By JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 1, 2008
BEIJING — A prominent Chinese human rights advocate who has been in custody since late December was issued a formal arrest warrant this week on charges of subversion despite calls from prominent Chinese intellectuals and lawyers for his release.
International human rights groups have criticized China for the arrest of the advocate, Hu Jia, and accused the Chinese government of cracking down on dissidents before Beijing plays host to the Olympics in August.
Mr. Hu, 34, was first detained on Dec. 27, when security agents burst into his suburban Beijing apartment and dragged him away on suspicion of subverting state power. The authorities formalized charges against him this week when police officers delivered an arrest warrant to Mr. Hu’s wife on Wednesday night, one of Mr. Hu’s lawyers said.
“Hu Jia is under formal arrest on charges of subverting state power,” said Li Fangping, the lawyer, paraphrasing the arrest warrant.
Mr. Hu has gained international attention for his advocacy on behalf of AIDS patients, farmers and the environment. He and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, also are well-known Internet bloggers who have faced official scrutiny for years for their writings on human rights in China. During a long period under house arrest in 2006, Mr. Hu filmed a documentary, “Prisoners in Freedom City,” which he posted online.
More recently, Mr. Hu was outspoken in saying that China had not fulfilled its promises to improve human rights conditions in advance of the Olympics.
The authorities still have not specified any details about the charges against Mr. Hu. His lawyers have been forbidden to meet with him because the authorities say that the case involves a state secret.
Under the next stage of the legal process, the police may continue investigating Mr. Hu’s case for two to seven months before handing it over to Chinese prosecutors. Prosecutors must eventually decide whether to indict Mr. Hu and take him to trial.
Mr. Li said Mr. Hu could face at least three years in prison.
International human rights groups have characterized Mr. Hu’s detention as part of a roundup of troublemakers before the Olympics. Last November Mr. Hu criticized China’s human rights record and Beijing’s Olympic organizers when he testified via webcam to a committee of the European Parliament.
“Whether or not these criticisms triggered his arrest, it is clear that the action taken against Hu Jia cannot escape being connected to the Olympics,” said the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group based in San Francisco that is involved with Chinese political prisoners. “From the perspective of the authorities, the opportunity to take this high-profile rights activist out of action in the final months before the Olympics may have been too good to pass up.”
The statement, posted on Dui Hua’s Web site on Thursday, added that Mr. Hu’s arrest posed a major public relations problem for China as it prepared for the Olympics. The group noted that Mr. Hu was likely to remain behind bars through the Games — and might not even be allowed to meet with his lawyer by the time of the closing ceremony.
Mr. Hu and Ms. Zeng were accustomed to tight surveillance from Beijing’s security apparatus. Mr. Hu was detained for 41 days in 2006 without charges and then released. He and his wife spent much of the rest of the year under effective house arrest. Surveillance of the pair loosened somewhat last year until agents took Mr. Hu into custody on Dec. 27. The authorities also severed the couple’s telephone line and Internet connection to prevent Ms. Zeng from continuing to write on her blog.
The couple had their first child late last year. The newborn, Qianci, recently turned two months old. But police have been stationed outside the family’s apartment in a complex known as Bo Bo Freedom City, so that mother and daughter remain under effective house arrest.
Friends, supporters and journalists have been turned away from the apartment. The parents of Mr. Hu and Ms. Zeng are the only people allowed to visit and have provided a lifeline of food and baby formula for Qianci and Ms. Zeng.
Zhang Jing contributed research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/world/asia/01beijing.html?scp=3&sq=hu+jia&st=nyt
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