Chinese rights lawyer charged with inciting subversion
BEIJING — Prominent legal activist Yu Wensheng has been charged with inciting subversion of state power after writing a letter calling for democratic reforms, his lawyer said Monday.
Police informed Yu’s wife of the charge on Saturday, lawyer Huang Hanzhong said. Inciting subversion is a vaguely worded charge often used to muzzle dissent.
Earlier this month, more than a dozen police officers grabbed Yu, a lawyer in Beijing, while he was waiting in his car to take his 13-year-old son to school. The seizure came a day after he posted a letter online calling on the ruling Communist Party to reform the Chinese Constitution and allow open presidential elections.
“The president, the head of state, is basically appointed without any meaningful election. It has no credibility for the country, for civil society and for countries across the world,” Yu said in the letter.