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Pair admit trying to subvert state power
Print Edition
TAIWAN resident Lee Ming-che stood trial in a court in Yueyang in central China’s Hunan Province yesterday, accused of inciting subversion of state power.
Peng Yuhua, a suspect from the Chinese mainland, faced the same charge.
Prosecutors accused Peng of roping in dozens of people, including Lee, to establish an organization aimed at subverting state power and overturning the country’s fundamental political system through instant messaging services.
The pair asked members of the organization to exaggerate a number of sensitive issues and make defamatory statements about the Chinese government and its political system, according to the indictment.
They attempted to overturn state power and the socialist system through unscrupulous distortion of the facts and by fanning public hostility against the government and its system, it said.
Prosecutors said that their activities had seriously harmed national security and social stability.
Lee said he accepted the charge of subversion and expressed regret in videos of his comments released on social media by the Yueyang City Intermediate People’s Court.
“I spread some attacks, theories that maliciously attacked and defamed China’s government, the Communist Party of China and China’s current political system, and I incited the subversion of state power,” Lee said, referring to comments written in an instant messaging group.
He told the court that he had also organized people and wrote articles “intended to subvert the state’s power.”
Both said their rights had been fully protected during the investigation, and both pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.
“I regarded biased and malicious reports about the Chinese mainland by media in the West and Taiwan as reality, and had no clear knowledge of the mainland’s development,” Lee said in a final statement.
Peng also expressed regret to society as well as to his family, saying he felt deeply distressed about his wrongdoing.
During the trial, evidence, including documents, witness testimonies, and audio, visual and digital material, was presented by prosecutors in court, along with the two suspects’ statements. The defendants and their lawyers examined the evidence and both sides fully expressed their opinions in court.
More than 30 people, including the defendants’ families, legislators, political advisers, domestic and overseas journalists, and members of the public, attended the trial.
The verdict will be announced later.
On March 19, Lee, who was on the mainland to participate in illegal activities, was put under coercive measures by the Hunan provincial security body on suspicion of subverting state power.
Releasing videos and transcripts of court hearings has become increasingly common in China as part of a push for greater judicial transparency and oversight.
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