Legal System Criticised As Guilty Verdicts Upheld

Lawyers and human rights groups criticised the Chinese justice system yesterday after courts upheld guilty verdicts on the peasant activist Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, and New York Times researcher Zhao Yan.

Mr Chen was detained last year for exposing forced abortions, sterilisations and other abuses of the state's one-child policy in Shandong province. After a lengthy house arrest he was sentenced in August to four years and three months in prison for damaging property and "organising a mob to disturb traffic". His lawyers and supporters say the charges were trumped up by local officials seeking revenge. "This verdict is a blow to China's legal system and it's a violation of human rights," said his lawyer, Teng Biao.

In Mr Zhao's case, the high court upheld a sentence of three years on fraud charges. His supporters say this is a fig leaf to cover a politically motivated arrest that came after the New York Times embarrassed the leadership by reporting that former president Jiang Zemin was about to stand down as head of the military commission.