Agence France-Presse
March 28, 2006

China is preparing to try four men on charges of leaking state secrets by allegedly uncovering corrupt practices on the mammoth Three Gorges Dam project, Agence France-Presse.

China is preparing to try four men on charges of leaking state secrets by allegedly uncovering corrupt practices on the mammoth Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River, rights groups said Friday. The four farmers, He Kechang, Ran Chongxin, Jiang Qingshan, and Wen Dingchun were arrested for allegedly detailing the systematic embezzlement of resettlement funds for the huge project, Human Rights Watch and Probe International said in a joint statement. "They are expected to be tried at the end of April on charges of disturbing public order, leaking state secrets, and ‘maintaining illicit relations with a foreign country’," the statement said. The "illicit relations" apparently refer to contacts made between the four and the international and Hong Kong press, the groups said. The four farmers are among the 1.3 million people expected to be relocated because of the project and are among thousands of residents of Gaoyang township, Yunyang county due to be resettled. They were arrested in March as they prepared to come to Beijing to formally petition the government over the alleged corruption, it said.