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Young Man Jailed for Calling on Hu Jintao to Disclose Assets

Earlier this year, a young man, Yang Chong, held a placard in front of the Guangzhou Municipal Government office, calling on Chinese leader Hu Jintao to publicly disclose his personal assets. The authorities reportedly sentenced him to a year in prison on charges of "illegal logging," because of a previous case.

During the gathering at the end of March in 2012, Yang and more than 10 other young people called on Hu Jintao to initiate political reform.

Overseas Chinese media reported that the Guangzhou authorities put the young people in detention on charges of “illegal gathering.” They suddenly disappeared overnight. Some were secretly escorted back to their place of origin; some were sentenced to a labor camp; some simply went missing.

Hong Kong based Apple Daily reported on December 29, 2012, that Yang’s family was informed that the Jiangxi Hukou County Court had sentenced him to one year for “illegal logging.” His term began on April 28, 2012. Yang had been involved in a deforestation case three years ago. The authorities reopened the case, even though it had already been settled. Yang has entered his second appeal. Yang’s lawyer said that Yang Chong firmly claimed he was innocent.

Source: VOA Chinese, December 28, 2012
http://www.voachinese.com/content/hu-jintao-20121228/1574269.html