Hu Jia in China’s Legal Labyrinth
Far Eastern Economic Review, April 2008
Posted: 25 Mar 2010
Date Written: April 2008
Abstract
On April 3, 2008, the Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hu Jia, a 34-year-old Chinese commentator and activist, of the crime of “inciting subversion of state power” through publication of five articles and two interviews. This short article co-authored by Jerome A Cohen and Eva Pils argues that in considering the implications of this high-profile case for the prospects for rule of law in China, we should be mindful of the past. In the days when political offenders were still charged as “counterrevolutionaries,” the option of waging a meaningful defense was even less available than it is today. The question now is whether and when it may prove possible for the constitutional and statutory protections that have gradually been evolving to be consistently implemented in practice, and Hu Jia’s case gives reason for skepticism.
Keywords: China, subversion crimes, freedom of speech
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