Submission to UN on Tang Jingling, Wang Qingying, and Yuan Xinting – July 9, 2014
Comments Off on Submission to UN on Tang Jingling, Wang Qingying, and Yuan Xinting – July 9, 2014Submission to:
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Communique on Behalf of Tang Jingling, Wang Qingying and Yuan Xinting, Citizens of the People’s Republic of China,
Alleging Arbitrary Detention,
Violation of Freedom of Expression, Assembly and Association, and Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders
I. IDENTITY (1)
1. Family name: Tang (唐)
2. First name: Jingling (荆陵)
3. Sex: Male
4. Birth date or age (at the time of detention): October 28, 1971
5. Nationality/Nationalities: People’s Republic of China
6. (a) Identity document (if any): ID Card
7. Address of usual residence: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
8. Professions and/or activities of the detainees (if believed to be relevant to the arrest/detention):
Mr. Tang Jingling began practicing law as a lawyer in Guangdong Province in 2000. He has represented widely in cases involving human rights violations and defended for villagers combating corruption, victims of counterfeit medicine and vaccinations, uncompensated victims of land grabs, and arrested rights defenders etc.
In 2006, after working with another leading rights activist Guo Feixiong on an election recall case in Taishi Village in Guangdong Province, the Chinese authorities did not renew his attorney license as retaliation against his rights activism. After his disbarment, Mr. Tang continues representing human rights cases as a “citizen agent” and providing legal assistance for those cases.
Mr. Tang initiated and has been devoted in the “Non-violent Citizens’ Disobedience Movement,” a network of activists that advocate for legal and social reform aiming at bringing about liberal democracy in China. Some of the campaigns that he has initiated and participated in include “reclaiming ballot papers,” “June Fourth Meditation,” “abolishing household registration system.” In recent years, police have detained, threatened, and tortured lawyer Tang in retaliation for his defending a wide range of human rights cases.
I. IDENTITY (2)
1. Family name: Wang (王)
2. First name: Qingying (清营)
3. Sex: Male
4. Birth date or age (at the time of detention): March 1, 1982
5. Nationality/Nationalities: People’s Republic of China
6. (a) Identity document (if any): ID Card
7. Address of usual residence: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
8. Professions and/or activities of the detainees (if believed to be relevant to the arrest/detention):
Mr. Wang Qingying was previously a teacher at Guangdong University of Technology. After he came to know lawyer Tang Jingling in 2006, he began to devote himself to rights and pro-democracy activism. In 2009, the University fired him under the pressure from the local authorities after he signed Charter 08. Since 2013, Mr. Wang, along with lawyer Tang Jingling and activist Yuan Xinting, participated actively in the “Non-violent Citizens’ Disobedience Movement”. He has been facing lots of harassment and pressure from the local authorities due to his rights activism.
I. IDENTITY (3)
1. Family name: Yuan (袁)
2. First name: Xinting (新亭)
3. Sex: Male
4. Birth date or age (at the time of detention): May 6, 1971
5. Nationality/Nationalities: People’s Republic of China
6. (a) Identity document (if any): ID Card
8. Professions and/or activities of the detainees (if believed to be relevant to the arrest/detention):
Yuan Xinting (aka, Yuan Chaoyang) was previously an editor at Guangzhou Press. In 2009, the Press fired him under the local authorities’ pressure after he signed Charter 08. Since 2013, Mr. Yuan, along with lawyer Tang Jingling and activist Wang Qingying, participated actively in the “Non-violent Citizens’ Disobedience Movement.” He has also been facing lots of harassment and pressure from the local authorities due to his rights activism.
II. Arrest (1)
1. Date of arrest: May 16, 2014
2. Place of arrest (as detailed as possible): Mr. Tang Jingling was taken away from his residence at Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province.
3. Forces who carried out the arrest or are believed to have carried it out:
Police officers from Baiyun District Branch of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau (“Guangzhou PSB”)
4. Did they show a warrant or other decision by a public authority?
(Yes) √ (No)
5. Authority who issued the warrant or decision: Baiyun District Branch of the Guangzhou PSB
6. Relevant legislation applied (if known):
Article 80 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, which provides that “Public security organs may initially detain an active criminal or a major suspect under any of the following conditions: (1) if he is preparing to commit a crime, is in the process of committing a crime or is discovered immediately after committing a crime; (2) if he is identified as having committed a crime by a victim or an eyewitness; (3) if criminal evidence is found on his body or at his residence; (4) if he attempts to commit suicide or escape after committing a crime, or he is a fugitive; (5) if there is likelihood of his destroying or falsifying evidence or tallying confessions; (6) if he does not tell his true name and address and his identity is unknown; and (7) if he is strongly suspected of committing crimes from one place to another, repeatedly, or in a gang.”
II. Arrest (2)
1. Date of arrest: May 16, 2014
2. Place of arrest (as detailed as possible): Mr. Wang Qingying was taken away from his residence at Panyu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province.
3. Forces who carried out the arrest or are believed to have carried it out:
National Security Police officers from Guangzhou PSB, as well as Police officers from Baiyun District and Panyu District Branches of the Guangzhou PSB
4. Did they show a warrant or other decision by a public authority?
(Yes) (No) √
5. Authority who issued the warrant or decision: No warrant is known to have been issued.
6. Relevant legislation applied (if known): Since no warrant is known to have been issued, it is unclear what relevant legislation that police used to issue the arrests.
