First off, you’ll see that the two offenses involve different sorts of behavior: “organizing, plotting, or carrying out” subversive acts on the one hand versus “inciting others” to do so “by spreading rumors or slanders or any other means.” In other words, “subversion” is primarily an offense of association or concrete action—the individual must be personally involved with actions designed to lead to overthrow of the political system—whereas “inciting subversion” is an offense of expression in which the danger lies in the alleged potential for that expression to lead others to want to overthrow the political system.

As a rule of thumb, then, individuals involved in any kind of organization like the China Democracy Party or the New Youth Study Society will most likely be charged with subversion. Individuals who have published articles critical of the government are usually punished with inciting subversion. Unfortunately, that distinction doesn’t alway hold in practice (a point to which I’ll return below) ….

The problem is that the offenses of “subversion” and “inciting subversion” were written into law before the Internet came along and destroyed the clear distinction between speech and association. Many Internet cases involve a combination of association and expression. If I post articles advocating the need for an opposition party to a group of people in a chat room, is that organization or incitement? If my articles focus more on the structure or goals of my opposition party, then it might be argued that I’m organizing a subversive group. If my articles focus more on criticizing the tyranny of one-party rule, then it could very likely be construed as incitement.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China Democracy Party, criminal law, legal system, new youth study group, sentencing, subversion
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Human rights groups had said Xue faced up to 10 years in jail and three others he was in contact with had also been arrested and tried for subversion, in Liaoning, Hunan and Hubei provinces. The rulings on those cases could not immediately be found.

China allows a small number of officially recognised parties, although they serve as advisers to, rather than competitors with, the ruling Communist party.

Xue’s lawyers argued their client was not guilty because becoming a member of a political party did not amount to subversion, according to court documents posted on the website of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group… ”Since I was young I did not like the abuses of the one-party dictatorship and I wanted to establish a party to participate in politics and change the Chinese Communist party’s way of governing,” Xue said during interrogation, according to a submission by the defence.

Founded by dissidents in 1998, the China Democracy party was quashed six months later by the Communists . Dozens of founding members were arrested and sentenced to up to 13 years in prison, most on charges of subverting state power.

© cschultz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China Democracy Party, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, political prisoners, Xue Mingkai
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A 65-year-old democracy activist who tried to set up an opposition party in China has been sentenced to six years in jail, a human rights group said Thursday.

A court in Hangzhou, a prosperous city in eastern Zhejiang province, sentenced Wang Rongqing on Wednesday on charges of subverting state power for organizing the banned China Democracy Party, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

Wang was detained in June, two months before the Olympic Games started, the group said. Wang’s brother, Wang Rongyao, confirmed the sentence. The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court could not be immediately be reached for comment.

Wang has been repeatedly harassed and detained by police during his years of activism, which started in the late 1970s as China’s hard-line Maoist era came to a close and some started calling for democracy. He was detained for two months in 1999.

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Post tags: activists, China Democracy Party, Wang Rongqing
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A Chinese democracy activist has been paroled after more than six years in prison for helping form a political party seeking to challenge the communists’ monopoly on power, a fellow activist said Friday.

A co-founder of the China Democracy Party, Zhu Zhengming, was freed this week, nearly four years before his 10-year sentence was due to expire, said Cheng Fan, who had also been briefly detained for his part in the attempts to register the party.

Cheng said it wasn’t clear why Zhu had been released early, although he said Zhu was told he would have to report to police regularly and apply for permission to travel, Cheng said.

Zhu, a chemist believed to be 43 or 44, could not immediately be reached for comment, and calls to his mother’s home in the eastern city of Wenzhou rang unanswered.

See also – “Nipped in the Bud: The Suppression of the China Democracy Party” by Human Rights Watch; – “China Democracy Party members face political trials” by World Socialist Web Site

© Michael Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China Democracy Party, political prisoners
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