Chinese authorities have moved closer to putting one of the country's best known dissidents, Liu Xiaobo, on trial, his lawyer and wife said on Wednesday, a year after Liu helped launched a petition demanding democracy.

Police had finished their investigation of Liu, who was detained soon after the "Charter 08" petition was launched, and handed his case over to the procuratorate, which handles prosecutions, the lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said.
 

The move is likely to draw fresh outcries over a case that has become a focus for international pressure on China, which has recently bolstered controls on critics of Communist Party rule.
 

Western politicians have expressed concern over the case, and last month visiting U.S. President Barack Obama pressed China on human rights.
 

Liu faces charges of "inciting subversion of state power", his wife, Liu Xia, told Reuters. She said she had seen the police investigator's documents on the case, which said his offences were "serious".
 

"I think it looks like they are going to treat this as a serious crime and will seek [a jail sentence of] 10 years or more," Liu Xia said of the authorities.

Call to democracy

Liu Xiaobo, 53, has been among the most combative critics of China's Communist Party. A year ago, he and other rights advocates launched "Charter 08", a petition urging sweeping democratic changes that attracted thousands of signatures.
 

Liu Xia said the police charges appeared to be based on six essays by Liu Xiaobo published online, as well as his involvement in the petition campaign.
 

A former literature professor, Liu Xiaobo has been a thorn in the government's side since 1989 when he joined a hunger strike supporting student protesters days before the army crushed the pro-democracy movement centred on Tiananmen Square on 4 June that year. He was later jailed for 20 months and then spent 3 years in a "labour re-education" camp during the 1990s.

Case against dissidents

The charge of inciting subversion is a broad accusation that covers criticisms of the Communist Party and its policies.
 

"If the procuratorate concludes that the public security agency has clearly established a case backed by evidence, then it can decide to initiate a prosecution in court," said Mo, who is one of Liu's legal representatives.
 

Over the next month and half, prosecutors also had the options of ordering additional investigations or throwing out the case, said Mo.
 

But China's Party-controlled prosecutors and courts rarely reject cases against dissidents and the chances of Liu avoiding a trial are slim.
 

Source: Reuters