」判處異議人士劉曉波11年有期徒刑、剝奪政治權利兩年。
劉曉波生於1955年12月28日，吉林長春人。文化大革命期間隨父母下鄉內蒙古，當過建築工人。
他在1977年入讀吉林大學中文系，後轉往北京師範大學攻讀碩士學位，後留下任教，繼而取得博士學位，並多次應邀出國講學。
1989年「六四」事件，劉曉波與周舵、高新和台灣歌手候德建在天安門廣場絕食聲援學運，事後被當局以「反革命罪」拘押，1991年獲釋後被開除公職。
他隨後繼續從事寫作，1996年因呼籲平反「六四」事件而再度被捕，判處勞教三年。
2008年12月10日，劉曉波等人起草簽署的《零八憲章》在《世界人權宣言》發表60週年之際正式公開，劉曉波本人在《憲章》公布前一天被政府人員帶走，一直被扣留。
《零八憲章》的主張包括要求北京當局公開選舉官員、結束中共對軍隊、法院和政府的控制，在中國實行多黨制的民主憲政等。最初有309名學者等參與聯署，據稱至今聯署者已有超過一萬人。
2009年12月25日，北京第一中級法院對劉曉波「煽動顛覆國家政權」案作出一審宣判。判決書稱劉曉波《零八憲章》，並在境外網站發佈。
判決書還指控，劉曉波自2005年以來，先後於BBC中文網等境外網站發表多篇「煽動性文章」，「造謠及誹謗」中共獨裁。
法院認為，劉曉波以推翻國家政權和社會制度為目的、利用互聯網傳播範圍廣、社會影響大等特點，煽動他人推翻國家政權，而且犯罪時間長，主觀惡性大，影響惡劣，屬罪行重大的犯罪份子；證據確實充份，所以罪名成立。
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2009/12/091225_profile_liu_xiaobo.shtml
Chinese Dissident Gets 11-Year Prison Term
By ANDREW JACOBS
BEIJING — In an unequivocal rebuke to those pursuing political reforms, a Chinese court on Friday sentenced one of the country’s best-known dissidents to 11 years in prison for subversion.
Liu Xiaobo, 53, a former literature professor and a dogged critic of China’s single-party political system, was detained in December 2008 after he helped draft a petition known as Charter 08 that demanded the right to free speech, open elections and the rule of law.
The 11-page verdict, largely a restatement of his indictment, was read out Friday morning at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, said Mr. Liu’s lawyer, Shang Baojun. In addition to his prison term, Mr. Liu will be deprived of his political rights for an additional two years, a penalty that will prevent him from writing or speaking out on a wide range of issues.
“We are just extremely disappointed,” said Mr. Shang, who added that Mr. Liu intended to appeal the verdict.
Gregory May, first secretary with the U.S. Embassy who stood outside the courthouse Friday morning, called on the authorities to immediately release Mr. Liu.
“Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights,” he said.
Although Mr. Liu had faced a 15-year sentence, legal experts and human rights advocates said the punishment was very harsh and was meant to send a message to others who might agitate for political reform in one of the world’s longest-running authoritarian governments.
Nicholas Bequelin, a senior Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong, described Mr. Liu as “a sacrificial lamb” and said that the Communist Party leadership was trying to intimidate its critics. The rights group called the trial “a travesty of justice.”
Mr. Bequelin and others said Mr. Liu’s prosecution for violating rights enshrined in China’s Constitution suggested a political hardening, a trend that began before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“It shows that the leadership is increasingly conservative and restrictive of basic freedoms,” Mr. Bequelin said, “and it also sends a strong message to the rest of the world that China is not really serious when it talks about human rights.”
Joshua Rosenzweig, a senior researcher at the Dui Hua Foundation, which advocates on behalf of Chinese political prisoners, said Mr. Liu’s sentence was the longest for subversion charges in more than a decade.
In 2005, Shi Tao, a journalist and poet, was convicted of leaking state secrets and given a 10-year term after he sent an internal party memo to an overseas Web site. Last year, Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and environmentalist, was imprisoned for three and a half years on charges that his Internet writings incited subversion.
Mr. Liu has been held in secret for more than a year and his lawyers were given less than two weeks to prepare their defense. The trial on Wednesday lasted two hours and was closed; his wife, Liu Xia, and more than two dozen diplomats from the United States, Canada and the European Union were barred from the courtroom.
On Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman angrily dismissed foreign criticisms of Mr. Liu’s prosecution, calling them a “gross interference of China’s internal affairs.”
This is not Mr. Liu’s first brush with China’s harsh judicial system. He spent 21 months in detention for taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square. And in 1996, after demanding clemency for those still imprisoned for their roles in the demonstrations, he was sent to a labor camp for three years.
In addition to helping create Charter 08, Mr. Liu’s charge for “inciting subversion of state power” was based on six articles he wrote that were published on the Internet outside of China.
Released on Dec. 10, 2008, International Human Rights Day, Charter 08 garnered some 10,000 signatures before it was removed from the Web by government censors. To this day, it is virtually unknown in China.
During the brief trial on Wednesday, Mr. Liu’s lawyers rejected the prosecution’s contention that the document sought to overthrow the Communist Party. Zhang Zuhua, a former party official and political scholar who co-authored the manifesto with Mr. Liu, described the subversion charge as “absurd,” calling it “a violation of the Chinese Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.” Mr. Zhang was briefly detained last year and has since been under 24-hour surveillance by security personnel.
The state-controlled media has not covered Mr. Liu’s trial — nor has it allowed any mention of Charter 08 — but Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, published a brief item Friday that described the sentence and said the court “had strictly followed the legal procedures in this case and fully protected Liu’s litigation rights.”
News of his sentencing quickly spread via Twitter, which is blocked in China but can be accessed by those able to circumvent the so-called Great Firewall. Many of those who sent messages displayed the image of a yellow ribbon as a declaration of their sympathies. Others defiantly listed personal details about the presiding judge in the case.
At least two dozen supporters who stood outside the courthouse during Mr. Liu’s trial on Wednesday were later questioned and released.
Liu Di, a signer of Charter 08, was among a handful of people who publicly declared their desire to stand trial with Liu Xiaobo.
“For the dignity of the Constitution and the law, and for no more imprisonment of people for their independent opinions, I would prefer to share with Mr. Liu Xiaobo the same case with the same penalty,” wrote Ms. Liu, a blogger better known by her online identity, the Stainless Steel Mouse.
On Friday, officials allowed the defendant and his wife to meet for 10 minutes in a small room, although they were divided by a glass barrier. It was the third time they had seen each other since his detention last year.
“People always say they’re so inhumane,” she said of the government afterward, “so I think they just wanted to show a little humanity.”
Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/world/asia/25china.html?_r=1&ref=world
Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years in jail
Anger at harsh treatment of prominent activist found guilty of subversion
Jonathan Watts
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 December 2009 11.06 GMT
One of China's most prominent human rights activists was condemned today to 11 years in prison, prompting a furious backlash from domestic bloggers and international civil society groups.
