China Human Rights Briefing September 21-28, 2011

September 28, 2011       Comments Off on China Human Rights Briefing September 21-28, 2011

China Human Rights Briefing

September 21-28, 2011

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Highlights

• Case Against Guangxi Lawyer Sent to Procuratorate: The “obstructing testimony” case against Yang Zaixin (杨在新), a lawyer from Beihai City, Guangxi Province, has been transferred to a local procuratorate. Yang is one of four lawyers—but the only one formally arrested—who had been detained in June for defending individuals in a beating death case.

• Hebei Activist Reveals Abuses After RTL Release: On September 22, rights activist Xu Yishun (徐义顺), of Baoding City, Hebei Province, was released after an 18-month Re-education through Labor (RTL) punishment, and has discussed abuses and overall mistreatment he suffered in detention.

Arbitrary Detention

Case Against Guangxi Lawyer Transferred to Procuratorate

CHRD learned on September 22 that the Haicheng District branch of the Beihai Public Security Bureau has transferred the case of “obstructing testimony” against lawyer Yang Zaixin (杨在新), from Beihai City, Guangxi Province, to the Haicheng District People’s Procuratorate. On that day, Yang’s lawyer, Zhang Kai (张凯), received the written recommendation for prosecution, and also visited Yang in the Beihai City Detention Center. Zhang indicated that Yang’s spirit is strong.

Yang is among a group of four lawyers detained in June in connection with their defense of individuals in a beating death case in Beihai. On June 29, Yang was formally arrested while the three others were released on bail a day earlier. More than 20 lawyers from across the country had come together to work in support of the lawyers. (CHRD)[i]

 

Hebei Activist Released From RTL, Reveals Abuses & Unequal Treatment

On September 22, human rights activist Xu Yishun (徐义顺), of Baoding City, Hebei Province, returned home after completing an 18-month Re-education through Labor (RTL) punishment at the Gaoyang RTL, and has spoken of abuses he suffered in detention. Xu has indicated he was violently beaten by prison guards and was singled out for mistreatment, and that his right arm and right ear were seriously injured. He also went on two hunger strikes to protest the conditions in RTL. In addition, Xu has said that RTL authorities confiscated his belongings, including clothing and other daily items as well as diaries he had kept; he had actually gone home last week with virtually no money and shirtless, wearing only his underpants. Once his health recovers, Xu has said he will file a lawsuit over the abuses he endured and the lost personal property.

A former reporter for Public Opinion (民意) magazine, Xu was sent to RTL for “fraud” in April 2010 after he tried to visit Yuan Weijing (袁伟静), the wife of Shandong “barefoot” lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚). After being initially detained, Xu was beaten by fellow detainees and hospitalized after suffering a heart attack, which was apparently brought on by the abuse. On August 25, 2010, the RTL facility granted him five days of leave but did not require him to return. RTL officials again seized Xu on January 6 of this year, however, and sent him back to the facility, likely because he had continued to take part in public human rights activities during his release. (CHRD)[ii]

 

Chongqing Authorities Issue 2-Year RTL Punishment to Petitioner

CHRD learned on September 24 that Bai Zhongmei (白中美), a petitioner from Chongqing Municipality, has been issued a two-year Re-education through Labor (RTL) punishment after being seized in Beijing in late June. On June 30, more than 20 Chongqing national security personnel and Beijing public security officers abducted Bai from lodging she had been renting in the capital. Bai is serving her punishment in the Chongqing Women’s No. 2 RTL, but reportedly no RTL notice has been issued. Bai has been petitioning since her residence was demolished and also on behalf of her parents, who both eventually passed away after pursuing a grievance over wages they had not been paid. Bai has suffered great emotional stress as well as physical beatings as the local government has tried to prevent her from petitioning. (CHRD)[iii]

 

Guangdong Independent NPC Candidate Criminally Detained for “Undermining Election”

On September 21, police in Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province criminally detained Li Biyun (李碧云), a petitioner and independent candidate for the local People’s Congress, on suspicion of “undermining elections.” Li, who is being held at the Shunde District Detention Center, became eligible to run in the Ronggui electoral district in mid-September. She soon after questioned the local election committee why it had not publicized the election. Li subsequently had her electoral qualifications stripped, and she attempted to file suit against the committee on September 19, but the Shunde District People’s Court refused to consider her case. Li then appealed to other local authorities when she learned primary candidates were going to be selected by a so-called “resident representatives committee” instead of by registered voters.

Li chose to run in the election to represent the interests of fellow Rongli Village residents after enduring abuses for her petitioning. In January 2009, Li and three others petitioned the Guangdong Public Security Department over the local government’s expropriation of their village land. Li was beaten and had her neck grabbed and her breathing obstructed. When she bit her abuser in self-defense, police took her into custody for “obstructing official business.” (CHRD)[iv]

 

Members of Guizhou Human Rights Forum Released After Three Weeks of Detention

On September 25, several members of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum, including Chen Xi (陈西), Liao Shuangyuan (廖双元), Wu Yuqin (吴玉琴), Lü Yongxiang (卢勇祥), Li Renke (李任科), Huang Yanming (黄燕明), Mo Jiangang (莫建刚), and Tian Zuxiang (田祖湘), were released after three weeks of detention. Beginning on September 2, Guiyang City authorities forced them to leave their homes and held them in various hostels to ensure that the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities, which occurred in Guizhou between September 10 and 18, would take place smoothly. They were cut off from the outside world, as they were not allowed to use phones or the Internet. Two other members of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum also faced restrictions on their movement: Zhu Zhengyuan (朱正园) was forced to stay in his residential compound for the duration of the Games and had to report to the police everyday, and Du Heping (杜和平) was also forced to leave his home, but was sent home after a few days due to health reasons. (CHRD)[v]

