China Human Rights Briefing October 21 – December 1, 2006
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October 21 – December 1, 2006
Table of Content:
Arbitrary Arrests
1. Farmer arrested for displaying anti-corruption banner, angry villagers take hostages
2. Hemophilia activist Kong Delin Detained for 35 Days by Shanghai Police
3. AIDS Activist Wan Yanhai Detained for nearly 3 Days, Police Force Blood Safety Conference to Shut Down
4. Democracy Party activist arrested and charged in Hangzhou City
5. Activist/artist arrested and charged in Taizhou City
Arbitrary Detention/Due Process Rights
1. Chen Guangcheng re-convicted after verdict overturned and retrial held
2. Internet writer sentenced to a two-year prison term
3. Verdict on imprisoned journalist Zhao Yan upheld, appeal hearing held behind closed doors
4. Imprisoned journalist Ching Cheong denied an open appeal hearing, sentence upheld
Torture
1. High official admitted wrongful convictions based on confessions extracted through torture
Death Penalty
1. Speedy executions in secrecy of Protestant house church leaders
Illegal Surveillance
1. Imprisoned lawyers’ family surveillanced, harassed, and wife beaten by political police
2. Beijing activists under house arrest or residential surveillance
Rights to Political Participation
1. Candidates for Local People’s Congress Harassed
2. To Protest Sham Elections, Activists Organize Boycott Online
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Arbitrary Arrests
1. Farmer arrested for displaying anti-corruption banner, angry villagers take hostages
On November 9, 2006, Chen Qian, male, 56, was arrested for displaying anti-corruption banners in Dongzhou, Shanwei City, Guangdong Province. Dongzhou is the site where riot police used lethal weapons against protesting villagers, killing at least three (and maybe as many as 20, according to villagers), and injuring several dozen on December 6, 2005. Police have since arrested and sentenced 13 activists to between three and seven years’ imprisonment for “disturbing public order.”
Chen Qian became an activist leading villagers in demanding compensation for those whose family members were killed on December 6, and for lost land. Villagers’ efforts to seek a peaceful solution have led them nowhere. In late October, thousands of villagers staged a three-day sit-in to protest. However, once again, they were met with official silence and police harassment. Frustrated by their obstructed efforts to seek justice, not surprisingly, they reacted angrily to the arrest last week.
On November 10, about 2,000 villagers went to the local Honghaiwan PSB station to demand the release of Mr. Chen. Officials rejected their demands. In a rage, villagers took eight neighborhood committee officials hostage. For several days, local officials made no effort to negotiate with villagers. Then, on November 16, more than 1,000 policemen, fully armed in riot gear, surrounded the village, demanding the release of the hostages. Authorities held the village under siege, cutting off phone lines and Internet connections. After several days of intense confrontation, on November 19th police used tear gas and firearms to push their way into the building and remove the hostages, leaving several villagers injured. Three villagers and one American freelance journalist were detained. They were later released. The journalist was questioned for ten hours at his hotel. Reportedly, three other Hong Kong journalists and their driver were also detained for five hours. Chen Qian remains detained, and police continued to seal the village, interrogating and intimidating villagers.
2. Hemophilia activist Kong Delin Detained for 35 Days by Shanghai Police
Kong Delin was released on November 20 after spending 35 days in police custody. On the afternoon of October 24, hemophilia activist was taken away by Shanghai PSB officers. Soon afterward, Shanghai police formally arrested him on charges of “interfering with official business.” Lawyers have already begun to work on this case. Beginning in 1998, Kong Delin became concerned with the situation of hemophiliac patients who became infected with HIV. He began to publicize the situation of hemophiliacs with HIV and to help such patients take legal action to seek compensation. In 2004, Mr. Kong received the Outstanding Leader award from an international hemophiliac organization. On the 24th, Shanghai PSB officers also detained three other hemophilia and AIDS patients, including one who was taken away from the hospital bed where she/he was receiving treatment. These detentions appear to be related to the patients planned participation in a conference next month in Beijing on the issue of compensation for hemophilia and AIDS patients. The three others remain detained and may face criminal charges.