Liu Xiaobo, the founder of the Charter 08 campaign for constitutional reform, was given the unusually harsh jail term on Christmas Day in an apparent attempt to minimise international attention.
The case has raised fears that other drafters of Charter 08 could also face retribution from the authorities.
Following a year in detention and a two-hour trial, it took the No 1 intermediate people's court in Beijing just 10 minutes to read out the 11-page sentence.
Liu was found guilty on Wednesday of subversion, the vaguely defined charge that Communist party leaders often use to imprison political opponents.
In a statement released by the state-controlled Xinhua news agency, the court said it had "strictly followed the legal procedures" and "fully protected Liu's litigation rights".
However, the author and academic had been detained without trial for a year. His wife, Liu Xia, was not allowed into an earlier hearing, nor were foreign diplomatic observers. Liu's lawyers have been warned not to discuss the case.
But the defence team said they were prepared to appeal against the verdict.
"We cannot accept this sentence because we have argued in court that Liu is innocent," said one of his lawyers, Mo Shaoping. His wife could not be reached as her mobile phone was suddenly out of order.
Amnesty International expressed outrage at the sentence, which it said was the harshest in 35 subversion cases since 2003.
"Liu Xiaobo's detention and trial shows the Chinese government will not tolerate Chinese citizens participating in discussions about their own form of government," said Sam Zarifi, director of the group's Asia pacific program.
"After this, more than 300 scholars, lawyers and officials who proposed the blueprint for improving the political system might be at risk as well, as nearly 10,000 signatories."
Outside the courtroom and in the Chinese blogosphere, Liu's supporters have initiated a yellow ribbon campaign for his release. "China's Mandela was born this Christmas," wrote the influential blogger Beichen.
Many activists were kept under house arrest or warned not to attend the hearings, but the contemporary artist Ai Weiwei was among those at the courtroom. "This does not mean a meteor has fallen. This is the discovery of a star," he tweeted. "Although this is a sentence on Liu Xiaobo alone, it is also a slap on the face for everyone in China."
Liu, a former Beijing Normal University professor, is a leading intellectual critic of the repressive Chinese government.
Liu was previously imprisoned for 20 months for taking part in the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square.
He told friends that he knew the risk of imprisonment when he drafted Charter 08, which demands the open election of public officials, freedom of religion and expression, and the abolition of subversion laws.
"We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes," the petition says.
Liu was arrested last December before the Charter was made public. Other drafters and signatories have been harassed. The mainstream media have been forbidden to cover the subject and censors have blocked many related internet sites and articles. Many Chinese are unaware that it exists.
Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco and Margaret Atwood are among 300 international writers who have called for the release of Liu, who is a former president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre.
"Liu Xiaobo's case is about agreed international human rights standards, not merely the internal affairs of China," said John Ralston Saul, the president of International PEN. "China is signatory to international treaties and conventions, and cannot be given a free pass when it acts against its own and international standards."
The United States and European Union have also urged Beijing to free Liu.
"We continue to call on the government of China to release him immediately," Gregory May, first secretary with the US Embassy, said outside the courthouse today. May was one of a dozen diplomats stopped by authorities from attending the trial and sentencing.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters this week that statements from embassies calling for Liu's release were "a gross interference of China's internal affairs".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/25/china-jails-liu-xiaobo
December 25, 2009
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years
Jane Macartney, China Correspondent
China’s leading dissident was sentenced to 11 years in prison today, the harshest sentence ever meted out in the country on the charge of subversion.
Liu Xiaobo, who will mark his 54th birthday on Monday, stood in a courtroom at the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court to hear the judge declare he had been found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”.
The verdict was a foregone conclusion in a country where charges are rarely brought unless a court has already seen sufficient evidence to ensure a conviction and where sentencing in sensitive cases is decided by the Communist Party and the judge serves as little more than a conduit.
Mr Liu was given no chance to respond to the sentence.
He stood accused of subversion based on six articles published on the internet and his organisation of the Charter 08 petition that called for sweeping political liberalisation in China.
However, in a brief 10-minute meeting with his wife after the sentencing, Mr Liu told her that he planned to appeal.
Liu Xia, an artist who has never been interested in her husband’s political activism, told The Times: “Both Xiaobo and I were mentally prepared for today's verdict. So we are calm.” She had been allowed into the court after being banned from Wednesday’s brief three-hour trial.
It was the first time she had been allowed to see her husband, other than two brief visits in January and March, since Mr Liu was seized from his home on December 8 last year, just hours after publication of Charter 08.
“I told him about my life, what I do every day, how the family is and our friends. He asked me to take care and told me about his life in the detention house. He has decided to appeal and will ask his lawyers to do so on his behalf,” she said.
Ms Liu said that he had prepared a lengthy defence that he had planned to read in court on Wednesday, but the time allocated to him had been extremely limited. But Ms Liu said friends told her that he said to the court:
“Giving me support and strength for 20 years has been the love of my Liu Xia.”
She said: “When I saw him I tried to smile all the time so that he would feel better. He told me he was relieved to see that I was able to smile.”
Mr Liu has been among the most prominent and combative critics of one-party rule in China, ever since he rushed back to Beijing from his studies in the United States to support student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
His case has attracted an outcry from human rights activists both at home and abroad. It has elicited an unprecedented joint appeal from the European Union and the United States. The long sentence – apparently the most severe to be handed down since the crime of subversion was introduced in 1997 – at once drew renewed concern.
Standing outside the court, a US diplomat said Washington was "deeply concerned".
"We continue to call on the government of China to release him immediately and to respect the rights of all Chinese citizens to peacefully express their political views in favour of universally recognised fundamental freedoms," said the diplomat, Gregory May, reading from a prepared statement.
The Government defended the sentence, saying all legal procedures had been followed.
In court, Mr Liu and his lawyers were allowed to speak for only a few minutes. The prosecution opened with a 14-minute statement and the defence was allowed the same amount of time. That was followed by five minutes by the prosecutors and the defence was now permitted to speak for any longer than that. [我懷疑 "now" 是打錯字，應該是 not 比較合理。上文記載分配給被告的時間極短。]
The prosecution had described Mr Liu’s offences as “serious”. Among his list of demands in Charter 08 was the abolition of the law on subversion. The petition read: “We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes.”
Mr Liu now faces the prospect of 11 years in prison for his words. His chief lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told The Times: “We don’t approve of the court’s verdict. No matter what Liu Xiaobo writes in his articles, it’s his freedom of speech and that is a citizen’s basic right.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6967699.ece
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years on 'subversion' charges
By Steven Mufson
Friday, December 25, 2009; A10
BEIJING -- China's leading dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday after a court found the 53-year-old literary scholar guilty of "inciting subversion to state power" through his writings and role in Charter 08, a petition advocating human rights, free speech and an end to one-party rule.
The sentencing sent a signal that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to stifle domestic political critics, especially those who seek to organize their fellow Chinese. And it provided evidence that political modernization might not go hand in hand with China's economic modernization, contrary to past predictions by Chinese dissidents, U.S. business executives, political theorists and proselytizers of the Internet age.
proselytize v.
