From Three Gorges Probe:
A 20-year-old who took part in angry local protests against the Pubugou dam in Sichuan province two years ago was executed last week, with neither his family nor his lawyer notified beforehand.
Chen Yongzhong, the father of the executed prisoner, learned of his son’s fate only when police instructed him to collect the young man’s ashes and pay a 50-yuan “bullet fee,” the Chinese-language ObserveChina.net news website reported.
Observers speculated that authorities in Sichuan may have hastened to carry out the death sentence against Chen Tao before a new national law comes into force next month. [Full Text]