II. Arrest (3)
1. Date of arrest: May 16, 2014
2. Place of arrest (as detailed as possible): Mr. Yuan Xinting was taken away from his residence.
3. Forces who carried out the arrest or are believed to have carried it out: Police officers from the Guangzhou PSB
4. Did they show a warrant or other decision by a public authority?
(Yes) (No) √
5. Authority who issued the warrant or decision: No warrant is known to have been issued.
6. Relevant legislation applied (if known): Since no warrant is known to have been issued, it is unclear what relevant legislation that police used to issue the arrests.
III. Detention
1. Date of detention: Mr. Tang, Mr. Wang and Mr. Yuan were all formally arrested on June 20, 2014
2. Duration of detention (if not known, probable duration): From June 20, 2014 through the present (i.e., their detentions are ongoing)
3. Forces holding the detainee under custody: Guangzhou PSB
4. Places of detention (indicate any transfer and present place of detention): Tang, Wang and Yuan were detained at Guangzhou Baiyun District Detention Center after they were taken away from their homes on May 16. On June 19, they were all transferred to Guangzhou No. 1 Detention Center.
5. Authorities that ordered the detention: Guangzhou Municipal People’s Procuratorate
6. Reasons for the detention imputed by the authorities: “Inciting subversion of state power”
7. Relevant legislation applied (if known): For the crime of “inciting subversion of state power,” Article 105 (2) of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years to those who incite others by spreading rumors or slanders or any other means to subvert the State power or overthrow the socialist system. And the ringleaders and the others who commit major crimes shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.
IV. Describe the circumstances of the arrest and/or the detention and indicate precise reasons why you consider the arrest or detention to the arbitrary
On May 16, lawyer Tang Jingling was criminally detained in Guangzhou on suspicion of “creating a disturbance.” Earlier that morning, police presented Tang with a search warrant and a criminal detention notice at his home and then searched the residence. Police confiscated a laptop, a tablet computer, three cellphones, and books. On the same day, police have taken into custody two other Guangzhou activists, Wang Qingying and Yuan Xinting, who are close associates of lawyer Tang in the “Non-violent Citizens’ Disobedience Movement,” which is spearheaded by Tang and aims at bringing about liberal democracy in China. Mr. Wang was taken away from his home and criminally detained on charges of “creating a disturbance.” National security police from the Guangzhou PSB also searched his home and confiscated laptops and cellphones while without showing any search warrant or criminal detention notice. Mr. Yuan was out of contact after being taken away by the Guangzhou police. It was later confirmed that he was also criminally detained on suspicion of “creating a disturbance.”
Mr. Tang’s lawyer Liu Zhengqing (刘正清) met with Tang at Baiyun District Detention Center on May 21. Tang told Liu that a discipline management officer had tried to force him to squat but he refused, prompting the enraged officer to violently kick Tang. In addition, Tang is nearsighted and has around 1000 degrees of myopia, but the detention center did not allow his family to send glasses to him. His family was not allowed to meet him since he was taken into custody on May 16.
After initially being held at Baiyun District Detention Center where Mr. Wang was tortured and mistreated, Mr. Wang’s lawyer Sui Muqing (隋牧青) visited him on May 23, and learnt that Wang was repeatedly slapped in the face by authorities for refusing to falsify evidence against Tang Jingling and Yuan Xinting. He also had been forced to work long hours and held in a 20-square meter room with 30 other inmates, and given very poor-quality and inadequate food. Lawyer Sui reported after a visit on June 10 that Wang had been interrogated at least 20 times, sometimes for as long as 12-13 hours at a time, until Wang confessed. Since his forced confession, Wang’s treatment has reportedly improved and he can use the toilet, has been placed in a larger room, and is no longer beaten. Wang’s wife Zeng Jieshan (曾洁珊) has also been harassed and threatened by national security officers.
On June 20, Mr. Tang, Mr. Wang and Mr. Yuan were arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” and very likely prosecuted under this more serious and political crime.
Mr. Tang, Mr. Wang and Mr. Yuan have been detained solely on the basis of their peaceful exercise of their rights guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Specifically, under the Working Group’s criteria for determining when a deprivation of liberty is arbitrary, the circumstances of their detentions satisfy both Category II (i.e., when the deprivation of liberty results from the exercise of the rights or freedoms guaranteed by articles 7, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the UDHR and Category III (i.e., when the total or partial non-observance of the international norms relating to the right to a fair trial, spelled out in the UDHR and in the relevant international instruments accepted by the States concerned, is of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character).
V. Indicate internal steps, including domestic remedies, taken especially with the legal and administrative authorities, particularly for the purpose of establishing the detention and, as appropriate, their results or the reasons why such steps or remedies were ineffective or why they were not taken
The defense lawyers of these three activists published updates on the cases and the officials’ violations of legal procedures online. Mr. Tang and Mr. Wang’s wives wrote and published their husbands’ rights activisms online. Mr. Tang’s wife Wang Yanfang (汪艳芳) also went to Hong Kong to advocate for the release of her husband (as well as Mr. Wang and Yuan) – she hold banners in Hong Kong’s July 1 march and disclosed her husband’s case to the international media.
Rights activists nationwide have also showed much support for Mr. Tang, Mr. Wang and Mr. Yuan and protested against authorities in various ways including by: forming a citizens’ “observation group” to pay a close attention to the cases, taking to the streets to hold banners, and writing joint appeals. Some of the activists have also been harassed by the police due to their support to Tang, Wang and Yuan.
Date submitted: July 9, 2014
Related Documentation
Chinese government response to case of Tang Jingling, Wang Qingying, and Yuan Xinting, August 20, 2014