Cambridge student cleared over Wen Jiabao shoe protest (Roundup)

Jun 2, 2009, 17:01 GMT

London - A German student who hurled a shoe at Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during a speech at Cambridge University was cleared of having committed any offence by a court in Britain Tuesday.

Martin Jahnke, a 27-year-old PHD student at the elite university's Darwin College, told the court in its closing session that his protest on February 2 had been 'inspired' by the Iraqi reporter who famously hurled a shoe at former US president George W Bush last December.

Jahnke, who described himself as holding 'strong pacifist views,' said he had wanted to make a 'symbolic protest' and had no intention of hitting Wen during his lecture to students.

The shoe missed the Chinese premier by several metres during a lecture he gave in the course of an official visit to Britain.

The judge at Cambridge Magistrate's Court ruled Tuesday that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Jahnke behaved in a way 'likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.'

During the two-day trial, the prosecution had argued, however, that the protest was an 'act of aggression' in which people could have been hurt.

Jahnke, who was born in eastern Germany and studied in Berlin before going to Cambridge for postgraduate medical research, said he had been 'annoyed' that Wen had been allowed to speak at the university.

'His regime is responsible for an number of human rights abuses,' Jahnke said. 'My aim was to solidarity with the Chinese people not represented,' he said.

'I was inspired by the Iraqi shoe thrower,' Jahnke told the court in reference to Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was jailed for three years for the attack on Bush.

'I think it really became symbolic throwing a shoe - a symbol of defiance against a regime or authority that is not accountable to anybody, a regime that uses violence,' Jahnke told the court.

However, the judge told him that the not guilty verdict should not be seen as an indication that the court condoned his behaviour, and warned Jahnke about his future conduct.

The date of the trial was brought forward so that a verdict would not directly coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on Thursday.