Paid protest organizer found guilty
Print Edition
ZHAI Yanmin, an unemployed resident of Beijing, was sentenced to three years in prison with a four-year reprieve after being found guilty of subverting state power yesterday.
The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court ordered that Zhai, 55, will have to serve a minimum three-year term should he fall foul of the law within the grace period. The court also deprived Zhai of his political rights for four years.
He said he will not appeal.
Zhai was first exposed to concepts such as the “color revolutions” and “peaceful transition” online, the court said. He then joined an underground church led by Hu Shigen and gradually developed plans to overthrow the socialist system. Since 2012, Zhai has attempted to incite people to subvert state power by use of the online resources, the court said.
Zhai, together with underground church members and lawyers, engaged and managed illegal petitioners to organize public gatherings, hype up legal cases and incidents, attack the country’s judicial system and carry out activities aimed at subverting the state power and socialist system. These activities endangered the state and society, the court said.
“I accept all the charges,” Zhai said. “With the help and education of the government, I recognize the severity of my crimes. I plead guilty and express my sincere remorse.
“I am sorry to the country and my family ... If I could go back I would never have become a member of hostile forces or associated with those individuals driven by ulterior motives,” he said.
He added that he would like to be used as an example of the consequences of listening to and supporting hostile forces overseas and at home, and to inform the public of the dangers of the so-called “democracy,” “human rights” and “public benefits” flaunted by them as a mask for criminal activities.
The court handed down a light sentence because he confessed, testified against others and repented. Moreover, the court decided that Zhai posed no major threat to the community, it said.
The second branch of the People’s Procuratorate of Tianjin filed charges against Zhai with Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court on July 15.
A pretrial conference was held on July 22. It was attended by the prosecution team, defendant and defense counsel, presiding judge Cai Shuying said.
During yesterday’s trial, Cai informed the defense team of Zhai’s rights and obligations in litigation. The defense team had no objection with any of the evidence used in the trial.
Altogether 48 people, including 20 journalists from home and overseas observed the trial.
Prosecutors told the court that Zhai, together with three others — Hu Shigen, Zhou Shifeng and Li Heping — had conspired and plotted to subvert state power, and had “established a systematic ideology, method and steps to achieve it.”
The defendant was accused of organizing multiple mass protests to influence public opinion. One such case was a fatal shooting incident at a railway station in Heilongjiang Province.
On May 2 of 2015, police officer Li Lebin shot dead Xu Chunhe at Qing’an County Railway Station. Xu had attacked Li and continued to assault the police officer despite multiple warnings. Follow-up investigations confirmed that Li had acted within the law.
Zhai organized protests at the railway station and in front of the county government buildings.
When asked about the motivation behind his crimes, Zhai said he hated the government and the political system because of a failed business venture.
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