- Joined
- Apr 17, 2009
- Messages
- 43,132
- Likes
- 23,835
Liu Xiaobo to seek retrial
Nobel peace prize winner and dissident is serving an 11-year jail sentence in China for subversion
Lu Xiaobo, held in a Chinese jail, was unable to attend the 2010 Nobel prize ceremony.
The lawyer of jailed Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo has said the dissident intends to ask for a retrial.
Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the Chinese writer and critic's detention, on the eve of publication of a call for democratic reforms that he co-authored. He was subsequently jailed for 11 years for subversion and his appeal dismissed.
Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he agreed to a legal challenge during a prison visit by his wife, Liu Xia.
"Liu Xia came to our law firm in October and formally authorised us to take this case. Last week, we submitted an application to Jinzhou prison requesting a visit to Liu Xiaobo," he added.
"We need to meet Liu to discuss details with him before we formally lodge a request for him with the Beijing high court. If Beijing high court rejects our appeal, we will appeal to the supreme court."
Joshua Rosenzweig, a human rights scholar based in Hong Kong, said courts had discretion as to whether to grant a retrial. That was one reason why such hearings were uncommon, he said.
"Another is that, even though prisons are not supposed to use the fact you are trying to reopen the case against you, in practice it is not seen as good behaviour, which has an impact on your eligibility for things like sentence reductions. There are built-in incentives against pursuing it," he added.
"In this case, frankly, he probably has very little to lose. I don't foresee that the authorities are terribly interested in giving him a sentence reduction "¦ In practice, I would be very surprised were this case to be reopened. Politically, authorities don't have much reason to; it just reopens a big, festering wound."
Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch said the chances of winning a retrial were small but nonetheless worth a shot, given that a new leadership was in place.
"It's worth offering an opportunity to the leadership to change its mind. There are not many avenues to do that, the other being probably medical parole," he said.
"This is going to be decided at the highest level of authority – I assume the Politburo – as will any decision about him "¦ It was a political decision to put him in jail in the first place; it will be a political decision to do anything with him."
He added that there was little international pressure, with most western countries proving extremely shy on the subject.
"If Beijing is not paying a price for putting him in jail "¦ they have no incentive to release him," Bequelin said.
Liu Xia herself has been under house arrest since shortly after the announcement that her husband had won the Nobel peace prize, in October 2010.
She has never been accused of an offence and supporters say her family is suffering retaliation for her support for her husband. Her brother was jailed this year for fraud over a property dispute. His lawyers claimed the case was politically motivated.
Liu Xiaobo to seek retrial | World news | theguardian.com
****************************************************'
There is a hope in hell that China will even entertain the idea of a re-trial.
It will not dare to have the international glare of a re-trial and the heavy criticism thereof, and so it is out of the question.
And anyway, there is no justice as such in China.
Nobel peace prize winner and dissident is serving an 11-year jail sentence in China for subversion
Lu Xiaobo, held in a Chinese jail, was unable to attend the 2010 Nobel prize ceremony.
The lawyer of jailed Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo has said the dissident intends to ask for a retrial.
Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the Chinese writer and critic's detention, on the eve of publication of a call for democratic reforms that he co-authored. He was subsequently jailed for 11 years for subversion and his appeal dismissed.
Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he agreed to a legal challenge during a prison visit by his wife, Liu Xia.
"Liu Xia came to our law firm in October and formally authorised us to take this case. Last week, we submitted an application to Jinzhou prison requesting a visit to Liu Xiaobo," he added.
"We need to meet Liu to discuss details with him before we formally lodge a request for him with the Beijing high court. If Beijing high court rejects our appeal, we will appeal to the supreme court."
Joshua Rosenzweig, a human rights scholar based in Hong Kong, said courts had discretion as to whether to grant a retrial. That was one reason why such hearings were uncommon, he said.
"Another is that, even though prisons are not supposed to use the fact you are trying to reopen the case against you, in practice it is not seen as good behaviour, which has an impact on your eligibility for things like sentence reductions. There are built-in incentives against pursuing it," he added.
"In this case, frankly, he probably has very little to lose. I don't foresee that the authorities are terribly interested in giving him a sentence reduction "¦ In practice, I would be very surprised were this case to be reopened. Politically, authorities don't have much reason to; it just reopens a big, festering wound."
Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch said the chances of winning a retrial were small but nonetheless worth a shot, given that a new leadership was in place.
"It's worth offering an opportunity to the leadership to change its mind. There are not many avenues to do that, the other being probably medical parole," he said.
"This is going to be decided at the highest level of authority – I assume the Politburo – as will any decision about him "¦ It was a political decision to put him in jail in the first place; it will be a political decision to do anything with him."
He added that there was little international pressure, with most western countries proving extremely shy on the subject.
"If Beijing is not paying a price for putting him in jail "¦ they have no incentive to release him," Bequelin said.
Liu Xia herself has been under house arrest since shortly after the announcement that her husband had won the Nobel peace prize, in October 2010.
She has never been accused of an offence and supporters say her family is suffering retaliation for her support for her husband. Her brother was jailed this year for fraud over a property dispute. His lawyers claimed the case was politically motivated.
Liu Xiaobo to seek retrial | World news | theguardian.com
****************************************************'
There is a hope in hell that China will even entertain the idea of a re-trial.
It will not dare to have the international glare of a re-trial and the heavy criticism thereof, and so it is out of the question.
And anyway, there is no justice as such in China.
