http://www.wirednews.com/news/print/0,1294,41779,00.html
China Tries Man for Website
Associated Press
6:00 a.m. Feb. 13, 2001 PST

BEIJING -- A Chinese entrepreneur was put on trial Tuesday on subversion
charges after articles commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy
protests appeared on his website.

Huang Qi is the first person known to have been prosecuted for publishing
political materials on a website. His trial, which ended at midday, comes
amid government efforts to tighten control over the Internet.

Huang's trial in the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court in western China
was closed to the public, and his family wasn't allowed to attend, court
officials said. No verdict or sentence would be announced until the court's
findings were reported to "higher ups," said a court official who identified
himself as Mr. Lin.

Huang is accused of "inciting the overthrow of state power." Human rights
groups say that refers to government claims that his site mentioned the
independence movement in the northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang and the
banned spiritual group Falun Gong.

Huang was arrested at his home in Chengdu in western China on June 3, the
day before the 11th anniversary of the government crackdown on the
pro-democracy protests.

Huang set up his website, www.6-4tianwang.com, in 1999 as a bulletin board
for missing persons reports. The site attracted postings about the
pro-democracy movement because "6-4" is the reference in Chinese to the June
4 crackdown.

Postings before the anniversary called for a reversal of the official
verdict that the protests were "counterrevolutionary" turmoil. Human rights
groups say the site also drew comments about human rights abuses and
official corruption sensitive issues about which China seeks to tightly
restrict public discussion.

Huang has denied responsibility for those postings.

Beijing is eager to promote use of the Web for economic development while
crushing attempts to spread criticism of communist rule. It has shut down at
least one other politically oriented website because of its anti-communist
content and issued new rules in October ordering companies that host
websites to monitor their content and report anything politically
undesirable.

Huang's arrest drew international protests from journalistic and human
rights groups.

"The Chinese government continues to deny its citizens their fundamental
rights, including the right to free expression. The Huang Qi case makes it
very clear that the advent of the Internet has not changed this grim
political reality," the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said
in a statement.

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