1. To induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one's own political party or to espouse one's doctrine.
v.tr. To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another.
According to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human rights group, Liu's sentence was longer than any other sentence handed down for "inciting subversion" since the charge was established in the 1997 reform of the criminal law.
"You can think democracy, you can talk democracy, but you can't do democracy," said Li Fan, director of the World and China Institute in Beijing.
Rebecca MacKinnon, a fellow at the Open Society Institute and co-founder of GlobalVoicesOnline.org, said the case "certainly seems to reflect a high level of sensitivity and very low level of tolerance."
A decade ago, she said, "there was a great deal of optimism" about village elections, plans for separating party and state functions, and talk of other political reforms. Many analysts said a more open society would yield a more open political system.
But reform initiatives have stalled, and there was little evidence of openness in the handling of Liu's case this week.
His trial, which took place at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, lasted less than three hours Wednesday. The judge rejected evidence the defense sought to introduce and limited the speaking time of Liu's attorneys to 14 minutes, according to one of Liu's brothers. He said that 18 mostly young people were allowed to listen to the proceedings but that Liu's wife, Liu Xia, could not. She did attend the Friday sentencing, marking only the third time she had seen her husband since he was detained more than a year ago.
The judge also barred journalists and foreign diplomats from attending. In contrast to the 1990s, when visits by leading international envoys often brought the release of dissidents, China has ignored calls by the Obama administration and other Western governments for Liu's release.
[或許這就是中國的崛起！經濟的力量加上奧運後的自信心提升，中國已經不再屈從於外國勢力了。]
After the sentencing, which foreign diplomats were also barred from attending, Gregory May, first secretary with the U.S. Embassy, told reporters outside the courthouse that the United States was concerned about Liu's case and would continue to push for his release.
Chinese diplomats have rejected such calls as interference in China's affairs.
Mo Shaoping, a prominent human rights lawyer, said that the success of the 2008 Olympics, the economic crisis in the West and the 60th anniversary of the communist takeover had made the Chinese government "more and more arrogant" toward international critics.
［和我的看法差不多，不過我沒想到建政六十年。］
Worse yet, Mo said, the judge had violated China's procedures.
"China has solved the past problem that there were no existing laws. Now we have more than 200 laws and over a thousand regulations. We have laws that cover every aspect of social affairs," said Mo, who could not represent Liu because he also had signed Charter 08. "But the government doesn't follow those laws, not even the laws they wrote themselves."
One of Liu's brothers, Liu Xiaoxuan, said the prosecutors focused on 350 words collected from half-dozen of the 490 articles Liu wrote over a five-year period. In those excerpts, Liu Xiaobo sharply criticized the Chinese government, calling it a dictatorship that sought to use patriotism to fool people into loving the government rather than the country, the brother said.
Liu Xiaoxuan, a professor of material engineering at Guangdong University of Technology, said his brother told the court that the country's "progress can't cover up the mistakes you've made and the flaws of your institutions."
Other signatories of Charter 08 also are facing government harassment. Zhang Zuhua, primary drafter of the manifesto, is under heavy police surveillance at his home. Others have lost prize research or teaching posts.
The Communist Party has always been wary of people seeking to organize outside of officially recognized groups, whether for political or other causes. Last week, security officials formally arrested Zhao Lianhai, who was already in detention for organizing families whose babies were affected by last year's tainted-milk scandal.
Many foreign diplomats see the Christmas Day sentencing of Liu Xiaobo as timed to minimize outside attention, with the world focused on celebrations. In 2006, the Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was convicted of "subversion" three days before Christmas. In 2007, AIDS activist Hu Jia was arrested five days after Christmas.
The Charter 08 declaration was modeled on Czechoslovakia's Charter 77 drive, which eventually contributed to the end of communist rule there. Started with about 300 signatures, it has gathered thousands more online.
Among other things, Charter 08 says: "For China the path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of the authoritarian notion of reliance on an 'enlightened overlord' or an 'honest official' and to turn instead toward a system of liberties, democracy and the rule of law."
On Friday, one of the signers of Charter 08 arrived outside the courthouse where Liu was sentenced to show support for Liu.
Yang Licai, 38, said he was disappointed by the sentence, and saw it as evidence that, despite the government's declarations of a "harmonious society," Chinese still lack basic freedoms. Surrounded by plainclothes police, Yang said he did not fear arrest for being outspoken.
"Right now I am not afraid," he said. "I am willing to shoulder my responsibility."
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122401564_pf.html
中国共産党独裁を非難、民主活動家に懲役１１年
【北京＝関泰晴】中国の共産党独裁を非難し、民主化を求める文書「０８憲章」の起草で中心的役割を果たしたとして、国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた民主活動家・劉暁波氏（５３）に対し、北京市第一中級人民法院（地裁）は２５日、懲役１１年の判決を言い渡した。
劉氏を巡っては欧米諸国が釈放を求めるなどしており、中国の対応に国際社会の批判が高まりそうだ。
関係者によると、劉氏は「言論の自由に基づくもので犯罪ではない」と訴えたが、裁判では受け入れられなかった。
中国の人権派弁護士や学者ら約３００人が署名し、昨年１２月に発表された０８憲章は、「中国はいまだに権威主義的政治の中にある」と指摘し、三権分立、民主選挙、個人財産保護などを保障する制度改革や、状況改善を要求。インターネットなどを通じて署名者が１万人以上に達するなど、反響を呼んだ。
（2009年12月25日11時53分 読売新聞）
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/news/20091225-OYT1T00443.htm
中国反体制作家に懲役11年
【北京＝尾崎実】中国共産党による独裁廃止などを求めた「08憲章」を起草したとして国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた反体制作家、劉暁波氏（53）の判決公判が25日、北京市第１中級人民法院（地裁）であり、同法院は懲役11年、政治権利剥奪（はくだつ）２年の実刑判決を言い渡した。国営新華社などが報じた。
劉氏の公判を巡っては、米国務省などが「開かれた政府を求めた劉氏の行為は罪に当たらない」などと強く非難しており、今回の判決を受け、欧米各国や国際人権団体などは中国に対する批判を一層強めるとみられる。
08憲章のほか劉氏が発表した６件の論文で、一党独裁批判や多党制導入などを主張したことが同罪に問われたが、劉氏側は公判で「言論の自由が保障されている」と無罪を主張。劉氏は昨年12月、憲章の発表直前に公安当局に身柄を拘束された。(14:16)
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/kaigai/20091225AT2M2501525122009.html
「０８憲章」民主派作家に懲役１１年 中国で判決
2009年12月25日15時9分
【北京＝峯村健司】インターネット上で中国の民主化を求めた「０８憲章」を起草したとして国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた民主派作家、劉暁波氏（５３）に対し、北京市第１中級人民法院（地裁）は２５日、懲役１１年と政治的権利剥奪（はくだつ）２年の実刑判決を言い渡した。弁護側は控訴を検討している。
判決は、劉氏が憲章で共産党独裁を廃止し、民主憲政に基づく「中華連邦共和国」の樹立を呼びかけたことなどが重大な犯罪行為に当たると判断した。劉氏は「法が保障する言論の自由の範囲内であり罪ではない」と無罪を主張していた。
中国当局は、民主活動家のリーダー的存在である劉氏に対し、最高刑（懲役１５年）に近い厳罰を科すことで、民主化や人権尊重を求める動きを本格的に封じ込める狙いがあるとみられる。裁判には欧米から非難の声が上がっているが、中国外務省は「中国の司法への粗暴な内政干渉で、強い不満を表明する」（姜瑜副報道局長）と反発している。
http://www.asahi.com/international/update/1225/TKY200912250181.html
China acusa al prominente activista de subversión por impulsar un manifiesto en favor de la democracia
AGENCIAS - Pekín - 25/12/2009
Unode los disidentes más prominentes de China, Liu Xiaobo, ha sidocondenado esta madrugada (hora española) a 11 años de prisión acusadode "incitar a la subversión del poder del Estado", ha informado suabogado, Mo Shaoping.
