廣東作家陳啟棠協助農民維權被秘密判刑
As Hong Kong stepped into the new year peacefully, more injustice took place in the Mainland.
On December 31st, activist Chen Qitang (陳啟棠) was secretly sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of impersonation and fraud. Chen is an internet writer in the Guangdong province, who was helping villagers in Foshan City resist land grabs. The charges made against him were likely falsified, as he angered developers and corrupt government officials for aiding the helpless peasants obtain justice.
When will this stop? With the internet and more brazen reporters, the whole world can see these injustices taking place. Does this incident only look funny to foreigners? Does the Central Government not see what's going on here? This is not petty crime. Chen's imprisonment stemmed from developers stealing plots of land from villagers to build multi million dollar structures. When will China decide that it has had enough of being the butt end of corruption jokes? Jokes aside, real people are suffering here. When they try to speak out, they are bullied and punished.
Again, China gets no respect from me until this blatant theft and injustice is put to a stop.
2009-01-05
曾協助南海山三鎮失地農民維權的廣東網絡作家陳啟棠，被關押一年多後遭秘密判刑兩年半。家人質疑審訊不公平。維權人士則批評中國政府以言入罪。（張麗明報道）
陳啟棠的妻子張月清向本台粵語組表示，她本周日致電法官，才得悉法院已於上周三開庭宣判，判處陳啓棠入獄兩年半。她仍未收到判決書，不能確定他被定罪是否被捕時所指控的招搖撞騙罪。她批評法院沒有通知家屬開審和宣判日期，令她失去與丈夫見面的機會，亦無法確定審訊過程是否公正。她說：我們一直都不知道。第一次開庭我已問他為甚麼不通知我們，他說他是成年人，不用通知家屬。他犯了甚麼大罪，可以不通知？
陳啟棠是於前年十月下班回家途中被公安人員帶走了，至今已被關押十四個多月。張月清說，在這一年多裡，家人一直無法與陳啟棠見面，完全不知道他在獄中待遇。家人原本聘請了律師為他辯護，卻收到陳啟棠的信件，表示他會自辯，毋須聘請律師。
張月清指，當局只允許陳啟棠寫信給家人，但信件都被監控，所以陳啟棠是否受到壓力才拒絕聘請律師，家人無從得知。她說：信是他寫的，但他是否受到壓力，我們不知道。寫信也只是家信，若談及案件或獄中情況，根本不能寄出。
張月清說，法官表示陳啟棠可於十天內提出上訴，若陳啟棠不提上訴，家人最快可於本周末安排與陳啟棠見面。她非常擔心丈夫的情況，呼籲國際社會關注，迫使中國政府儘快釋放他。
一直關注陳啟棠情況的廣東作家廖祖笙指責廣東當局，純粹因為陳啟棠發表文章和協助南海三山鎮失地農民維權而把他判刑。他說：肯定跟他寫的文章有一定關係。現在是暗無天日的時代，甚麼事情都可以發生。
陳啟棠是廣東佛山人，以筆名“天理”在網上發表文章，議論時政。前年三月，他和多名維權人士，包括郭飛雄和郭永豐等人，創辦《維權聯盟》，發放中國各地維權信息，協助公民維權。被捕前，他正積極關注佛山南海三山鎮失地農民維權情況，多名農民代表遭判刑，其中一人更在囚禁期間死亡。
本台周一曾致電佛山市中級法院和佛山市看守所，希望查詢陳啟棠的情況，但電話均沒有人接聽。
As Hong Kong stepped into the new year peacefully, more injustice took place in the Mainland.
On December 31st, activist Chen Qitang (陳啟棠) was secretly sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of impersonation and fraud. Chen is an internet writer in the Guangdong province, who was helping villagers in Foshan City resist land grabs. The charges made against him were likely falsified, as he angered developers and corrupt government officials for aiding the helpless peasants obtain justice.
When will this stop? With the internet and more brazen reporters, the whole world can see these injustices taking place. Does this incident only look funny to foreigners? Does the Central Government not see what's going on here? This is not petty crime. Chen's imprisonment stemmed from developers stealing plots of land from villagers to build multi million dollar structures. When will China decide that it has had enough of being the butt end of corruption jokes? Jokes aside, real people are suffering here. When they try to speak out, they are bullied and punished.
Again, China gets no respect from me until this blatant theft and injustice is put to a stop.
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