zuofeng@POLLUX.WUSTL.EDU (Zuofeng Li) (02/13/91)
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0. Two Chinese dissidents sentenced to 13 years each....................98
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Source: UPI, Feb. 12, 1991
By SARAH LUBMAN
BEIJING -- A court sentenced two prominent dissidents Tuesday to 13
years in prison each as the alleged masterminds of the 1989 pro-
democracy movement, the heaviest terms in dozens of political trials
over the Tiananmen Square protests.
Two other intellectuals also branded as ``black hands'' in the
student-led movement were also sentenced. One was pardoned and freed
for his ``willingness to repent,'' and another received a six-year
prison term.
The four had been charged with the ``counterrevolutionary'' crime of
sedition, a much more serious charge than those leveled against
students, workers and others sentenced since the trials began in late
December.
The sentences were announced by the Beijing Intermediate Court after a
full day of hearings. Uniformed police blocked the street around the
court building and harassed foreign reporters trying to read the
public notice board outside.
Editor Wang Juntao, 33, and economist Chen Ziming, 39, were sentenced
to 13 years imprisonment each because they ``have shown no willingness
to repent,'' the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Liu Gang, a 29-year-old physicist, was given six years imprisonment.
Legal scholar Chen Xiaoping, 30, was ``exempted from criminal
punishment'' because he had surrendered voluntarily and showed
``willingess to repent,'' Xinhua said.
The sentences of Wang and Chen Ziming were the heaviest given so far
in three dozen trials of Tiananmen Spring dissidents. Veteran human
rights activist Ren Wanding was earlier given seven years.
The trials, closed to foreign observers, have been assailed by Western
governments and human rights groups as unfair prosecutions with
preordained outcomes. Defendants have been unable to choose their own
lawyers or present proper defenses.
Wang and Chen, both veteran dissidents of past democracy campaigns,
were accused of stirring up the protests, organizing opposition to the
government and interfering with martial law forces called in to
suppress the movement.
``Chen and Wang wantonly incited some persons to subvert the people's
government and the socialist system, gathered together illegal
organizations in Beijing and conducted a series of activities to
subvert the people's government,'' Xinhua said.
A Western diplomat who monitors human rights in China said the harsh
sentences against the two appeared to be a message warning dissidents
of their fates should they choose to defy the government.
``The government's policy is, we'll be lenient if you recognize your
mistakes and cooperate with us,'' the diplomat said.
``They've probably been waiting to get (Chen and Wang) for years and
now they've got them.''
Both Wang and Chen reportedly refused to admit their guilt. A defiant
Chen faced the court Monday but denied the charges of ``counter-
revolution'' as untrue and demanded further evidence, according to
sources familiar with the proceedings.
The court refused to provide proof of several of the 17 separate
accusations against Chen, whose lawyer was given less than a week to
prepare for the trial.
Chen appeared in court visibly weakened by a fast begun Feb. 7 in a
last-ditch bid to demand more time to prepare his defense, one source
said.
``He did not acknowledge his guilt, and denied all the charges against
him,'' the source said, adding that Chen's lawyer protested the lack
of time given by the court to prepare.
When the pro-democracy movement began spreading on college campuses in
the spring of 1989, Wang and Chen agreed at first to support it and
provide advice but keep low profiles, according to a recently
published interview with an unidentified member of their group.
They abandoned their cautious stance following the government's May
20, 1989, imposition of martial law in Beijing, organizing the Joint
Liaison Group to direct a movement that had gone beyond the students'
abilities to control.
Wang, Chen and other members of the group were arrested after the
army's bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown and have been held since at
maximum-security Qincheng prison.
Other intellectuals linked to Wang and Chen, such as Beijing
University law doctorate Li Jinjin and researcher Wang Zichang, are
said to remain under detention with no notice of the charges against
them.
Authorities appear to be paralyzed over the fate of senior party
officials imprisoned for their alleged roles in the protests. Among
them are Bao Tong, secretary to deposed party head Zhao Ziyang, and
Bao's assistant, Gao Shan.