Guo Quan, the founder of the China New Democracy Party will plead not guilty when he stands trial today for subversion against the state according to his lawyer. The trial comes amid reports of numerous detentions and trials of dissidents, alongside an apparent crackdown on activist lawyers possibly to stifle dissent ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Communist state’s founding in October. Read more here
Police in China have detained a leading human rights lawyer in a dawn raid, less than a fortnight after the Open Constitution Initative, the pioneering legal centre he helped found was shut down. Xu Zhiyong’s disappearance comes amid growing concern about increasing pressure on activist lawyers in China. Read more here
Chinese blogger Duan Lei, who had been held since 25 February on charges of defamation and disturbing the social order, has been released by prosecutors due to a lack of evidence. Duan Lei’s allegations that a local Communist party secretary had more cars than his position permits appeared on a total of six websites and were read by only 79 people.
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China’s Propaganda Department has ordered media and news websites to censor reports about a corruption case with links to President Hu Jintao’s son. Nuctech, a Chinese company that until 2007 was headed by Hu’s son Hu Haifeng, is alleged to have bribed a Namibian company in order to sell airport security scanners to Namibia. Read more here