Indictment of Citizens Movement Advocate Xu Zhiyong — A Full Translation
Shangdong Province Linyi Municipal People’s Procuratorate
Indictment
Lin Proc Dept One Crim Indict [2021] No. Z43
Defendant Xu Zhiyong (许志永) (previously used the name Xu Zhiyong 许志勇), male, born on March 2, 1973, citizen ID number [REDACTED], ethnic Han, post-graduate education, former lecturer at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, resides at [REDACTED], currently jobless, household registration at [REDACTED], current address [REDACTED]. Xu was sentenced to four years in prison on January 26, 2014, by Beijing Municipal First Intermediary People’s Court for gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place, and released on July 15, 2017. Xu was criminally detained by Haidian Branch of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on February 15, 2020, on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power, and placed under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location on the following day. On May 7, 2020, the case was transferred, according to the law, to Yantai Municipal Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province, and on the same day Xu was placed under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location by Yantai Municipal Public Security Bureau. On June 19, 2020, this procuratorate approved the formal arrest of Xu, and the arrest was executed on the same day by Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Upon completing the case investigation, Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau [PSB] submitted the case to this procuratorate for prosecution of charges of subversion of state power on January 19, 2021. Upon receiving the case, on January 21, 2021, this procuratorate notified the defendant his right to engage defense lawyers, as well as the related statutes with regard to admitting guilt and accepting punishment. According to the law, the prosecutors questioned the defendant, heard the opinions of the defense lawyers, and reviewed all the case materials. On March 6 and May 21 respectively, the procuratorate twice sent the case back to the PSB for supplementary investigation. On April 6 and June 21, 2021 respectively, the PSB resubmitted the case for prosecution upon completing its supplementary investigation. On February 19, May 6, and July 21, 2021 respectively, the time limit for examination and prosecution was extended by this procuratorate three times, each time for 15 days.
The review according to the law has ascertained:
From 2012 to 2013, out of dissatisfaction towards our country’s socialist system and the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi (prosecuted separately) and others, founded and developed the illegal organization “New Citizens Movement” and carried out criminal activities. For the purpose of overthrowing our country’s current political system, in 2017, after serving a prison term for gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place, Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, founded the illegal organization “Citizens Movement” as its organizers and leaders, and recruited Wang Jiangsong, Zhang Zhongshun, Dai Zhenya, Chang Weiping (each handled separately) as key members. Xu wrote and disseminated a large quantity of inciting articles; filmed an illegal documentary titled “The Statesman”; held color revolution trainings on “non-violence”; set up and operated the “China Citizens Movement” website and Xu Zhiyong’s personal blogs; held secret meetings of the illegal organization “Citizens Movement” in Yantai and Xiamen, where they organized, planned, and carried out criminal activities to subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system, seriously endangering national security and social stability. The specifics are as follows:
1. From 2012 to 2013, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi and others using communications applications, organized “citizen meal gatherings” and “same-city meal gatherings” in Beijing, Xuzhou, Wuhan and other cities to recruit members for the illegal organization “New Citizens Movement.”
In 2017, after being released from prison, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, continued to network with Wang Jiangsong, Liu Jiacai and other members of the illegal organization “New Citizens Movement” and travelled to Yantai, Xiamen and other cities to connect with Zhang Zhongshun, Dai Zhenya, changing “New Citizens Movement” to “Citizens Movement,” establishing the illegal organization “Citizens Movement,” and organizing, planning and executing a series of criminal activities to subvert state power.
2. Since 2012, defendant Xu Zhiyong has written and disseminated a large quantity of inciting articles, such as “People’s Country,” “A Proposal to Citizens: Seek Candidacy in 2021 Elections,” “Non-violence,” and “A Beautiful China,” to attack and slander our country’s political system, promote ideas of subversion of state power, deceive and incite others to oppose the socialist system, and propose political goals such as “political opposition” and the so-called “transition to constitutionalism” [宪政转型].
In 2017, after being released from prison, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluded with Ding Jiaxi and Hua Ze, a member of an overseas organization, to jointly operate the website ‘China Citizen Movement.’” They added new columns, selected and appointed website reporters and editors, raised funds for the website’s operation, and disseminated a large quantity of Xu Zhiyong’s inciting articles that promote ideas of subverting state power.
In September 2017, defendant Xu Zhiyong directed his girlfriend Li Qiaochu (dealt with in a separate case) to establish a personal blog for Xu Zhiyong and arranged for Li to disseminate a large quantity of Xu Zhiyong’s inciting articles that promote ideas of subverting state power.
3. In 2018, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, set up a Telegram group for the illegal organization “Citizens Movement” as the illegal organization’s platform for subversive activities. Ding Jiaxi and Wu Ming, a member of an overseas organization, were administrators at different points, and twenty or so key members, including Wang Jiangsong, Zhang Zhongshun, Dai Zhenya, and Hua Ze, used Telegram to contact and communicate with one another; Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi also organized key members, using Zoom software, to hold illegal online meetings and trainings and plan activities to subvert state power.
