AP Reports China Is to Put Charles Li on trial

According to an AP report by Christopher Bodeen, Charles Li, of Menlo Park, Calif., will be tried March 21 for "sabotaging state broadcasting equipment," said an official of the Yangzhou Intermediary Court in the eastern province of Jiangsu. This official, who gave only her surname, Jiang, provided no other information about the charges or trial.

In statements e-mailed to reporters, Falun Gong group said Li has denied the charge, which could carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

The American Embassy in Beijing said Li was detained in Guangzhou on Jan. 22 and held on charges of sabotaging broadcasting systems.

Li was transferred to the Yangzhou Municipal Detention Center on Jan. 24, and U.S. consular officers visited him there on Jan. 28 and Feb. 27. The embassy said diplomats found Li apparently healthy and gave him a list of lawyers, though it believes he has not yet hired one.

The embassy had no information about a trial. But Levi Browde, a Falun Gong spokesman in the United States, said Li was told of his court date Tuesday and had been given 36 hours to choose a lawyer.

Browde said Falun Gong had no information about the broadcast sabotage charges and called them "kind of strange."

"They're treating him as a political prisoner," Browde said. "He's an American, and he's being rushed through a show trial."

Source: http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/801851p-5715112c.html