Beijing: Xi Jinping critic Prof. Xu Zhangrun fired by university
He had been released on July 13 after six days in prison for "soliciting prostitution". Punished by the university for "moral corruption". Friends and colleagues: The regime fabricated the accusations to destroy his reputation. Intellectual dissidents targeted by authorities.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Qinghua University has fired Xu Zhangrun, the jurist who was targeted by the regime for his criticisms of President Xi Jinping.
The academic revealed his dismissal yesterday in an interview with Rthk. Xu stressed that the prestigious Beijing university "punished" him for "moral corruption". He will not appeal against the decision, declaring that he accepts any form of punishment.
Xu had been released by the police on July 13 after spending six days in prison on charges of " soliciting prostitution " during a visit to Chengdu (Sichuan) last summer. According to the Chinese legal system, this does not constitute a crime, but only an administrative violation punishable with a maximum sentence of 15 days of detention
Colleagues and friend maintain the authorities fabricated the charges to discredit Xu, destroying his reputation, and making him lose his job. He had already been suspended from teaching in 2019 for an article against Xi's lifetime presidency. In February, the jurist published an article criticizing the "tyranny" of the Communist Party (CCP), guilty of destroying "the Chinese political system" which was heading for reforms after the death of Mao Zedong.
Last May, on the eve of the annual session of the National People's Congress, Xu asked the Chinese leadership to reflect on its management of the pandemic and to apologize to the people for its mistakes. The Professor believes that the CCP's repression of civil society and freedom of expression prevented the population from responding immediately to Covid-19.
In addition to Xu, authorities have targeted other intellectuals in recent months who also said that the lack of press freedom has favored the spread of Covid-19. Among the best known Xu Zhiyong, founder of the New Citizens Movement, was arrested on February 15 in Guangzhou (Guangdong).
Liang Yanping, a professor of language and literature at Hubei University, and Wang Xiaoni, a retired professor from Hainan University, were placed under investigation in April for their praise of the "Diary from Wuhan", in which the writer Fang Fang tells the story of life in the Hubei capital, the epicenter of the pandemic, during "lockdown".
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