From 2018 to 2019, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, instructed Hua Ze to hold regular color revolution trainings on “non-violence” using Zoom software for members of the illegal organization “Citizen Movement” to teach members methods of “non- violent” color revolution in order to subvert state power.
4. From March to May, 2019, defendant Xu Zhiyong worked with Chen Yong (aka Chen Jiaping, dealt with in a separate case) and others to film the illegal movie “The Statesman” in which Xu Zhiyong, speaking about his experiences in prison and about “equal access to education” among other topics, attacked our country’s judicial, educational, petitioning and other systems, denigrated our country’s political system, and promoted ideas of subverting state power.
5. On September 22 and 23, 2018, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, organized a secret meeting of 13 people, including Zhang Zhongshun, Chang Weiping, Wang Jiangsong, and Wu Ming, in Zhang Zhongshun’s villa in Yinhe Yihai Tianyuewan residential area, Gaoxin District, Yantai, Shandong Province, to organize and plan activities to subvert state power. [During the meeting they] reviewed lessons of the subversive activities of the “New Citizens Movement” and “Citizens Movement” hitherto, analyzed problems facing the current “Citizens Movement,” and asked members to infiltrate grassroots communities to subvert state power by means of “non-violent” color revolution.
6. On December 7 and 8, 2019, defendant Xu Zhiyong, colluding with Ding Jiaxi, organized a secret meeting of 20 people, including Zhang Zhongshun, Dai Zhenya, Wang Jiangsong, in Naisi Home Party villa and Mohe House, Jimei District, Xiamen city, Fujian Province, with Wu Ming and Liu Shuqing attending via online connection. Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi summarized the activities of the illegal organization “Citizens Movement” in 2019, proposed activity plans for 2020. They discussed topics such as organizational development, opposition to government, fundraising, and social transition. They identified forms, methods and objectives of subverting state power, namely, infiltrating grassroots communities, seeking to hold power on grassroots levels, and developing so-called “citizen community groups” and “a national citizen community” by means of “non-violent” color revolution in order to eventually subvert state power.
These facts have been ascertained based on the following evidence:
1. Material evidence: Notebook computers, USB drives, etc.; 2. Book and article evidence: “People’s Country,” “A Proposal to Citizens: Seek Candidacy in 2021 Elections,” “Non-violence,” and “A Beautiful China,” and other articles, case receipt registration form, criminal verdict, etc.; 3. Witness testimonies: testimonies by witnesses Wang Jiangsong, Zhang Zhongshun, and others; 4. Defendant’s confession and defense argument: defendant Xu Zhiyong’s confession and defense argument; 5. Forensic opinions: legal forensic opinions, etc.; 6. Fact-check, review, and ascertain interrogation transcripts: long-distance fact checking interrogation transcripts, reviewing interrogation transcripts, and ascertaining interrogation transcripts; 7. Video and audio materials: surveillance videos, etc.
This procuratorate believes that defendant Xu Zhiyong organized, planned, and carried out the subversion of state power and the overthrow of the socialist system, and his acts constitute a violation of the provisions of Article 105, Section 1, of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China and he should be held criminally liable for the crime of subversion of state power as the criminal facts are clear, and the evidence is reliable and sufficient. Given that defendant Xu Zhiyong is a recidivist, he should be punished according to the provisions of Section 1, Article 65 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. According to Article 176 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, [the prosecutors] hereby issue this indictment and request punishment in accordance with the law.
Submitted to:
Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, Shandong province
Procurators: Tang Changzhi (谭长志)
Li Tao (李涛)
Huang Zheng (黄政)
Assistant Procurator: Meng Li (孟丽)
August 5, 2021
Shangdong Province Linyi Municipal People’s Procuratorate
(Seal)
Appendix:
- Defendant Xu Zhiyong is currently detained in Linshu County Detention Center, Shandong province;
- 59 volumes of case files, 36 DVD discs, 6 hard drives;
- One copy of witness (expert witness) list.
(All redactions, brackets, and links are added by the China Change translator.)
Related:
Indictment of Citizens Movement Advocate Ding Jiaxi — A Full Translation, October 6, 2021.
Citizens Movement Advocates Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi Indicted for Subversion on Scant, Slanderous ‘Evidence’, China Change, September 25, 2021.
Four Years Afar, Xu Zhiyong, September 16, 2018.
For Freedom, Justice and Love — My Closing Statement to the Court, Xu Zhiyong, January 22, 2014.
The Last Ten Years, Xu Zhiyong, 2013.
Who Is Xu Zhiyong (1) — An Interview with Teng Biao, April 10, 2014.
Who Is Xu Zhiyong (2) — An Interview with Teng Biao, April 13, 2014.
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