Liu, que el lunes cumplirá 54 años, fueuno de los principales autores de la Carta 08, un manifiesto que pedíareformas políticas democráticas que vio la luz en diciembre del añopasado. Los fiscales pedían para él 15 años de prisión por haberpublicado varios ensayos críticos con el régimen en la Red. La Carta 08fue firmada por 300 intelectuales -entre ellos, escritores, abogados,profesores y periodistas- dentro del país.
El activista fuedetenido formalmente hace medio año, una acción firmemente condenadapor EE UU o la UE, a los que China acusó de injerencia en asuntosinternos. Varias organizaciones de derechos humanos consideran quePekín ha querido sentenciar el caso de Liu, cuyo juicio comenzó elpasado miércoles, durante estas fechas para que no centre toda laatención internacional.
"La corte ha seguido estrictamente losprocedimientos legales en este caso y ha protegido los derechos deLiu", ha afirmado la agencia oficial de noticias Xinhua, que harecogido una declaración de la sentencia. "Esperemos que Liu apele lasentencia, pero depende de él", ha indicado el abogado del activista,que ha agregado que tiene diez días para tomar una decisión.
Losdiplomáticos occidentales y los periodistas extranjeros no pudieronentrar el jueves en la sala del juicio contra Liu, escritor, exprofesor universitario y uno de los grandes críticos de Pekín desde lasprotestas democráticas de los estudiantes en junio de 1989 en la Plazade Tiananmén.
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讀了不少劉曉波的文章，論理清晰，條理分明，立場公正，就單單以文章而言，是我很喜歡的一位知識份子。再看看他身為中國知識份子，本著良心，不畏強權，不斷發聲追求民主，真是令我欽佩。
唸國中的時候，國文課本裡有一個極為生硬的文章－索忍尼辛的「給自由中國」，我還依稀的記得一些文字，上網把它找出來：「不管是什麼事情，共黨制度也都不能容忍有一點點的偏差，與其說，它所需要的是富足的寶島，毋寧說它需要抑制，脫離它制度的偏差。」當時老師要我們把這段話背下來。我想劉曉波會被關起來，多少就是因為這個原因吧！
高中時唸三民主義，當時老師也要我們背下鄧小平所提出的「四個堅持」：
1. 必須堅持社會主義道路
2. 必須堅持無產階級專政（即人民民主專政）
3. 必須堅持共產黨的領導
4. 必須堅持馬列主義、毛澤東思想
為甚麼叫「四個堅持」呢？因為這四項議題在中國國內是不允許爭論的。起草「零八憲章」，雖然我不知道其內容為何，但是一定是否定這四項堅持。幾次到中國，深深地覺得中國是一個比美國更加資本主義化的國家。再想想那四個堅持的第一項：堅持社會主義道路.... 這真是一個「具有中國特色的社會主義市場經濟制度」啊！
到底是江澤民的「三個代表」還是像劉曉波這樣的知識份子所提出的「零八憲章」可以真正地為人民生活帶來幸福、尊嚴與希望呢？哪一個是真的「偉大、光榮、正確」？
感謝歐美等強國關注劉先生，雖無法免其牢獄之苦，至少保住了性命。在台灣號稱與中國關係良好的國民黨，對這件事是充耳不聞、視若無睹，畢竟國民黨一直都是迫害者，無法理解這種拿自己的生命和強權對抗者。中共視為仇寇的民進黨呼籲放人，無論喊得多大聲，都只是狗吠火車罷了！
以下引用了各大媒體的報導：美國的紐約時報、華盛頓郵報；英國的國家廣播電台、泰晤士報與衛報；日本的獨賣、日經與朝日，這些媒體都有記者的專稿。(所引用媒體的報導)只有台灣的央廣與西班牙的國家報是引用外電報導加以編輯的。其中泰晤士報的報導有許多人物的描寫與對話，頗有紀傳體的神韻，讀起來較有人氣。
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo with his wife, Liu Xia, in 2002
中國異議人士劉曉波與妻子劉霞，於2002年攝。
中國異議人士劉曉波與妻子劉霞，於2002年攝。
【中央社╱台北25日電】 2009.12.25 03:13 pm
中國大陸異議人士劉曉波今天一審被判刑11年，當局指控他參與起草的「零八憲章」涉及「煽動顛覆國家政權」，但劉曉波對因提倡改革及堅持言論自由入獄始終無悔。
劉曉波由於參與起草倡導政治改革的「零八憲章」，去年底遭到拘押，今年6月被以涉及「煽動顛覆國家政權」的罪名正式逮捕。
聽到劉曉波遭到重判，弟弟劉曉暄為劉曉波喊冤，認為他根本無罪，只不過行使憲法所保障的言論自由，「審判並不公平，判刑也太重，這完全是政治審判。」 ［原來中國的憲法也保障言論自由啊！］
國際社會及人權組織對劉曉波的關切不曾間斷，美國今天一如既往呼籲中國當局釋放這位人權捍衛者，香港關心大陸民主運動的團體也發起示威活動，抗議北京當局的判決。
劉曉波1955年12月生於吉林省長春市，曾是北京師範大學中文系講師。1989年六四天安門事件前夕，劉曉波中斷在美國哥倫比亞大學訪問學者行程，趕回中國參與民運，與侯德健、周舵、高新在天安門廣場絕食聲援學運，名噪一時，被稱為「天安門廣場四君子」。
六四事件後，劉曉波被當局以「反革命罪」關押於北京秦城監獄，直至1991年1月獲釋。出獄後的劉曉波拒絕出國，繼續留在大陸從事自由寫作和民主運動，期間因呼籲平反「六四」、保障人權，於1995年5月18日至1996年1月又被囚禁半年多。
堅持改革的劉曉波，後因執筆「反腐敗建議書--致八屆人大三次全會」和「汲取血的教訓推進民主與法治進程--「六四」6週年呼籲書」，於1996年10月8日至1999年10月7日被「勞動教養」3年，關押在大連市勞教所。
獲釋後，劉曉波仍堅持發表大量針砭時弊文章，因此，成為當局重點監控對象，他和家人多次被問話、騷擾及監視。
劉曉波的堅持獲得國際社會的敬重，海外人權組織多次頒獎，藉此肯定他對捍衛言論自由及中國民主的貢獻。
劉曉波這次第三度入獄，眾所周知是他參與起草「零八憲章」，據稱還涉及他近年來發表的6篇文章。
「零八憲章」是為紀念2008年12月10日「世界人權宣言」發表60週年，由劉曉波等人起草，並由300多名中國各領域精英人士首批簽署的聲明。
「零八憲章」要求保護人權，公開選舉官員，保障言論和宗教自由，以及結束共產黨對軍隊、法庭和政府的一黨控制，在中國實行民主憲政。
對於一黨專政的中國而言，劉曉波的主張令中共當局無法容忍。去年12月9日在聲明發表前夕，劉曉波被警方帶走，一直關押至今年6月23日才被正式逮捕。
劉曉波被抓後，「零八憲章」的人氣不減，據報導，聯署人從最初的309人，發展至超過1萬人。
同時，國際社會及人權團體對劉曉波的關切不曾中斷。中國人權民運信息中心指出，美國總統歐巴馬上月訪中時，曾向中國國家主席胡錦濤提及劉曉波。
「天安門母親」丁子霖在歐巴馬訪中前夕也曾發表公開信，要求協助營救劉曉波。
上述行動與呼聲，盼不到中國當局的善意回應，終究作出今天的判決，為中國反人權、民主、自由的不佳形象再添一筆。
【2009/12/25 中央社】
http://udn.com/NEWS/MAINLAND/BREAKINGNEWS4/5329469.shtml
遭判刑 劉曉波決定上訴 人權團體齊聲譴責
