China: UPDATED-Hu Jia indicted for subversion

UPDATE: from RFA’s Mandarin service [独家报道：律师拿到对胡佳“涉嫌煽动颠覆国家政权罪”起诉书]

HONG KONG—Authorities in Beijing have formally charged AIDS activist Hu Jia with “incitement to subversion” after he wrote articles online critical of China’s hosting of the Olympics, his lawyers said.

Baby Under House Arrest: Hu Qianci at four months. Courtesy of Zeng Jinyan’s blog.

Hu’s lawyers, Li Jingsong and Li Fangping, received the indictment from the court late Tuesday, they told RFA’s Mandarin service. He is formally charged with “incitement to subvert state power” and is likely to face imminent trial.

“It was almost 4 p.m. by the time we finished copying the indictment and other related documents,” Li Jingsong said. “On Monday, March 10, a judge telephoned me and said that Hu Jia’s case had been sent to the court. He said that he had met with Hu Jia and informed him…”

“I have notified Hu Jia’s family of this development. No date has been set for the trial. They should notify me three days before the trial is to take place. The content of the indictment is similar to the content of the ‘document of recommended charges’ issued by the public security bureau that I received last Friday,” he said. More in English.

Petitioners, bloggers and cyber-supporters of the family have been trying for months to deliver calcium-enriched baby milk formula to Zeng Jinyan, Hu Jia’s wife, who has been under house arrest at the couple’s Beijing apartment together with her four-month old daughter, and is currently unable to communicate with the outside world by telephone or Internet.

It seems that some people have been successful now, according to a recent post by Feng37.

Here is a partial translation of the main points of a recent blog post by Zeng – in places the audio isn’t very clear, and this doesn’t claim to be a definitive translation. I wonder if David Milliband could tell us anything about his exchange with Chinese officials?

You can hear the original Chinese audio here.

Zeng Jinyan’s podcast:

I heard that when overseas leaders came to China to enquire about Hu Jia’s case they were told that all people were equal before the law, and that China was a country with rule of law. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that in China someone wouldn’t be detained simply for expressing an opinion.

Then the UK foreign secretary David Milliband came to China, and he was told by high-ranking officials that if a person said 100 times over that they didn’t want the Beijing Olympics they wouldn’t be detained. Then the official said “You must be thirsty. Let me pour you some water.” Then my source called me to tell me about this exchange. Because the National Security police told me that Hu’s detention came after he had written more than 100 articles, and that this was the problem. Another one told me it was 200, and another said 800. The point being that the sensitivity of the authorities seems to be around the sheer number of articles published by Hu Jia.

…But given all of these factors I think that he should be released immediately and that we should both get our freedom back. We have basically been without freedom since 2004, shut up at home…Thinking about it really makes me sad now…They are threatening us, using us as hostages…I am really very sad. I am worried about Hu Jia’s health.

…When I saw him I asked him why he was wearing so many clothes. He said that his cell wasn’t as warm as home. I saw him once during Lunar New Year…I told him to take care of himself.

The baby is growing really fast. There is so much change in the first three months…He doesn’t know that I am being kept under house arrest…I didn’t tell him when I saw him. He suggested I take our parents out for an outing.

I am still holding onto what they said to the British foreign secretary, that they wouldn’t detain someone because they express an opinion.

[Baby noises in the background.]

I think that the more people who know about this the better…I hope that they will release him soon…His parents are already in their seventies.

Related link: China Digital Times.