3. AIDS Activist Wan Yanhai Detained for nearly 3 Days, Police Force Blood Safety Conference to Shut Down
The Chinese AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, a founding member and leader of Beijing AIZHIXING Institute, was released from police detention on November 27. Police detained him for more than two days apparently in order to force the Institute to shut down a conference on rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Dr. Wan disappeared for more than 48 hours, exceeding the legal limit, after he was taken in for questioning by Beijing police, who never produced any legal authorization, on November 24. Police denied knowledge of his whereabouts.
Dr. Wan Yanhai went missing after he called from an unspecified location at about 6pm on Friday, saying he was still under police interrogation. He had been questioned all day that day by four plainclothes men identifying themselves as police from the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB). The police had first questioned him at the management office in the building where AIZHIXING’s office is located. As recalled later by the manager, the police did show their badge. At one point, some staff members of the Institute were called into the management office. In the presence of the police, Wan Yanhai told them to cancel the “Blood Safety, AIDS and Legal Human Rights” Workshop, which was scheduled to be held on November 26, and to arrange the return of participants who had arrived in Beijing. Police then took Mr. Wan away.
4. Democracy Party activist arrested and charged in Hangzhou City
On October 19, a Democracy Party activist Chi Jianwei, male, was arrested by the Shangcheng District PSB branch of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Police searched his residence and confiscated personal belongings. On October 22, his family received a written notice that Mr. Chi was arrested by the same police unit on October 21 on charges of “using evil religious organization to obstruct law enforcement.” Police found Falun Gong print materials and DVDs during the search. Mr. Chi is detained at the Yuhang Detention Center in Hangzhou City. Family members have so far been denied a visit.
On the 19th, Mr. Chi was trying to protect a fellow activist, Zhu Yufu (whose bio in Chinese is here: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=260) from police harassment. Mr. Zhu Yufu was released in September from jail after serving seven years for his Democracy Party organizing activities. He was the former Secretary of the Preparation Committee of the Democracy Party’s Zhejiang branch. He went to his former employer, the Hangzhou Urban Housing Bureau, to demand that his former boss give him back his job. But the employer called in the police and police attacked him physically. Mr. Chi, who had accompanied Mr. Zhu, intervened and tried to shelter Mr. Zhu from the attack.
In the afternoon of the 19th, police from the Shangcheng District, in Hangzhou City, took Mr. Chi from his home. For three days, there was no information about his whereabouts, until friends found out through connections in the Shangcheng District PSB station that Mr. Chi was under criminal detention there. No legal papers or detention order was sent to the family or shown to anyone. For more information in Chinese, see CRD case file: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Class2.asp?ClassID=74
5. Activist/artist arrested and charged in Taizhou City
Also on October 19, Yan Zhengxue, male, 62, an artist and political activist, was arrested in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. He was formally arrested by the Taizhou City PSB on charges of suspected “sedition against state authorities” on November 15. Taizhou City People’s Procuratorate had approved the charges.
On the evening of the 19th, Mr. Yan, who had just returned from Beijing, was taken away from his home in Taizhou by Taizhou City PSB police, who also ransacked his house, taking away his computer and other personal belongings. A search warrant signed by the bureau chief of Taizhou PSB was shown to the Neighborhood Committee official who was at the scene. Yan’s wife, Zhu Chunliu, came back from Beijing, where the couple has their second residence, and inquired at the PSB about her husband’s whereabouts. Police initially denied any knowledge. On October 25, police informed Ms. Zhu orally that Mr. Yan was under criminal detention, without giving the cause, and that he was detained at the Detention Center of the PSB Branch of Luqiao District, Taizhou City. On November 10, his wife was told by authorities to go to the Taizhou City PSB station to pick up a notification denying permission for her to hire a lawyer for Mr. Yan, citing that the case involves state secrets. Two days earlier, Ms. Zhu had authorized the lawyer Li Jianqiang to represent Mr. Yan. Neither the family nor the lawyer has been allowed visits.
