Organizer of Open Letter to Party Congress Seized by Police

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(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Oct 11, 2007)- Liu Jie (刘杰) was seized by Beijing police around noon on October 11. Ms. Liu, 55, an activist for the rights to complain and to seek justice, was the lead organizer of a public letter signed by 12,150 petitioners calling on Chinese Communist Party leaders at the 17th Party Congress to implement political and legal reforms (https://www.nchrd.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200710/20071009120106_5929.html ).

Police were waiting around and they descended on her and took her away when Ms. Liu was leaving after visiting some friends at Beijing Zhong Ding Village, near South Train Station, an area with cheap hotels and rooms for rent, where petitioners hang out. Liu was taken to the nearby You-an Men police station together with Cheng Yingcai (程英才), another organizer of the public letter. Their cell phones were confiscated. Police then put Liu alone in a car and drove away, while Cheng managed to get out after he denied he was a petitioner. Liu’s whereabouts are unknown. <!–
D([“mb”,”u003cspan>&nbsp;nu003c/span>Other organizers of the open letter campaign are now in hiding.u003c/span>u003c/p>nnu003cp>u003cspan>&nbsp;u003c/span>u003c/p>nnu003cp>u003cspan>Liu and other organizers had spent the last two months surveyingnpetitioners and collecting signatures for the open letter addressed to CCP topnleaders: &quot;Constitutional Democracy: the Foundation for Addressing Social Grievances.&quot;n(u003ca hrefu003d”/Article/dzlx/200710/20071008213035_5915.html” targetu003d”_blank” onclicku003d”return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)”>https://www.nchrd.org/Articleu003cWBR>/dzlx/200710/20071008213035u003cWBR>_5915.htmlu003c/a>)u003cspan>nn&nbsp; u003c/span>They collected a rather large number of signaturesnby petitioners from many provinces, who had been to u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan> to filencomplaints about their mistreatments by local officials, many of whom sufferednofficial harassment and police brutality. This well-coordinated, nation-widenaction may have alerted authorities, who have become increasingly nervous aboutnany large-scale mass actions as Party Congress opens in u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan> this weeknand as the 2008 u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan> Olympicnapproaches.u003c/span>u003c/p>nnu003cp>u003cspan>&nbsp;u003c/span>u003c/p>nnu003cp>u003cspan>Liu contracted a dairy farm from the state-run Xunke farm in u003c/span>u003cspan>Heilongjiangu003c/span>u003cspan> u003c/span>u003cspan>Provinceu003c/span>u003cspan>. In 1997,nthe state farm broke the contract and took back the dairy farm which Liu'snfamily had turned into a profitable enterprise. After exhausting all legalnavenues to reclaim the dairy farm, she went on to u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan> to petitionnthe central government. u003cspan>&nbsp;u003c/span>In u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan>, in thenlast ten years of fighting for her right to complain and get a fair hearing,nshe suffered a great deal from kidnapping, beating, and detention by local authoritiesnand u003c/span>u003cspan>Beijingu003c/span>u003cspan> police. Inn2001, with help from human rights lawyers, she successfully obtained annadministrative review of local government agencies' handling of Liu's case,nwhich ruled in her favor. But local authorities have so far refused to pay fornher damages.”,1]
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//–> Other organizers of the open letter campaign are now in hiding.

Liu and other organizers had spent the last two months surveying petitioners and collecting signatures for the open letter addressed to CCP top leaders: “Constitutional Democracy: the Foundation for Addressing Social Grievances.” (https://www.nchrd.org/Article/dzlx/200710/20071008213035_5915.html) They collected a rather large number of signatures by petitioners from many provinces, who had been to Beijing to file complaints about their mistreatments by local officials, many of whom suffered official harassment and police brutality. This well-coordinated, nation-wide action may have alerted authorities, who have become increasingly nervous about any large-scale mass actions as Party Congress opens in Beijing this week and as the 2008 Beijing Olympic approaches.

Liu contracted a dairy farm from the state-run Xunke farm in Heilongjiang Province. In 1997, the state farm broke the contract and took back the dairy farm which Liu’s family had turned into a profitable enterprise. After exhausting all legal avenues to reclaim the dairy farm, she went on to Beijing to petition the central government. In Beijing, in the last ten years of fighting for her right to complain and get a fair hearing, she suffered a great deal from kidnapping, beating, and detention by local authorities and Beijing police. In 2001, with help from human rights lawyers, she successfully obtained an administrative review of local government agencies’ handling of Liu’s case, which ruled in her favor. But local authorities have so far refused to pay for her damages.

Since 2003, Liu has organized petitioners every year to submit open letters addressing Chinese leaders at important meetings, such as the annual National People’s Congress, advocating legal and political reforms. She emerged as a courageous, widely respected, and experienced leader of the Beijing petitioners. She is instrument to exposing the abuses of petitioners to the media. And she was trying to take the rule of law route to fair solutions to the root problems of the petitioners’ social grievances – official corruption and government unaccountability.

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