Citizens carry a blue banner with Premier Wen Jiabao's words that "Fairness and justice are more glorious than the sun" outside the court on April 16. They also held up posters, chanted slogans, and sang songs in support of the three defendants. Some outraged participants staged a short demonstration against the judgment and confronted a corrupt official, but no clash was reported. Photo: courtesy of Wu Gan

By Li Xiaoshu and Zhang Lei

Ren Jiaqi sang the national anthem in tears at the gate of the People's Court of Mawei District in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province.

The 53-year-old poet, a Communist Party member, was sobbing after he learnt that three Internet users were convicted of criminal defamation for posting an accusation of rape-to-death and naming two local officials as being involved.

"What's happened to the three accused today, could happen to the common people," Ren, one of some 2,300 concerned citizens gathered outside the court to oversee the trial, told the Global Times.

Fan Yanqiong, one of the three, was sentenced to a two-year imprisonment while two others, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying, were each handed one-year jail term by the court on April 16.

The defendants were held to be guilty of criminal defamation by leading to massive replies, attacks, abuses and slander among Internet users that severely destroyed the reputation of a few victims and stoked public disorder, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

Following an appeal, the second trial opened on May 20. No verdict has come out by press time.

The case has sparked controversy on Internet administration: Human right activists claimed that the first instance verdict has violated online freedom of expression while some others believe that Internet users should be better supervised and more self-disciplined to prevent the disperse of inaccurate information.

"I didn't verify what I wrote in the post," admitted Fan Yanqiong to the local police.

The case

The three online activists, together with 10 others, were arrested last June for helping an illiterate woman press authorities to reinvestigate her daughter's mysterious death two years ago by posting information and videos online.

They alleged that Yan Xiaoling, 25, died on February 11, 2008 after being gang-raped by a group of thugs who were in collusion with the police in Fujian's Minqing county.

Bloody pictures of the young women's face were exposed and two officials, the security bureau's deputy director Lin Zongying and a procurator surnamed Tu, were named online.

The posts and videos aroused widespread concern in popular Internet forums, such as Sina, 163, and Tianya.

Official investigation, however, showed that Yan died of bleeding from a failed pregnancy, and denied violence, rape or poisoning as cause of her death, according to a press conference on June 24, 2009, held by Fuzhou Public Security Bureau.

After the arrests, Zhang Shihe, an activist in Beijing, circulated a list of over 2,000 persons with their real names and occupations. The people were concerned over the prosecution of the three Internet users. He has also made a photo album and put together relevant television program on his own blog.

Other Internet users have come out in support as well. At least 300 citizens gathered outside the courthouse's main gate during the trial, although only eight from the defendants' family were admitted into the court premises. None of the domestic or foreign media, except Xinhua, was allowed to cover the proceedings, according to one of the defendants' lawyers, Liu Xiaoyuan.

"Plain-clothes national security officers were seated along with the families of the defendant", said Liu.

Another 2,000 concerned citizens who had traveled from various regions of China were stopped kilometers away from the courthouse. There are altogether seven defensive lines outside the courthouse, according to Wang Lihong, one of the activists from Beijing.

Remedy against defamation

Though rarely applied, defamation is listed as a criminal offence in China. Article 246 of China's Criminal Law stipulated that, in serious cases, the crime of public humiliation or defamation can result in up to three years' criminal detention, surveillance, or deprivation of political rights; State prosecutors do not initiate criminal defamation cases unless "serious harm is done to public order or to the State interests."

State prosecutors initiated the accusation only if the slander resulted in mass incidents and brought seri-ous international consequences by insulting diplomats, visiting foreign leaders and other personnel, accord-ing to a document by the Ministry of Public Security in March 2009.

"The Criminal Law does not specify the standard of judicial review on the crime's social harm and State interest, which resulted in a great flexibility for judicial organs to abuse their power, sometimes attack people who have expressed different opinions or challenged the government, " said Lian Gaobo, a law professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law.

In the court, materials presented by Minqing Public Security Bureau said the online post invented stories that were derogatory to the dignity and reputation of the bureau's officials and damaging to the bureau's credibility.

"The circulation of the online post created distrust among people involved with the bureau's daily work such as receiving petitions and handling cases according to law," it said.

Insiders questioned whether the charge of defamation is valid in this case. Even if the two officials were "insulted", it has nothing to do with national interest, the lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said.

Zhang Qianfan, a law professor at Peking University, said the key to this case is "we never know if the defendants were making up rumors."

"The court never cleared Lin Xiuying's doubts in the post by convincing evidence," he said. "The verdict can only leave one question: what is the truth?"

Zhang said"once the people intentionally fabricated stories that resulted in serious consequences, they are punishable under the law."