Mr. Yan, an activist at large, has exposed corruption and rights abuses in Taizhou and elsewhere, sometimes through his performance art. For his activities, he served time in Re-education Through Labor Camp between 1994-96. He has exhibited his paintings made at the RTL camp to draw attention to the cause of abolishing the RTL system. He has been briefly detained for questioning many times since 1996. For more information in Chinese, see CRD case file on Yan Zhengxue: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Class.asp?ClassID=73
Arbitrary Detention/Due Process Rights
1. Chen Guangcheng re-convicted after verdict overturned and retrial held
On December 1, Chen Guangcheng was convicted again for the same crimes, “intentional obstruction of traffic” and “inciting destruction of property,” and sentenced to 4 years and 3 months, exactly the same term as given by the same court after the August trial and overturned by a higher court in October. CRD believes that the unfair verdict is the result of interference by local officials who are angry at Mr. Chen for disclosing abuses in their birth control campaigns. Law suits are being filed against them for rights violations. (See CRD statement: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=2830)
Lawyers submitted new evidence and a long list of witnesses to the court after they received notice from Yinan County Court, on November 22, informing that Chen’s retrial would be held on November 27. However, several key witnesses, whose jail term are postponed after they were tortured to give testimony against Mr. Chen, according to their statements to Chen’s lawyers, have been intimidated and warned by police to stay out of the trial. Those who are migrant laborers in other cities have been visited by police, or their family members have been warned that they should not return to testify during the trial. Ms. Yuan Weijing, Chen Guangcheng’s wife, also a witness, remained under residential surveillance, until the day before the trial. She did not receive any notice from the court about the trial.
Mr. Chen’s lawyers thus could not contact several key witnesses before the retrial: Chen Guanghe, Chen Guangdong and Chen Gengjiang, who had promised defense lawyers that they would testify about being forced through torture to provide false testimony against Chen during his first trial. One witness, who met with the lawyers, was kidnapped by eight unidentified men the night before the retrial in front of two defense lawyers.
During the retrial on November 27, the same prosecutors presented their cases with the same old evidence and the same judges presided on the trial, though the court records seem more accurate than the previous trial. When chief defense lawyer Li Jinsong raised the issue of the missing defense witnesses’ to the judge, and the judge responded that it was irrelevant. Li Jinsong subsequently left the court in protest. The remaining lawyer, Li Fangping, stayed in court. Both lawyers defended their client’s innocence. (See the defense team’s argument in Chinese at:
Chen Guangcheng also defended his own non-guilt at his retrial The retrial lasted ten hours. The verdict was announced on December 1, 2006. The Yinan County Court sentenced Chen Guangcheng to the same jail term: 4 years and 3 months.
Before the retrial, Mr. Chen’s lawyers Li Jinsong and Li Fangping had traveled to his village, Gushidong Village, to interview witnesses and collect evidence. Police stopped them at the outskirts of the village. While they were allowed to meet with Mr. Chen’s wife and mother, they were unable to meet with other key witnesses, including three villagers who were released from detention, where, as they told the lawyers, they were tortured to sign incriminating testimonies against Mr. Chen – records of interrogation. The lawyers waited outside the village and tried to negotiate with the police, without success.
Dr. Teng Biao, also a lawyer and a member of the defense team, was denied permission to attend the trial when he applied beforehand. In the morning of the 27th, he was abducted and detained for five hours in order to prevent him from attending the trial. During the detention, he was roughly handled. Six or seven policemen pushed him to the ground, pinned him down, searched him, and grabbed his cell phone. They searched his bags and his computer, and interrogated him. They never produced any ID nor any detention order. They never told him the cause of his detention.
While Mr. Chen’s wife, mother, and at least one brother were allowed to attend the trial, no one else is allowed into the courtroom.
