Prominent rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong pleads guilty to charges of inciting subversion of state power
A court in Changsha of Hunan province Tuesday put prominent rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong on trial, in which he pleaded guilty to charges of inciting subversion of state power and denied that he had been tortured by police.
But Jiang’s wife and rights groups denounced it as “another show trial, ” saying that they find it hard to believe that Jiang has confessed under his own will.
Videos clips of what the court called an “open” hearing were posted on the court’s official Weibo account for public viewing.
Guilty plea
In his closing remarks, Jiang was seen to have made a public confession to his alleged crimes.
“I fully realize that I’ ve incited subversion of state power to try to topple the socialist regime – a violation of the Criminal Law and a criminal act. I plead guilty with all my hearts. And I deeply regret for what I’ ve done, ” Jiang read from a pre-written statement to the court.
While asking for a lenient sentence from the judge, Jiang added he hopes other rights activists can learn from his lessons.
Critical of government
During the hearing, prosecutors accused Jiang of having had issued more than 33,000 Twitter posts before 2009, in 214 of which he was said to have attacked the government with a language that incites subversion of state power.
He was also accused of having accepted interviews by foreign media, including VOA, to “smear” both the judiciary and government while having supported other rights defenders including Zhang Kai, Xie Yang and Liu Xing to fight for their causes.
Both Jiang and his defense lawyer raised no objection to all accounts of accusations, in one of which, he was named the one who had instigated Xie’s wife to falsify Xie’s torture allegations while in police custody.
