A leading advocate of greater government transparency went on trial behind closed doors in Beijing on Wednesday, just hours after leaked documents exposed the secret financial holdings of some of China’s most powerful political families.
Xu Zhiyong, 40, is a lawyer and founding member of the New Citizens Movement, a loose grouping of civic activists who have campaigned for rules requiring government officials to disclose their assets in a bid to combat widespread corruption. Mr Xu is the most prominent Chinese civil rights activist to face prosecution in almost five years.
He was detained in April and formally arrested in August for allegedly disturbing public order. Alongside Liu Xiaobo, the democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner sentenced to an 11-year prison term in December 2009, Mr Xu is one of China’s best known political prisoners.