Mr. Yuan was detained and put under residential surveillance the day after the trial. On November 28, lawyers and witnesses, including Ms. Yuan went to the courthouse to review and sign court records of their testimonies. Around 12 noon, Ms. Yuan was detained by Yinan County Public Security Bureau in front of the lawyers. Police produced a paper authorizing “detention for questioning.” Her 1-year-old enfant was also taken in, who was later sent back to their home villager. Eight hours later, Ms. Yuan was dragged out of a police car and thrown on the road side outside her village. She was nearly unconscious. Until the next day, she did not talk. She was unresponsive, only uncontrollably sobbing. She was sent to a hospital in the neighboring county, Mengyin County Menglianggu Hospital, where doctors order her to stay for treatment and observation, where she is still recovering. About 20 policemen watched her at the hospital. Doctors said that she was severely traumatized, which caused headache, tightening chest, and stomach spasm. Later, after she began talking again, she recalled that police very roughly handled her and verbally abused her. Before they threw her outside the village, they had left her on the ground for two hours after she was exhausted by the abuses. During the detention, police also issued an order to authorize putting Ms. Yuan under “residential surveillance” (jian shi ju zhu). The order gives the cause as “on suspicion for ‘intentional obstruction of traffic’ and ‘inciting to destruct property’.” Chinese law allows a maximum of six months for residential surveillance. Ms. Yuan had been under surveillance or house arrest for 15 months without any legal order. For more information on this case, see: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=1361.
2. Internet writer sentenced to a two-year prison term
Internet writer Li Jianping, male, 40, was sentenced to two years in prison and two years’ deprivation of political rights on charges of “inciting subversion of state authority” on October 25, 2006. Mr. Li told the court that he would appeal. The verdict was announced more than six months after the trial. During the trial on April 12, 2006, in the Zibo Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, prosecutors introduced their only evidence against Mr. Li: copies of 31 articles published online, but neither the titles nor the contents of the articles were ever mentioned. Though the defendant was asked to confirm his authorship of these articles, neither he nor his lawyer were given any chance to question the evidence or to present a defense. For more information on this case, see CRD case file in Chinese: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Class.asp?ClassID=27
3. Verdict on imprisoned journalist Zhao Yan upheld, appeal hearing held behind closed doors
A Beijing appeals court upheld a fraud conviction against Zhao Yan, a Chinese researcher for The New York Times, on December 1. He was sentenced to prison for three-year. Guan Anping, a lawyer for Mr. Zhao, said that he and Zhao Yan were not given the opportunity to testify during the hearing. Mr. Guan was not allowed into the hearing, thus could not call witnesses or present certain evidence. The court sustained the verdict with just a hearing which lasted for 10 minutes. The verdict was based only on written materials submitted by Mr. Guan. On November 3, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court decided that it would not hold a hearing for imprisoned journalist Zhao Yan’s appeal. This took away an opportunity for Zhao Yan to defend himself in court. Chinese law requires open hearings for cases that do not involve state secrets. For more information on Zhao Yan, please visit: https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=893
4. Imprisoned journalist Ching Cheong denied an open appeal hearing, sentence upheld
Authorities denied an open appeal hearing for imprisoned journalist Ching Cheong, who is serving a five-year sentence on espionage charges. On November 24, the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court upheld his sentence. Ching Cheong suffers from insomnia and stomach pain.
On August 31, Ching, the chief China correspondent for the Singapore-based Straits Times newspaper, was found guilty of “espionage” and sentenced to five years in prison and deprivation of political rights for one year. The court also confiscated 300,000 yuan of Ching’s personal property.
