Trial scheduled for Chinese writer

A Chinese dissident writer who penned essays about local corruption will face trial next week on subversion charges, his wife said Friday.

Lu Gengsong, who will appear Tuesday at No. 1 Intermediate Court in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Tuesday, was arrested late last summer and indicted on charges of "inciting subversion of state power," a charge used frequently to silence whistle-blowers and critics of the Communist Party.

News of Lu's trial came as a journalist group urged Britain's visiting prime minister to call for greater media freedoms in meetings with Chinese leaders

Sentencing was expected to take place on the same day of the trial, Lu's wife Wang Xue'e said.

Wang said the indictment cited five of Lu's essays, but did not identify the allegedly subversive passages. She said Lu had written on local corruption cases, including allegations that city officials colluded with business people on real estate development projects.

"China is such a big country, what possible effect could these have?" Wang said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He only opened his mouth, he never took any action."

Wang said she planned to attend the trial together with her daughter and sister-in-law. She said authorities were limiting attendance to immediate family members, despite her request to make the trial open to the public.

Four court officials working in separate departments refused to answer questions about Lu's case when reached by telephone, apparently due to rules barring clerks from releasing docket information. They declined to give their names as is typical with Chinese bureaucrats.

Lu has worked as a freelance writer since being fired from his job as a lecturer at a police training academy in 1993, according to Wang.

China's ruling Communist Party maintains tight control over all media and the Internet, although it has loosened some restrictions on foreign reporters ahead of this summer's Beijing Olympics.

However, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Beijing has failed to consistently apply even those modest reforms.

The group urged British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to encourage Chinese leaders to live up to promises of greater openness made when Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001.

"We call on you to urge Chinese authorities to meet their pledge and implement immediate measures to improve conditions for both the national and international media before August," the group said in an open letter to Brown, who began a state visit to Beijing on Friday.

The media watchdog labels China the world's leading jailer of journalists, saying at least 29 reporters are currently locked up and their lawyers routinely harassed.

"Time is running out to ensure that the spotlight currently trained on Beijing makes a meaningful difference to journalists on the ground in China," the group said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Friday evening there was "no specific discussion of specific (human rights) cases" during Brown's meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other top leaders.