撰稿‧編輯：張子清 新聞引據：香港電台 、中央社、法新社
中國知名異議人士劉曉波，因為煽動顛覆國家政權罪，在25日被判處11年徒刑以及剝奪政治權利2年。對此，劉曉波的妻子劉霞25日下午表示，劉曉波已決定上訴。劉霞表示，目前最希望的是中國當局可以立刻釋放劉曉波。
針對劉曉波遭判刑，人權組織25日則是齊聲砲轟中國的政治氣候正漸趨嚴峻。人權觀察(Human Rights Watch)亞洲分部資深研究員班魁林(Nicholas Bequelin)說，劉曉波一案，扭轉了過去10年來顛覆罪輕判的趨勢。
全球人權監督機構國際特赦組織(Amnesty International)也譴責這項判決，並且相當擔心與劉曉波一同簽署「零八憲章」的成千上萬中國人民。
國際特赦組織表示，拘捕審判劉曉波，顯示中國政府不容許人民參與討論自己國家的政府體制。
另外，劉曉波的弟弟劉曉暄認為，劉曉波遭判刑，顯示大陸言論自由倒退。劉曉暄25日下午表示，劉曉波在2005年到2009年之間發表將近500篇文章，法庭卻只以其中的6篇內容判定劉曉波有罪，欠缺代表性。
http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=227882
劉曉波曾說視坐牢為民主事業的一部分。
北京法院以「煽動顛覆國家政權罪」判處異議人士劉曉波11年有期徒刑、剝奪政治權利兩年。
劉曉波生於1955年12月28日，吉林長春人。文化大革命期間隨父母下鄉內蒙古，當過建築工人。
他在1977年入讀吉林大學中文系，後轉往北京師範大學攻讀碩士學位，後留下任教，繼而取得博士學位，並多次應邀出國講學。
1989年「六四」事件，劉曉波與周舵、高新和台灣歌手候德建在天安門廣場絕食聲援學運，事後被當局以「反革命罪」拘押，1991年獲釋後被開除公職。
他隨後繼續從事寫作，1996年因呼籲平反「六四」事件而再度被捕，判處勞教三年。
2008年12月10日，劉曉波等人起草簽署的《零八憲章》在《世界人權宣言》發表60週年之際正式公開，劉曉波本人在《憲章》公布前一天被政府人員帶走，一直被扣留。
《零八憲章》的主張包括要求北京當局公開選舉官員、結束中共對軍隊、法院和政府的控制，在中國實行多黨制的民主憲政等。最初有309名學者等參與聯署，據稱至今聯署者已有超過一萬人。
2009年12月25日，北京第一中級法院對劉曉波「煽動顛覆國家政權」案作出一審宣判。判決書稱劉曉波《零八憲章》，並在境外網站發佈。
判決書還指控，劉曉波自2005年以來，先後於BBC中文網等境外網站發表多篇「煽動性文章」，「造謠及誹謗」中共獨裁。
法院認為，劉曉波以推翻國家政權和社會制度為目的、利用互聯網傳播範圍廣、社會影響大等特點，煽動他人推翻國家政權，而且犯罪時間長，主觀惡性大，影響惡劣，屬罪行重大的犯罪份子；證據確實充份，所以罪名成立。
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2009/12/091225_profile_liu_xiaobo.shtml
December 25, 2009
By ANDREW JACOBS
BEIJING — In an unequivocal rebuke to those pursuing political reforms, a Chinese court on Friday sentenced one of the country’s best-known dissidents to 11 years in prison for subversion.
subversion n. 顛覆,破壞;破壞因素,滅亡原因
Liu Xiaobo, 53, a former literature professor and a dogged critic of China’s single-party political system, was detained in December 2008 after he helped draft a petition known as Charter 08 that demanded the right to free speech, open elections and the rule of law.
The 11-page verdict, largely a restatement of his indictment, was read out Friday morning at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, said Mr. Liu’s lawyer, Shang Baojun. In addition to his prison term, Mr. Liu will be deprived of his political rights for an additional two years, a penalty that will prevent him from writing or speaking out on a wide range of issues.
“We are just extremely disappointed,” said Mr. Shang, who added that Mr. Liu intended to appeal the verdict.
Gregory May, first secretary with the U.S. Embassy who stood outside the courthouse Friday morning, called on the authorities to immediately release Mr. Liu.
“Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights,” he said.
Although Mr. Liu had faced a 15-year sentence, legal experts and human rights advocates said the punishment was very harsh and was meant to send a message to others who might agitate for political reform in one of the world’s longest-running authoritarian governments.
agitate vt. 1. 使激動;使狂躁不安;擾亂;使焦慮;對…展開激烈爭論
2. 深思熱慮,反覆思量
vi. 鼓動;煽動,刺激
2. 深思熱慮,反覆思量
vi. 鼓動;煽動,刺激
Nicholas Bequelin, a senior Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong, described Mr. Liu as “a sacrificial lamb” and said that the Communist Party leadership was trying to intimidate its critics. The rights group called the trial “a travesty of justice.”
travesty vt. 1. 使換裝 2. 滑稽地模仿 3. 拙劣地表演 4. 嘲弄;歪曲
n. 1. 滑稽[諷刺性]的模仿,誇大的模仿 2. 拙劣的模仿作品,諧摹詩文
3. 拙劣的假貨 4. (演戲等時穿異性服裝的)換裝
n. 1. 滑稽[諷刺性]的模仿,誇大的模仿 2. 拙劣的模仿作品,諧摹詩文
3. 拙劣的假貨 4. (演戲等時穿異性服裝的)換裝
Mr. Bequelin and others said Mr. Liu’s prosecution for violating rights enshrined in China’s Constitution suggested a political hardening, a trend that began before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“It shows that the leadership is increasingly conservative and restrictive of basic freedoms,” Mr. Bequelin said, “and it also sends a strong message to the rest of the world that China is not really serious when it talks about human rights.”