"However, the credibility of government can't be improved by punishing Internet rumormongers. The case reflected public infringement of individual right."

Fan's ex-attorney Lin Hongnan, a Fujian-based lawyer whose law firm was dismissed on April 21, said the three Internet users only took down what Lin Xiuying questioned. "If documenting can be guilty, then journalists and lawyers will live under great threat."

The three defendants in the trial were local human right activists who have been long overseeing the gov-ernments' wrongdoings and filing petitions for the weak, disclosed Lin.

"Fujian officials cannot tolerate such behavior that triggered public uproar and revealed other old dirty cases," Lin said.

"That's why the local police made arrests, then found evidence to prove the charges. This is a direct violation of the principle of non-criminal inference," he said.

Zhan Jiang, an expert on media and law, believed "power is too concentrated in Fujian Province."

"Local public security departments don't act according to law, but serve their masters," he told the Global Times. "It clearly violates China's basic policy of ruling the country according to law."

Fujian authorities showcased their power to terrify the people, wrote Han Han, China's most cel-ebrated blogger.

"We (the Internet users) are in panic, but we don't know what you guys (with power) fear."

Challenge of Internet

In recent years, the Internet has become an outlet for citizens to express their dissatisfaction towards the government.

Zhou Jiugeng, the former director of Nanjing's property bureau, was removed from his post for cor-ruption in 2008 just days after pictures of him wearing an expensive watch and smoking pricey cigarettes appeared on the Internet.

Zhou's removal was due largely to unidentified Internet users - those behind the so-called "human flesh engine" - who have completed the whole process of discovery and confirmation of his luxury lifestyle, incompatible with his salary.

Yu Jianrong, chairman of the Social Issues Research Center of the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said different understanding among Web users' on public events reflected their distrust of the government.

"The ultimate cause is the conflicts of interest in an established machinery, where the political elite with its monopoly over social resources has formed many interest groups that always ignore public good, " he told the Global Times.

"The present system lacks access for socially vulnerable people to express their views and for other forces to balance the overpowering bureaucratic organs," Yu said.

"Thus, it's important for the Party to cultivate platforms for public participation and to raise civil awareness among the people to protect their rights."

Zhan Jiang believes that the Internet is a godsend for the disadvantaged as "without it, the wronged and the weak are voiceless."

"Since the online outcry often comes from unsolved social problems and accumulated complaints, local governments should have a more tolerant attitude towards citizens' supervision and criticism," said Li Yonggang, a professor of Internet politics from Nanjing University.

Li suggested that authorities should accept "a more diversified online environment as the number of Internet users increased."

The outbreak of online supervision incidents indicates that the Internet has played a crucial role in the era of media politics, according to a 2009 report by the People's Daily online.

Some 99.3 percent Internet users surveyed will expose information online if they experience unfair incidents, said the report.

"The Internet is testing the Party's ability in administration," it said. "All levels of governments have put in place an emergency response mechanism to improve official interaction with netizens."

Cities in many provinces, such as Yunan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guizhou and Guangdong, have employed the Internet spokesperson system since last year.

"The system can promote transparency of policy making and enforcement," said Cao Jinsong, spokesperson of the Nanjing government, at China's first official seminar of Internet in Politics held on April 16.

"Local governments should encourage Internet users on more constructive speech," he added.

Liu Zhengrong, who supervises Internet affairs for the Information Office of the State Council, warned citizens about the need for "self-discipline in online expression".

"Everyone should be responsible for his or her speech," Liu was quoted by Xinhua as saying on April 14.

"Make sure we say things that are legally and morally permissible. Online information should also be viewed more critically."

 'Butcher' the activist

Wu Gan, 38, set up a temporary studio to collect evidence, meet people and publicize his findings on the Fuqin case on the Internet. He has named the studio the "Abattoir" and his pen name is Tufu, meaning the butcher.

A former office worker responsible for airport security checks who quit in 2006, Wu told the Global Times, "a man should fight for his belief."

It was Wu's third time in Fuzhou for carrying out a voluntary investigation and showing support for the three defendants.

"The truth is far more complicated, indicating a special connection between local officials, the police and underground elements," Wu said.

To promote public awareness of the rule of law, Wu printed tens of thousands of posters and produced 2,000 digital video discs.

With the help of other citizen activists, the posters and video discs were distributed in the city's university town on April 15.

Not long after the distribution, the police detained three activists for nine hours.

Wu Gan's girlfriend said on April 19 that the Beijing police informed her employer that she had special connection with Falun Gong and sensitive foreign activists.

In the latest move, Wu, along with more than 10 other Internet users, activists and scholars, played and filmed a 20-minute parody of the trial two weeks ago. Since May 12, the video has been widely circulated online.

"It's not bad to create spoofs for protecting human rights," he said.