Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong is scheduled to stand trial on Wednesday at Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, Xu's lawyer confirmed with the Global Times on Monday.

Zhang Qingfang, Xu's lawyer, said the trial starts at 9 am but would not give more details.

Xu, an activist and legal scholar, was allegedly detained in August 2013 under the charge of "assembling a crowd to disrupt public order."

Xu was previously a lecturer at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, and was a well-known human rights lawyer and founder of the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, which provided legal aid for families affected by the tainted milk powder scandal of 2008.

He was also allegedly detained in July 2009 after the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau raided his office and claimed that his non-profit Gongmeng Law Research Center had been running illegally.

Gongmeng was co-founded by Xu Zhiyong, Yu Jiang and Teng Biao in 2003 after they submitted a petition letter to the NPC advocating abolition of the repatriation system.

The petition was triggered by the tragedy of Sun Zhigang, who was taken to a shelter in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province by police after failing to present proper identification in March 2003. He was beaten to death by shelter employees. His death sparked a national discussion over the system.

Global Times