Joshua Rosenzweig, a senior researcher at the Dui Hua Foundation, which advocates on behalf of Chinese political prisoners, said Mr. Liu’s sentence was the longest for subversion charges in more than a decade.
In 2005, Shi Tao, a journalist and poet, was convicted of leaking state secrets and given a 10-year term after he sent an internal party memo to an overseas Web site. Last year, Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and environmentalist, was imprisoned for three and a half years on charges that his Internet writings incited subversion.
Mr. Liu has been held in secret for more than a year and his lawyers were given less than two weeks to prepare their defense. The trial on Wednesday lasted two hours and was closed; his wife, Liu Xia, and more than two dozen diplomats from the United States, Canada and the European Union were barred from the courtroom.
On Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman angrily dismissed foreign criticisms of Mr. Liu’s prosecution, calling them a “gross interference of China’s internal affairs.”
This is not Mr. Liu’s first brush with China’s harsh judicial system. He spent 21 months in detention for taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square. And in 1996, after demanding clemency for those still imprisoned for their roles in the demonstrations, he was sent to a labor camp for three years.
In addition to helping create Charter 08, Mr. Liu’s charge for “inciting subversion of state power” was based on six articles he wrote that were published on the Internet outside of China.
incite vt. 刺激,激勵,煽動,驅使
Released on Dec. 10, 2008, International Human Rights Day, Charter 08 garnered some 10,000 signatures before it was removed from the Web by government censors. To this day, it is virtually unknown in China.
During the brief trial on Wednesday, Mr. Liu’s lawyers rejected the prosecution’s contention that the document sought to overthrow the Communist Party. Zhang Zuhua, a former party official and political scholar who co-authored the manifesto with Mr. Liu, described the subversion charge as “absurd,” calling it “a violation of the Chinese Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.” Mr. Zhang was briefly detained last year and has since been under 24-hour surveillance by security personnel.
The state-controlled media has not covered Mr. Liu’s trial — nor has it allowed any mention of Charter 08 — but Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, published a brief item Friday that described the sentence and said the court “had strictly followed the legal procedures in this case and fully protected Liu’s litigation rights.”
News of his sentencing quickly spread via Twitter, which is blocked in China but can be accessed by those able to circumvent the so-called Great Firewall. Many of those who sent messages displayed the image of a yellow ribbon as a declaration of their sympathies. Others defiantly listed personal details about the presiding judge in the case.
At least two dozen supporters who stood outside the courthouse during Mr. Liu’s trial on Wednesday were later questioned and released.
Liu Di, a signer of Charter 08, was among a handful of people who publicly declared their desire to stand trial with Liu Xiaobo.
“For the dignity of the Constitution and the law, and for no more imprisonment of people for their independent opinions, I would prefer to share with Mr. Liu Xiaobo the same case with the same penalty,” wrote Ms. Liu, a blogger better known by her online identity, the Stainless Steel Mouse.
On Friday, officials allowed the defendant and his wife to meet for 10 minutes in a small room, although they were divided by a glass barrier. It was the third time they had seen each other since his detention last year.
“People always say they’re so inhumane,” she said of the government afterward, “so I think they just wanted to show a little humanity.”
Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/world/asia/25china.html?_r=1&ref=world
News > World news > China
Anger at harsh treatment of prominent activist found guilty of subversion
Jonathan Watts
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 December 2009 11.06 GMT
One of China's most prominent human rights activists was condemned today to 11 years in prison, prompting a furious backlash from domestic bloggers and international civil society groups.
Liu Xiaobo, the founder of the Charter 08 campaign for constitutional reform, was given the unusually harsh jail term on Christmas Day in an apparent attempt to minimise international attention.
The case has raised fears that other drafters of Charter 08 could also face retribution from the authorities.
retribution n. 1. 回報,報答 2. 懲罰 3. [神學] 報應,果報
Following a year in detention and a two-hour trial, it took the No 1 intermediate people's court in Beijing just 10 minutes to read out the 11-page sentence.
Liu was found guilty on Wednesday of subversion, the vaguely defined charge that Communist party leaders often use to imprison political opponents.
In a statement released by the state-controlled Xinhua news agency, the court said it had "strictly followed the legal procedures" and "fully protected Liu's litigation rights".
However, the author and academic had been detained without trial for a year. His wife, Liu Xia, was not allowed into an earlier hearing, nor were foreign diplomatic observers. Liu's lawyers have been warned not to discuss the case.
But the defence team said they were prepared to appeal against the verdict.
"We cannot accept this sentence because we have argued in court that Liu is innocent," said one of his lawyers, Mo Shaoping. His wife could not be reached as her mobile phone was suddenly out of order.
Amnesty International expressed outrage at the sentence, which it said was the harshest in 35 subversion cases since 2003.
"Liu Xiaobo's detention and trial shows the Chinese government will not tolerate Chinese citizens participating in discussions about their own form of government," said Sam Zarifi, director of the group's Asia pacific program.
"After this, more than 300 scholars, lawyers and officials who proposed the blueprint for improving the political system might be at risk as well, as nearly 10,000 signatories."
Outside the courtroom and in the Chinese blogosphere, Liu's supporters have initiated a yellow ribbon campaign for his release. "China's Mandela was born this Christmas," wrote the influential blogger Beichen.
Many activists were kept under house arrest or warned not to attend the hearings, but the contemporary artist Ai Weiwei was among those at the courtroom. "This does not mean a meteor has fallen. This is the discovery of a star," he tweeted. "Although this is a sentence on Liu Xiaobo alone, it is also a slap on the face for everyone in China."
Liu, a former Beijing Normal University professor, is a leading intellectual critic of the repressive Chinese government.
Liu was previously imprisoned for 20 months for taking part in the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square.
He told friends that he knew the risk of imprisonment when he drafted Charter 08, which demands the open election of public officials, freedom of religion and expression, and the abolition of subversion laws.
"We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes," the petition says.
Liu was arrested last December before the Charter was made public. Other drafters and signatories have been harassed. The mainstream media have been forbidden to cover the subject and censors have blocked many related internet sites and articles. Many Chinese are unaware that it exists.
Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco and Margaret Atwood are among 300 international writers who have called for the release of Liu, who is a former president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre.
"Liu Xiaobo's case is about agreed international human rights standards, not merely the internal affairs of China," said John Ralston Saul, the president of International PEN. "China is signatory to international treaties and conventions, and cannot be given a free pass when it acts against its own and international standards."
