Chinese prosecutors file charges against leading activist Xu Zhiyong Beijing police filed their case with the prosecutor's office only last Friday, alleging that Xu had disturbed public order by organizing the demonstrations, according to lawyer Zhang Qingfang. He said the authorities seemed to be in a hurry to deal with the case. "Normally in a case like this, with 1,000 pages of material, it takes the prosecutor's office one and a half months to go over it" and file charges, he said. I'm very surprised they handled it this fast. It is neither reasonable nor normal. It looks like it is just for show, and on orders from a higher level. Zhang said he was informed that charges were filed by the prosecutor's office but had not yet seen the written charge sheet. He said a charge of disturbing public order carries a maximum sentence of five years" imprisonment. An official in the prosecutor's office declined to comment. Shortly after his arrest in July, Xu released a video from prison vowing to pay any price for "freedom, public interest and love," and arguing that citizens need to unite to promote "democracy, rule of law and justice." His friend and fellow member of the movement, leading Chinese entrepreneur Wang Gongquan, was arrested in September but is expected to be tried separately, said activist Chen Min. Authorities apparently want to avoid one large trial where all the dissidents could stand together, Chen said. On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. government was "deeply concerned" about the arrests of activists, including Xu and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, "for peacefully exercising their universal right to freedom of expression." China's Foreign Ministry rejected that appeal, arguing that both Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong had violated Chinese laws and implying that Xu's conviction was a foregone conclusion. "They deserve to be punished by law," spokesman Hong Lei told a regular news conference Tuesday. I need to emphasize that only the 1.3 billion Chinese people are best qualified to pass judgment over China's human rights condition. The nationalist Global Times newspaper also criticized Kerry's comments in an editorial Wednesday. "The U.S., in hopes of seeing China's legal system crashed by the combined force of globalization and the Internet, is labeling extremist views of activists in the country as free speech," it said. Liu was detained in December 2008, convicted of subversion the following year and sentenced to 11 years in prison for writing an appeal for democracy. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Liu Liu contributed to this report.