CHINESE SECRETLY EXECUTED AFTER PROTEST

December 6, 2006: a court in southwestern China has secretly executed a man who took part in an environmental protest which turned into a riot, a lawyer and a family member said. Three others were jailed, one of them for life, they said.
The four had been among thousands of people who took to the streets in Sichuan province in 2004 in anger over a hydropower project that would flood 100,000 people out of their homes.
Chen Tao, who was accused of "deliberately killing" a riot police officer during the protest, was executed, Cai Dengming, whose son was Chen's co-defendant, told Reuters. "When I went to the Ya'an jail to visit my son this week, the officer there told me that Chen Tao had been executed," Cai said by telephone.
His son, Cai Zhao, was jailed for life in the same case.
Ran Tong, Cai's defence lawyer, said he had only found out the verdict on December 4, when he received the sentence sheet containing the names and sentences of all the defendants.
"The court had sentenced them in June, but all behind closed doors, and we only got the information almost half a year later," Ran told Reuters by telephone.
"We were not able to defend our clients, and I strongly oppose the court not respecting the spirit of law," he said. (Sources: Reuters, 06/12/2006)