Daily Lessons from Life 07 April 2012 - China rights couple hear trial verdict on Tuesday

"China rights couple hear trial verdict on Tuesday - AFP Apr 07, 2012

BEIJING - The verdict in the trial of rights activists Ni Yulan and her husband will be announced on Tuesday, a year after the couple were detained amid growing unrest in China, their daughter said Saturday.

Ni and Dong Jiqin, who have long helped victims of government-backed land grabs, were detained in April last year as authorities rounded up scores of activists amid online calls for protests similar to those in the Arab world.

In a brief December trial they were charged with "picking quarrels, provoking trouble and willfully destroying private and public property" - charges lawyers and supporters say were trumped up to silence them.

The couple's lawyer last visited them in February, she said. Ni, 51, remains ill and is suffering from fever, a swollen neck and has trouble speaking.

Ni spent much of the trial lying on a bed in the courtroom due to her poor health and needed a respirator to breathe.

The couple have provided legal assistance to numerous families around China who have been forcibly evicted from their homes in government-backed land requisitions, a major cause of unrest in China.

Trained as a lawyer, Ni was sentenced to a year in jail in 2002 for "obstructing official business," and for two years in 2008 for "harming public property" - charges brought against her as she tried to protect her home.

She was also disbarred in 2002.

Ni's case has been championed by numerous Western governments, including the United States and the European Union, which sent representatives to meet with her during her brief period of freedom in 2010."

Two current 'potential' dissidents are on trial and one prominent Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi, a key figure in the pro-democracy movement behind the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, has died in the United States, as revealed by fellow dissident Wang Dan.

Lessons for me are:

1. it looks like a clear cut oppressive use of legal force on 2 persons with the rightheous mind to fight for the oppressed. The trial judgement can be anything the court wants or asked to mete out. That is the real life situation in China, for now!;

2. land grab and the prosperity cult of wealth from property is STILL very strong in the capitalist world despite past boom and bust cycles experienced in the USA, UK, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, etc. The root cause is: loose credit for the chase of escalating property prices. The government loves the FAST return on Economic Growth that come from property development and related infrastructure spending. Growth is good, at all cost! It is WRONG but it has NO CURRENCY at the moment. Just look at how many richest people in China are involved with real estate development!!;

3. the Western governments who are following closely on this case will help the Ni somewhat. Yet, it will be on an individual case basis. The foreign governments CANNOT intervene directly though they can exert influence to the Ni, if they so desired, to eventual leave China and settle in the USA or some other Western countries of choice. The central issue remain: ONLY the Chinese can decide IF they want a different justice system where people who are righteous are protected by the laws and court of laws instead of the other way round.

All the best to the Ni and may the current Chinese government has the wisdom NOT to continue this 'property development is the ONLY fast track to high GDP growth'!