Five trialed in Beijing for attack on anti-fraud activist
10/12/10 Source: Xinhua
Five people allegedly involved in the attack on Fang Zhouzi, a famous science writer known for his efforts in exposing academic fraud, went on trial Sunday in Beijing, a court said.
Xiao Chuanguo, the behind the scenes plotter, along with four hired attackers, were charged with the crime of “creating disturbance and thus undermining the social order” at the Shijingshan District People’s Court.
The attackers disabled Fang with pepper spray, then hit him with a hammer on a street near his home on Aug. 29. Fang suffered slight injuries in the attack.
They were also charged with being responsible for another attack on Fang Xuanchang, an editor of the financial journal Caijing, on June 24.
Xiao, 55, head of the Urology Department of Wuhan Union Hospital, hired the attackers to take revenge on the two writers as he believed their revelations of his academic frauds led to him failing to become a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, police in Beijing said last month after they arrested him at the Shanghai Pudong airport on September 21.
It is so far unknown when the court will rule on the case.
According to China’s Criminal Law, if convicted of the crime the accused could face a maximum of five years in prison.
Fang Zhouzi was born in Fujian Province in 1967. He is well known for exposing bogus research and academic fraud in China.
