Dui Hua Releases English Translation of Verdict in Subversion Case of Yang Tongyan

On May 17, 2006 the Zhenjiang Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu Province sentenced Yang Tongyan (杨同彦) to 12 years’ imprisonment for committing the crime of subversion. The court also sentenced Yang to deprivation of political rights for a period of four years, which will commence upon his release from prison.

Text from the Zhenjiang court’s verdict was published on a Chinese-language web site on May 26. Dui Hua has prepared a corrected text based upon a copy of the original document and produced an English translation.

Yang Tongyan—who more recently has gone by the name of Yang Tianshui (杨天水)—was detained by domestic security police on December 23, 2005 and formally arrested on January 20, 2006. In addition to charging him with sending a large number of anti-government articles to be posted on overseas web sites, prosecutors alleged that Yang had attempted to organize a local preparatory committee of the outlawed China Democracy Party and accepted funds from overseas to be transferred to jailed political dissidents and their families. Another charge pointed to his election to the “Democratic Chinese Transitional Government,” held online as part of an Internet game sponsored by a web site known as “Velvet Action of China.” Yang’s trial was closed to the public because the case was determined to involve state secrets.

Yang Tongyan previously served a 10-year prison sentence from 1990 to 2000 for the crime of “leading and organizing a counterrevolutionary group,” after he allegedly tried to form an opposition political party, the “China Social Democratic Party.” The fact that Yang was previously convicted of a political crime was considered to be an aggravating factor in the court’s determination of his 12-year sentence.