Torture
1. High official admitted wrongful convictions based on confessions extracted through torture
On November 19, 2006, Wang Zhenchuan, vice procurator-general of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate admitted that confessions extracted by torture have resulted in about 30 wrongful convictions a year. He also acknowledged that the number of unreported cases may be higher. According to new regulations enacted in March, authorities are required to make video and audio recordings of interrogations in murder and organized crime cases in order to guard against the use of torture. The Supreme Procuratorate also issued guidelines in July to clarify what actions by law enforcement officers count as “torture.” The guidelines gave a rather narrow definition of “torture” – focusing only on physical mistreatment. Torture is a widespread practice, while legislation and regulations in China may not always be implemented or enforced. China has obligations to combat torture since it ratified the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1988. The recent steps are likely to be reactions to the report of the visit by the UN Rapporteur on torture. China is also due to submit its country report on its implementation of CAT to the UN.
Death Penalty
1. Speedy executions in secrecy of Protestant house church leaders
The Heilongjiang Provincial Higher Court upheld death sentences for three leaders of a Protestant group and the three were executed before the verdicts were sent out to lawyers and families. The three death sentences were handed down in July 2006 to the three leaders, Xu Shuangfu, Li Maoxing, Wang Jun, of a Protestant group called “Three Grades of Servants.” The Heilongjiang Provincial Higher Court held the appeal trials on October 17-19. The court had not told lawyers and families that it had reached a verdict until after executions were carried out. On November 29, the defendants’ lawyer Li Heping received a phone call from a judge of the Heilongjiang court, asking for his address in order to send the verdicts. When asked, the judge said that the defendants had been executed the previous week.
In the trial of the first instance, held on March 2-4, 2006, the Intermediate People’s Court of Shuangyashan city in Heilongjiang Province convicted 17 members of the Protestant group “Three Gates of Servants” for “premeditated murder,” in connection with the deaths of 20 members of another Protestant group, “Eastern Lightning Group.” It sentenced three leaders of “Three Grades of Servants,” Xu Shuangfu (60 years old, male), Li Maoxing (55, male) and Wang Jun (36, male), to death. Xu was also accused of embezzling 32 million yuan. The court gave deaths with suspended executions to three others, Zhang Min (35, male), Zhu Lixin (37, male) and Ben Zhonghai, and sentenced the remaining 11 members to between 3 to 15 years imprisonment.
According to the China Aid Association, a Chinese Christian house church monitoring group, based in Texas, US, Chinese police in seven provinces have charged 63 people for the murdering of 20 people, presumably committed between March 2003 and 2004. The group said that 22 of the 63 were sentenced to death, 15 of them, including the 3, were executed. CRD has information that a total of 12 men were executed including the three leaders. The 9 others were convicted and executed in Shandong, Jiangxi, and Sichuan.
“Three Gates of Servants” is one denomination of the Chinese protestant house church. It claims to have more than 500,000 members. One of the executed leaders, Xu Shuangfu, had been put in jail and “re-education through labor camps” (RTL) for a total of more than 10 years for “illegal missionary activities” and “organizing evil religious activities” since 1976. Another, Li Maoxing, had also been sent to re-education through labor at the Shiliping RTL camp in Zhejiang Province in 2001. In April 2004, Heilongjiang prosecutors charged 17 members, including the three leaders, of this group of “premeditated murder.”
During both trials, the defendants pled not guilty. The lawyers obtained a large amount of evidences that the police tortured their clients, the associates and family members of their clients, into “confession” or providing incriminating testimony. A number of associates and family members who tried to contact foreign journalists about this case have been detained or disappeared. During the trials, when the defense lawyers tried to introduce evidences to the court that their clients’ confessions were extracted through torture, the judges cut them off. Defendants Mr. Xu and Mr. Li told the judges at both trials that they were forced to sign or attach a fingerprint to the police statement that was attributed to them.
