By ANDREW JACOBS
BEIJING — In a case that has galvanized the Chinese arts community, a prominent artist who helped lead a short-lived demonstration along the nation’s most politically hallowed thoroughfare went on trial Wednesday on assault charges that supporters say are aimed at punishing him for his political activism.
The defendant, Wu Yuren , 39, is accused of assaulting a group of police officers at a Beijing police station last May. He had gone to the stationhouse with a friend who was seeking to file a complaint against his landlord, but Mr. Wu ended up in a verbal confrontation with several officers after they grabbed his cell phone, the friend, Yang Licai, said.
The police say Mr. Wu attacked them. Mr. Wu claims it was he who was beaten, a contention supported by Mr. Yang, who heard his cries from an adjoining room after his friend was dragged away. “The screams were terrifying,” said Mr. Yang, who was released 10 days later.
But Mr. Wu’s supporters say they believe the beating, prosecution and six months he has already spent in jail are revenge for an audacious protest he helped organize on Chang’an Avenue, the ceremonial boulevard that runs past Tiananmen Square and the heavily guarded compound housing China’s top leaders.
Mr. Wu and about two dozen other artists briefly took to the streets last February after a group of men swinging iron rods tried to evict them from the studios they occupied in an arts district that was standing in the way of a redevelopment project. The protest apparently had the desired effect: several weeks later, the landlord seeking their eviction agreed to a fairly generous compensation package in exchange for their departure.
A provocative multi-media artist whose work is slyly political, Mr. Wu may have also angered the authorities by signing Charter ‘08, the manifesto calling for free elections that brought its main author, Liu Xiaobo, an 11-year jail sentence — and the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I have no doubt this is a case of revenge,” said his wife, Karen Patterson, who is a Canadian citizen. “You have to ask why five officers decided to beat up one guy just for wanting his cell phone back. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mr. Wu could receive up to three years in prison if convicted.
At the trial on Wednesday, prosecutors showed a three-minute video that supposedly depicts Mr. Wu’s offending behavior. But his lawyer, Li Fangping, said the footage, which was shot by the police and is obviously edited, only shows Mr. Wu demanding back his cell phone and then reciting the badge numbers of the officers he said were taunting him.
Mr. Li asked that the police produce an unedited version of the video, a motion that was granted by the judge.
Ms. Patterson said of the judge’s decision: “it’s a big relief to me that they’re actually considering the evidence.” Ms. Patterson said afterwards.
Nearly 100 supporters gathered outside the courthouse as did a large number of police, some of whom were videotaping the crowd. “I was scared to come out here today but you have to face your fears,” said Dou Bu, 38, a painter in bright red trousers whose hair was styled like that of a Samurai. “It’s not fair,” he said of his friend’s prosecution. “It’s like a game but the rules are already set and you can’t change them.”
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