Beijing authorities are expected to decide this month whether to prosecute Geng Xiaonan, a Beijing-based publisher who has supported Xu Zhangrun, a former professor at Tsinghua University’s law school, and others in an alleged illegal business case, according to sources in Beijing.
According to a Jan. 11 report by Radio Television Hong Kong, the Beijing Haidian District Public Security Bureau completed its investigation of the case in the middle of last month and sent it to the Haidian District Procuratorate for review and prosecution, but Geng Xiaonan’s lawyers were not notified until the end of last month. According to the report, Geng Xiaonan’s husband Qin Zhen, who is involved in the same case, was not released on bail and may also face prosecution. Normally, authorities will know within a month whether to prosecute.
Geng Xiaonan’s company, which publishes books on cooking and health care, was formally arrested in late October after police detained her and her husband for allegedly printing and selling illegal publications after she was dismissed last year in solidarity with Xu Zhangrun, who was accused of prostitution and critical comments.
Several of Geng Xiaonan’s close friends stressed that her ordeal was related to her earlier public advocacy for a number of Chinese public intellectuals and dissidents, including Xu Zhangrun. Xu Zhangrun issued a “Letter to Tyranny on the Detention of Women in Prison” last month, urging the authorities to release Geng Xiaonan and her husband and return them to freedom and justice. Hundreds of sympathizers at home and abroad have also signed a petition calling on the authorities to release Geng Xiaonan and his wife. The incident also received international media coverage and attention.
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