China puts dissident on trial

The trial against prominent human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in Beijing has begun amid unusually tight security. The dissident and honorary president of the Independent Chinese P.E.N. Center, an organisation of independent writers, has been charged with "inciting subversion of state power". The conservative daily Lidové Noviny writes: "Liu Xiaobo is facing 15 years in prison for authorising the Charter 08. Why have the authorities come down so hard on him? The great majority of people are content with the regime, many things have improved in the past 25 years, they can found companies, travel, use the Internet. China is reacting so harshly because it wants to show the world that it sets the rules. … Admittedly we can't do anything about this. But let's not claim that China is becoming more cultivated."

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