Chinese blogger wins free speech trial

Chongqing - A Chinese blogger on Friday won a lawsuit seeking redress for his one-year detention for mocking a city's top officials' alleged interference in due judicial  procedure in a high-profile anti-crime campaign.

After a two-hour trial, the Chongqing Third Intermediate Court ruled that it was against the law for police to detain Fang Hong, a local forestry department employee, citing a lack of evidence  in support of the administrative punishment.

Fang was sent to a Re-education Through Labor Center, a largely police-run extra-judicial detention facility, for one year on April 28, 2011, for "inciting social disturbances," according to the  police record. He was released on April 24 this year.

Fang said he was apprehended after posting a joke on a microblog criticizing Chongqing's former top official Bo Xilai and former police chief Wang Lijun's meddling in the case against Li  Zhuang, a controversial lawyer defending suspects in mafia-related cases in Chongqing's crackdown on organized crime.

"Boqilai makes a dump, and asks Wang Lijun to eat it. Wang passes the dump to prosecutors who forward it to the court. The court passes it again to Li Zhuang. Li's lawyer says he is not  hungry and whoever made the dump should eat it," Fang wrote, using "Boqilai," which means "erection," as a play on the name of Bo Xilai.

Fang said the right to free speech is protected by the Constitution and, under law, his comments on the microblog should not have landed him in the labor camp.

The court said Fang's comments were indecent, but the act should not be counted as spreading rumors, it did not result in social disturbances and it obviously did not seriously violate  national interests in any way.

"Officials should remain calm, open-minded and respectful when facing criticism from the public on their work," the court said.

The court said that it was impossible to revoke the decision because the term had already been served. It then decided that the decision was "illegal." Law experts say the ruling will pave  the way for Fang to seek state compensation.

More than 100 people attended Friday's trial. The announcement of the verdict was met with resounding applause.

PROBLEMATIC CAMPAIGN

Chongqing launched a massive anti-crime campaign called "Peaceful Chongqing" in 2009, which prioritized fighting local mafia-style gangs. Though Bo and Chongqing's police forces were  credited with reducing crime, there have been concerns about abuses of power and the neglect of due process in the campaign.

Bo, who led the campaign, saw his family embroiled in a murder scandal that shocked the nation. Bo's wife, Bo-Gu Kailai, and an orderly at their home were named suspects in the murder of  British citizen Neil Heywood in Chongqing in November 2011.

The crime was alleged by Wang, who entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu without authorization after he was removed from the top police post in early February.

The incident prompted an investigation by central authorities, who announced in April that Bo was suspected of serious disciplinary violations. Bo has been removed from the top post in  Chongqing, and his membership in the CPC's Central Committee and its Political Bureau have been suspended. 

Following his downfall, Chongqing Higher People's Court received many complaints linked to the anti-crime campaign, said Qian Feng, president of the court. Most of the complaints were  directed to abuse of the labor camp system.

He said Chongqing courts have received more than 150 complaints seeking to redress labor camp convictions so far. "A flurry of such complaints may come following Fang's trial," Qian  added.

Chongqing Daily, the city's government-run newspaper, reported in February that the anti-crime campaign since 2009 had led to 500 gangs being busted and the arrests of approximately  5,700 people, about 35 percent of whom had stood trial. The campaign also led to the downfall of 77 officials who served as gangs' protectors.

Tong Zhiwei, a law professor with East China University of Political Science and Law, said Fang's case reflects that Chongqing residents' freedom of speech was somehow violated during  the anti-crime campaign.

He said police took a further step to use the campaign, originally aimed at improving security, to control the populace and threaten the masses into silence.

Wang Xuehui, professor with Southwest China University of Political Science and Law, said muffling the population is against the principles of a rule-by-the-law government.

Calls also mounted in the intellectual circle for the government to reform or even abolish the decades-old labor camps.

Established in 1957, the Re-education Through Labor Center system was designed to reform people who commit misdemeanors but are not punishable by the penal code. Without trials,

police can detain people up to three years in the centers.

Chen Zhonglin, dean of the Law Department at Chongqing University, said the priority of labor camp reform is to set up an independent committee to approve detentions. In many places, the

committee for approval is currently run by the police.