Illegal Surveillance
1. Imprisoned lawyers’ family surveillanced, harassed, and wife beaten by political police
On November 24, Ms. Geng He, the wife of Gao Zhisheng, the detained human rights lawyer, was beaten in the streets of Beijing by State Security (political police) officers assigned to watch and follow her and her children. As she sobbingly told the incident in a recorded phone call to the Beijing AIDS activist Hu Jia 30 minutes after the incident, she was bleeding from her mouth, her teeth were loose, her hands were injured, and her coat was torn to pieces. The beating followed a verbal assault against her by State Security police after Ms. Geng told them to back off as they were tailgating her aggressively, harassing and intimidating her.
Gao Zhisheng’s 13-year-old daughter, Gege, remains under round-the-clock surveillance. State Security police escort or drive her to and from school, camp outside her classroom, even follow her into the school bathroom.
The family has so far only received one official notice about Gao Zhisheng’s “detention for questioning for 24 hours” in August. Gao’s formal detention was announced in official newspapers, and his formal charge and arrest was only told to his lawyer Mo Shaoping when Mr. Mo pressed. So far, the lawyer’s requests to visit Gao at the detention center have been turned down. For more details about this case, see CRD report:
Abrogation of Legal Rights and Human Rights in the Case of Gao Zhisheng, at https://www.nchrd.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=2645
2. Beijing activists under house arrest or residential surveillance
Since mid-August, Beijing police have carried out strict surveillance of Liu Xiaobo, Zhang Zuhua, Jiang Qisheng and other activists. Police have stationed officers at the entrances to their buildings, and followed or obstructed them as they leave their homes. Visitors are required to register, and some visitors have been taken away.
These actions have limited their personal freedom, and interfered with their contacts with the outside world. Following their protests, the situation has eased up a bit, though the police are still stationed at their buildings and all entrances and exits are recorded. At the same time, Hu Jia and his wife Zhao Xin, who live in the Beijing suburbs, have also been under residential surveillance and are closely followed when they leave home. Since returning to Beijing from Yunnan Province, Zhao Xin has been restricted to her home and is not allowed to visit friends or leave very far from her house.
Rights to Political Participation
1. Candidates for Local People’s Congress Harassed
On November 6 and 7, Yao Lifa, who seeks re-election to the Qianjiang City People’s Congress, in Hubei Province, was detained for questioning several times by police, just prior to the scheduled elections on November 8. Police claimed that he was suspected of “obstructing the election process,” and was brought in for questioning. On November 7, Yao Lifa was again brought in for questioning by the state security and was held for 13 hours. His personal belongings and documents were confiscated. Pang Liduan, a volunteer who traveled from Changde, Hunan Province to Qianjiang in order to help Yao Lifa’s campaign, was brought in for questioning by Qianjiang police seven times between October 11 and November 5. Qianjiang police twice brought him back to Changde in their police car. In all 19 provinces that are holding local people’s congress elections, all of the independent candidates have been persecuted or pressured.
Also in Hubei Province, Zhijiang City People’s Congress representative Lu Banglie was brought in for questioning on November 16 by Zhijiang City police and accused of “destroying the election process.” In the past three months, Lu Banglie has been followed 24 hours a day, and beaten several times, by three unidentified people hired by authorities. In recent days, Mr. Lu has been monitored by a rotating group of more than 20 people, leaving him no freedom of movement. Zhijiang County and township people’s congress elections are scheduled for December 9.
2. To Protest Sham Elections, Activists Organize Boycott Online
Tang Jingling, Liu Dejun and others have launched the “Eight mao (eighty cent) election buyback campaign,”as a way for citizens to refuse to cooperate with political controls and scams in China’s local people’s congress elections. The activity was launched on July 1, 2006 and will continue until January 31, 2008. The title refers to the use of public communication tools, such as the mail, e-mail, text messages, or fax, or sending of a letter to a volunteer using a “eight mao” stamp. Participants pledge that they will not participate in voter registration, will not cast a vote, and will not in any way participate in public statements on the election. Participants both express their unwillingness to cooperate and to approve of this “false” election, and also refuse to let their right to vote be “represented” by someone else. Several dozen people have participated so far. Several dozens of people have participated.
(Managing editor for this issue: Su Fei)