China Puts Journalist On Trial

Ta Kung Pao has frequently functioned as a conduit for information the Chinese government wants to circulate. Its Fuzhou correspondent, Shi Bing, said he wrote the Huang stories based on his own research. But his bureau here has ties to the Fujian provincial government; it was opened on a suggestion from the provincial party chief, Lu Zhanggong, according to local journalists, and the province has provided its office space.

A number of Fuzhou residents said the newspaper's portrayal of Huang did not fit the man they knew as a hard-working and apparently sincere county official. He did not exhibit signs of wealth, they said, and according to a friend, his wife complained that they did not have enough money to purchase their rental apartment. But other residents here said that, after reading all the charges brought against him, they have concluded Huang must have been guilty of at least some crimes.

Li, 41, diminutive with steel-rimmed glasses and a calm demeanor, was taken into custody soon after Huang and was initially accused of helping Huang write the open letter and promote it in articles posted on overseas Web sites frequently used by Chinese dissidents. His wife Bao, 37, said he has been in police custody ever since. She said she and their daughter, Li Sidi, 15, have not been allowed to see him.

Bao said in an interview that she and her family had tried to enlist local officials and other influential friends to intervene in Li's behalf. But in the atmosphere created by the crackdown, nobody would stick his neck out, she said. "We tried to get at the truth," she added, with tears in her eyes. "We went to many friends and relatives, but they were afraid to help. They said there was nothing they could do."

Bao denied she was Huang's mistress, saying the accusations were "abhorrent." Instead, she described a relationship in which she and Huang's wife were friends and their children played together. Li and Huang's collaboration grew from the family connection, she explained.

"Huang appeared to be a good official," she said. "He looked out for the people around him, and he was very easygoing. He spoke some words that others did not dare to speak. So they wanted to punish him."

Mo, the lawyer, said his requests to see Li also were initially refused, with officials citing a regulation against visits to prisoners whose cases involve state secrets. But later, after the original charges were dropped in favor of the dengue fever reports, Mo said, he was allowed to confer with Li twice to prepare a defense.

Li appeared in court Thursday with his hands cuffed behind his back and the number 0798 stenciled on the back of a gray prison-issue vest. Waving two-handed because of the cuffs, he greeted his wife and surveyed the courtroom for family and friends.

In the two-hour trial, Mo contested the formal charges and avoided the political context. The dengue fever report, on the Boxun Web site, was written by people who run the site, with his information only a tip, Li said. Moreover, the report turned out to be true, he added, with the provincial government shortly afterward acknowledging the outbreak.

The black-robed judges, following Chinese practice, took arguments from Mo and the prosecutor under advisement and said they would announce a verdict later. In the Chinese system, with the party as final arbiter, an overwhelming majority of trials result in a guilty verdict.

As Li was marched out of the courtroom on his way back to Fuzhou No. 2 Detention Center, former colleagues stood in the doorway and said, "Take care, take care."

Researcher Jin Ling contributed to this report.