BEIJING: Two Chinese anti-corruption activists were set to go on trial under heavy security Tuesday, in Beijing's latest strike against a burgeoning rights movement whose central figure was jailed in January.
Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei were to appear Tuesday morning at a court in Beijing's Haidian district, their lawyers said, and scores of uniformed and plain-clothes police were positioned in various locations outside the building, with at least 20 police vehicles.
Both men are members of the New Citizens Movement, a loose-knit network of activists whose dinner discussions and small-scale protests calling for official disclosure of assets have drawn the ire of the authorities in Beijing.
China's ruling Communist Party is in the midst of a highly-publicised anti-corruption campaign, which President Xi Jinping has pledged will target both high-ranking "tigers" and low-level "flies" in the face of public anger over the issue.
But the party has cracked down harshly on independent activists who have espoused its same goals, viewing organised anti-corruption protests as a challenge to its rule.
The trials come three months after a Beijing court's verdict against Xu Zhiyong, a founding member of the New Citizens Movement.
The 40-year-old Xu, a prominent legal activist, was sentenced to four years in jail for "gathering crowds to disrupt public order," the same charge facing Ding and Li.
Ding and Li face similar charges and appeared in court in January but both men dismissed their lawyers in protest at the accusations against them, a move which triggered a delay to their trials.
Jiang Yuanmin, Li's current lawyer, said both activists maintain they are being targeted by authorities who wish to keep their wealth hidden from public view.
"His behaviour does not constitute a crime," Jiang said of Li. "People like Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei, they just want government officials to report their assets.
"This goes against the interests of a vast majority of officials," he added. "So, the government is afraid."
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