The United States and European Union have also urged Beijing to free Liu.
"We continue to call on the government of China to release him immediately," Gregory May, first secretary with the US Embassy, said outside the courthouse today. May was one of a dozen diplomats stopped by authorities from attending the trial and sentencing.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters this week that statements from embassies calling for Liu's release were "a gross interference of China's internal affairs".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/25/china-jails-liu-xiaobo
From Times Online
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years
Jane Macartney, China Correspondent
China’s leading dissident was sentenced to 11 years in prison today, the harshest sentence ever meted out in the country on the charge of subversion.
Liu Xiaobo, who will mark his 54th birthday on Monday, stood in a courtroom at the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court to hear the judge declare he had been found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”.
The verdict was a foregone conclusion in a country where charges are rarely brought unless a court has already seen sufficient evidence to ensure a conviction and where sentencing in sensitive cases is decided by the Communist Party and the judge serves as little more than a conduit.
conduit n. 1. 導管;水道,溝,渠道 2. [電] 導線管,導管,管道
Mr Liu was given no chance to respond to the sentence.
He stood accused of subversion based on six articles published on the internet and his organisation of the Charter 08 petition that called for sweeping political liberalisation in China.
However, in a brief 10-minute meeting with his wife after the sentencing, Mr Liu told her that he planned to appeal.
Liu Xia, an artist who has never been interested in her husband’s political activism, told The Times: “Both Xiaobo and I were mentally prepared for today's verdict. So we are calm.” She had been allowed into the court after being banned from Wednesday’s brief three-hour trial.
It was the first time she had been allowed to see her husband, other than two brief visits in January and March, since Mr Liu was seized from his home on December 8 last year, just hours after publication of Charter 08.
“I told him about my life, what I do every day, how the family is and our friends. He asked me to take care and told me about his life in the detention house. He has decided to appeal and will ask his lawyers to do so on his behalf,” she said.
Ms Liu said that he had prepared a lengthy defence that he had planned to read in court on Wednesday, but the time allocated to him had been extremely limited. But Ms Liu said friends told her that he said to the court:
“Giving me support and strength for 20 years has been the love of my Liu Xia.”
She said: “When I saw him I tried to smile all the time so that he would feel better. He told me he was relieved to see that I was able to smile.”
Mr Liu has been among the most prominent and combative critics of one-party rule in China, ever since he rushed back to Beijing from his studies in the United States to support student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
His case has attracted an outcry from human rights activists both at home and abroad. It has elicited an unprecedented joint appeal from the European Union and the United States. The long sentence – apparently the most severe to be handed down since the crime of subversion was introduced in 1997 – at once drew renewed concern.
Standing outside the court, a US diplomat said Washington was "deeply concerned".
"We continue to call on the government of China to release him immediately and to respect the rights of all Chinese citizens to peacefully express their political views in favour of universally recognised fundamental freedoms," said the diplomat, Gregory May, reading from a prepared statement.
The Government defended the sentence, saying all legal procedures had been followed.
In court, Mr Liu and his lawyers were allowed to speak for only a few minutes. The prosecution opened with a 14-minute statement and the defence was allowed the same amount of time. That was followed by five minutes by the prosecutors and the defence was now permitted to speak for any longer than that. [我懷疑 "now" 是打錯字，應該是 not 比較合理。上文記載分配給被告的時間極短。]
The prosecution had described Mr Liu’s offences as “serious”. Among his list of demands in Charter 08 was the abolition of the law on subversion. The petition read: “We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes.”
Mr Liu now faces the prospect of 11 years in prison for his words. His chief lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told The Times: “We don’t approve of the court’s verdict. No matter what Liu Xiaobo writes in his articles, it’s his freedom of speech and that is a citizen’s basic right.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6967699.ece
By Steven Mufson
Friday, December 25, 2009; A10
BEIJING -- China's leading dissident, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday after a court found the 53-year-old literary scholar guilty of "inciting subversion to state power" through his writings and role in Charter 08, a petition advocating human rights, free speech and an end to one-party rule.
The sentencing sent a signal that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to stifle domestic political critics, especially those who seek to organize their fellow Chinese. And it provided evidence that political modernization might not go hand in hand with China's economic modernization, contrary to past predictions by Chinese dissidents, U.S. business executives, political theorists and proselytizers of the Internet age.
proselytize v.
1. To induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one's own political party or to espouse one's doctrine.
v.tr. To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another.
According to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human rights group, Liu's sentence was longer than any other sentence handed down for "inciting subversion" since the charge was established in the 1997 reform of the criminal law.
"You can think democracy, you can talk democracy, but you can't do democracy," said Li Fan, director of the World and China Institute in Beijing.
Rebecca MacKinnon, a fellow at the Open Society Institute and co-founder of GlobalVoicesOnline.org, said the case "certainly seems to reflect a high level of sensitivity and very low level of tolerance."
A decade ago, she said, "there was a great deal of optimism" about village elections, plans for separating party and state functions, and talk of other political reforms. Many analysts said a more open society would yield a more open political system.
But reform initiatives have stalled, and there was little evidence of openness in the handling of Liu's case this week.
His trial, which took place at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, lasted less than three hours Wednesday. The judge rejected evidence the defense sought to introduce and limited the speaking time of Liu's attorneys to 14 minutes, according to one of Liu's brothers. He said that 18 mostly young people were allowed to listen to the proceedings but that Liu's wife, Liu Xia, could not. She did attend the Friday sentencing, marking only the third time she had seen her husband since he was detained more than a year ago.
The judge also barred journalists and foreign diplomats from attending. In contrast to the 1990s, when visits by leading international envoys often brought the release of dissidents, China has ignored calls by the Obama administration and other Western governments for Liu's release.
[或許這就是中國的崛起！經濟的力量加上奧運後的自信心提升，中國已經不再屈從於外國勢力了。]
After the sentencing, which foreign diplomats were also barred from attending, Gregory May, first secretary with the U.S. Embassy, told reporters outside the courthouse that the United States was concerned about Liu's case and would continue to push for his release.
Chinese diplomats have rejected such calls as interference in China's affairs.
Mo Shaoping, a prominent human rights lawyer, said that the success of the 2008 Olympics, the economic crisis in the West and the 60th anniversary of the communist takeover had made the Chinese government "more and more arrogant" toward international critics.
［和我的看法差不多，不過我沒想到建政六十年。］
Worse yet, Mo said, the judge had violated China's procedures.
"China has solved the past problem that there were no existing laws. Now we have more than 200 laws and over a thousand regulations. We have laws that cover every aspect of social affairs," said Mo, who could not represent Liu because he also had signed Charter 08. "But the government doesn't follow those laws, not even the laws they wrote themselves."
One of Liu's brothers, Liu Xiaoxuan, said the prosecutors focused on 350 words collected from half-dozen of the 490 articles Liu wrote over a five-year period. In those excerpts, Liu Xiaobo sharply criticized the Chinese government, calling it a dictatorship that sought to use patriotism to fool people into loving the government rather than the country, the brother said.