 

Jiangsu Authorities Detain Petitioners in Black Jail for Petitioning Outside UN Office

Authorities in Jiangsu Province have detained in a black jail, among others, rights activist and petitioner Hua Huiqing (华惠清), from Xishan District, Wuxi City, after they were accused of “complaining to foreigners” on September 18 around the Jianguomenwai area, where foreign embassies are located. Out of contact since that day, Hua had arrived in Beijing on September 14 to petition and, four days later, she and other petitioners encountered Wuxi interceptors collecting grievance materials across from the United Nations Development Programme office building. Thinking their local representatives wished to help them, Hua was among those who were duped into handing over materials. But the interceptors instead roughed up Hua and others and took them back to Wuxi. On September 20, Hua’s husband and a local resident went to the Xishan District Letters and Visits Bureau to inquire about Hua. The bureau chief said that Hua had been sent to a “legal education class”—a euphemism for detention in a black jail—for her alleged actions around the diplomatic area. (HRCC)[vi]

 

Authorities Detain Petitioner in Black Jail in Beijing

Since September 23, authorities have detained Zhu Yongjian (朱永健), a petitioner from Xukou Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, after taking him into custody in Beijing. Zhu was able to contact CHRD the next day. He indicated that, as he was preparing to petition at the Supreme People’s Procuratorate Letters and Visits Reception Office, he had been seized and held by officers from the Tiananmen branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. The officers handed him over to local interceptors, who detained him at the Xingang Kuaijie Hotel in Beijing. Before falling out of contact, Zhu told CHRD that interceptors were preparing to forcibly take him out of Beijing.

Zhu has been petitioning over a decision made by a Suzhou court. His efforts have resulted in his expulsion from the Communist Party and persecution in psychiatric hospitals and RTL facilities, which in turn reportedly led to his suffering from epilepsy and other illnesses. (CHRD)[vii]

Harassment of Activists

Activists Assaulted, Temporarily Go Missing After Trying to Meet Chen Guangcheng

In the afternoon of September 21, more than 30 hired thugs attacked four activists attempting to see “barefoot” lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚), who is under house arrest in Dongshigu Village, Linyi City, Shandong Province. Traveling in two separate cars and accompanied by an Israeli journalist, those attacked outside the village were Liu Shasha (刘沙沙), Huang Bin (黄宾), Wang Xuezhen (王雪臻), and Huang Huang (晃晃), who temporarily went missing. The foreign journalist, whose passport and other items were taken, was separated from the group, forced into a vehicle, and driven back to Linyi before being taken back to Beijing. On September 19, Liu had also been abducted, attacked, robbed, and expelled to Dayou Village by authorities after trying to visit Chen. (CHRD)[viii]

 

Shanghai Police Search Activists’ Home, Confiscate Feng Zhenghu’s Writings

On the morning of September 27, more than 10 national security officers from the Yangpu District in Shanghai Municipality searched the home of petitioner-activists Chen Qiyong (陈启勇) and Li Huifang (李惠芳), his wife, and summoned them for questioning. Early that afternoon, Chen indicated to CHRD that he was being interrogated at the Yinhang Police Station, allegedly on suspicion of “disrupting public order.”  During the home search, police confiscated writings by rights activist Feng Zhenghu (冯正虎)—Supervisory Bulletin (督察简报) and a collection of cases of injustice in Shanghai’s courts—that the couple had allegedly copied themselves for distribution in Shanghai. Feng’s work includes details on Chen and Li’s forced home eviction, damage to their property, and their experience of Re-education through Labor that they have endured due to their petitioning and activism. (CHRD)[ix]

 

Local NPC Election Watch

Beijing Authorities Disrupt Candidate’s Event

On September 21, police in Beijing disrupted an election event being held at the neighborhood of Wang Xiuzhen (王秀珍), an independent People’s Congress candidate from the Xinyuan South Road area in Chaoyang District. That morning, Wang was to host a publicity event when more than 10 plainclothes police— reportedly with the Chaoyang branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB)—along with security guards and women from the neighborhood committee blocked off the entrance to the area so participants could not enter the neighborhood. Policemen on the scene forbade fellow independent candidates and friends of Wang from entering the area and ordered them to disperse. Wang Xiuzhen was held by police in the neighborhood and later released. (CHRD)[x]

 

Heilongjiang Authorities Issue Tough Demands for Candidate Recommenders

On September 25, election authorities in Acheng District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province sent independent candidate Zhang Guolong (张国龙) a notice listing out additional demands for his electoral recommenders, making it significantly harder for Zhang to have his recommenders be officially eligible. The local election office’s notice required that, at 1 p.m. the next day, exactly 10 recommenders present their residence and ID cards and, if employed, work permits to the neighborhood committee office, where they would also need to sign off again on their recommendation. Zhang has voiced his protest over the demands but to no avail, and he has been unsuccessful in contacting relevant authorities to discuss the issue. (CHRD)[xi]

 

Editors of this issue: Victor Clemens and Songlian Wang

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