Liu Xiaoxuan, a professor of material engineering at Guangdong University of Technology, said his brother told the court that the country's "progress can't cover up the mistakes you've made and the flaws of your institutions."
Other signatories of Charter 08 also are facing government harassment. Zhang Zuhua, primary drafter of the manifesto, is under heavy police surveillance at his home. Others have lost prize research or teaching posts.
The Communist Party has always been wary of people seeking to organize outside of officially recognized groups, whether for political or other causes. Last week, security officials formally arrested Zhao Lianhai, who was already in detention for organizing families whose babies were affected by last year's tainted-milk scandal.
Many foreign diplomats see the Christmas Day sentencing of Liu Xiaobo as timed to minimize outside attention, with the world focused on celebrations. In 2006, the Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was convicted of "subversion" three days before Christmas. In 2007, AIDS activist Hu Jia was arrested five days after Christmas.
The Charter 08 declaration was modeled on Czechoslovakia's Charter 77 drive, which eventually contributed to the end of communist rule there. Started with about 300 signatures, it has gathered thousands more online.
Among other things, Charter 08 says: "For China the path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of the authoritarian notion of reliance on an 'enlightened overlord' or an 'honest official' and to turn instead toward a system of liberties, democracy and the rule of law."
divest 1. 剝除,扒下;卸下(衣服、武裝用具等) 2. 搶奪;剝奪(權利、職位等)
3. 除掉(累贅) 4. [律] 剝奪(財產、權利等)
3. 除掉(累贅) 4. [律] 剝奪(財產、權利等)
On Friday, one of the signers of Charter 08 arrived outside the courthouse where Liu was sentenced to show support for Liu.
Yang Licai, 38, said he was disappointed by the sentence, and saw it as evidence that, despite the government's declarations of a "harmonious society," Chinese still lack basic freedoms. Surrounded by plainclothes police, Yang said he did not fear arrest for being outspoken.
"Right now I am not afraid," he said. "I am willing to shoulder my responsibility."
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122401564_pf.html
【北京＝関泰晴】中国の共産党独裁を非難し、民主化を求める文書「０８憲章」の起草で中心的役割を果たしたとして、国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた民主活動家・劉暁波氏（５３）に対し、北京市第一中級人民法院（地裁）は２５日、懲役１１年の判決を言い渡した。
劉氏を巡っては欧米諸国が釈放を求めるなどしており、中国の対応に国際社会の批判が高まりそうだ。
関係者によると、劉氏は「言論の自由に基づくもので犯罪ではない」と訴えたが、裁判では受け入れられなかった。
中国の人権派弁護士や学者ら約３００人が署名し、昨年１２月に発表された０８憲章は、「中国はいまだに権威主義的政治の中にある」と指摘し、三権分立、民主選挙、個人財産保護などを保障する制度改革や、状況改善を要求。インターネットなどを通じて署名者が１万人以上に達するなど、反響を呼んだ。
（2009年12月25日11時53分 読売新聞）
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/news/20091225-OYT1T00443.htm
中国反体制作家に懲役11年
【北京＝尾崎実】中国共産党による独裁廃止などを求めた「08憲章」を起草したとして国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた反体制作家、劉暁波氏（53）の判決公判が25日、北京市第１中級人民法院（地裁）であり、同法院は懲役11年、政治権利剥奪（はくだつ）２年の実刑判決を言い渡した。国営新華社などが報じた。
劉氏の公判を巡っては、米国務省などが「開かれた政府を求めた劉氏の行為は罪に当たらない」などと強く非難しており、今回の判決を受け、欧米各国や国際人権団体などは中国に対する批判を一層強めるとみられる。
08憲章のほか劉氏が発表した６件の論文で、一党独裁批判や多党制導入などを主張したことが同罪に問われたが、劉氏側は公判で「言論の自由が保障されている」と無罪を主張。劉氏は昨年12月、憲章の発表直前に公安当局に身柄を拘束された。(14:16)
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/kaigai/20091225AT2M2501525122009.html
2009年12月25日15時9分
【北京＝峯村健司】インターネット上で中国の民主化を求めた「０８憲章」を起草したとして国家政権転覆扇動罪に問われた民主派作家、劉暁波氏（５３）に対し、北京市第１中級人民法院（地裁）は２５日、懲役１１年と政治的権利剥奪（はくだつ）２年の実刑判決を言い渡した。弁護側は控訴を検討している。
判決は、劉氏が憲章で共産党独裁を廃止し、民主憲政に基づく「中華連邦共和国」の樹立を呼びかけたことなどが重大な犯罪行為に当たると判断した。劉氏は「法が保障する言論の自由の範囲内であり罪ではない」と無罪を主張していた。
中国当局は、民主活動家のリーダー的存在である劉氏に対し、最高刑（懲役１５年）に近い厳罰を科すことで、民主化や人権尊重を求める動きを本格的に封じ込める狙いがあるとみられる。裁判には欧米から非難の声が上がっているが、中国外務省は「中国の司法への粗暴な内政干渉で、強い不満を表明する」（姜瑜副報道局長）と反発している。
http://www.asahi.com/international/update/1225/TKY200912250181.html
Pekín condena a 11 años de cárcel al disidente Liu Xiaobo
AGENCIAS - Pekín - 25/12/2009
Unode los disidentes más prominentes de China, Liu Xiaobo, ha sidocondenado esta madrugada (hora española) a 11 años de prisión acusadode "incitar a la subversión del poder del Estado", ha informado suabogado, Mo Shaoping.
Liu, que el lunes cumplirá 54 años, fueuno de los principales autores de la Carta 08, un manifiesto que pedíareformas políticas democráticas que vio la luz en diciembre del añopasado. Los fiscales pedían para él 15 años de prisión por haberpublicado varios ensayos críticos con el régimen en la Red. La Carta 08fue firmada por 300 intelectuales -entre ellos, escritores, abogados,profesores y periodistas- dentro del país.
El activista fuedetenido formalmente hace medio año, una acción firmemente condenadapor EE UU o la UE, a los que China acusó de injerencia en asuntosinternos. Varias organizaciones de derechos humanos consideran quePekín ha querido sentenciar el caso de Liu, cuyo juicio comenzó elpasado miércoles, durante estas fechas para que no centre toda laatención internacional.
"La corte ha seguido estrictamente losprocedimientos legales en este caso y ha protegido los derechos deLiu", ha afirmado la agencia oficial de noticias Xinhua, que harecogido una declaración de la sentencia. "Esperemos que Liu apele lasentencia, pero depende de él", ha indicado el abogado del activista,que ha agregado que tiene diez días para tomar una decisión.
Losdiplomáticos occidentales y los periodistas extranjeros no pudieronentrar el jueves en la sala del juicio contra Liu, escritor, exprofesor universitario y uno de los grandes críticos de Pekín desde lasprotestas democráticas de los estudiantes en junio de 1989 en la Plazade Tiananmén.
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