China Human Rights Briefings | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

[CHRB] CHRD Urges International Intervention to Gain Release of Human Rights Defenders in China (10/5-10/9/2015)

October 9, 2015 Comments Off

Since July 2015, CHRD has requested UN independent experts of the Human Rights Council to conduct inquiries on behalf of six human rights defenders in China who have allegedly been subjected to rights violations. In the communications, CHRD documented Chinese authorities’ use of torture, forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and obstruction (read more…)

[CHRB] What Happened to the Detained Lawyers: 18 Held in Secret & Several Accused of “Endangering National Security” (8/12-20/2015)

August 20, 2015 Comments Off

An important deadline has passed in the continued detentions of lawyers and activists seized during the July crackdown. The 37-day maximum allowed for criminal detention has passed for the seven individuals criminally detained between July 8-14. Police still hold in custody 22 lawyers and activists; of these, 15 are either (read more…)

[CHRB] Pu Zhiqiang Detained 14 Months Without Trial, Recently Denied Lawyers’ Access & Medical Treatment (7/3-7/9/2015)

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强) has recently been denied access to legal counsel and proper medical treatment, according to information obtained by CHRD. Pu has now been held in pre-trial detention for more than 14 months at Beijing No. 1 Detention Center. Beijing prosecutors indicted Pu on May (read more…)

[CHRB] Criminal Charges & State Media Smear Campaign Against Versatile Rights Activist (6/26-7/2/2015)

July 2, 2015 Comments Off

Detained activist Wu Gan (吴淦), widely known by his online alias, “The Butcher” (屠夫), faces charges of “libel,” “creating a disturbance,” and “inciting subversion of state power,” and a state media smear campaign has been unleashed against him. Both the official media attack against Wu and the “inciting subversion” charge—which (read more…)

[CHRB] More State-Approved Violence Against Rights Lawyers (6/20-25, 2015)

June 26, 2015 Comments Off

Four separate incidents of physical assaults against lawyers since April show the increasing risks faced by human rights lawyers in China, a trend that CHRD detailed in its 2014 annual report. In the latest incident of such violence, lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全章) was beaten in a Shandong courthouse on June (read more…)

[CHRB] Closed-Door Trial of Guangzhou Activists & Hunger Strike in Henan Detention Center (6/16-19/2015)

June 19, 2015 Comments Off

The trial of disbarred lawyer Tang Jingling (唐荆陵) and activists Yuan Chaoyang (袁朝阳 aka Yuan Xinting 袁新亭) and Wang Qingying (王清营) began behind closed doors at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on June 19. Meanwhile, The health of detained activist Jia Lingmin (贾灵敏) has rapidly deteriorated following a month-long hunger (read more…)

[CHRB] End Persecution of Participants in 1989 Pro-democracy Movement for Their Ongoing Activism

June 3, 2015 Comments Off

On the 26th anniversary of the Chinese government’s bloody suppression of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, scores of individuals who took part in the movement are detained or in prison today for their continuing efforts to promote human rights and democratic reforms. Several activists and lawyers seized last year for marking (read more…)

[CHRB] China’s Draft National Security Law: More License To Abuse Human Rights (5/15-21/2015)

May 21, 2015 Comments Off

The draft PRC National Security Law, if passed, would legalize the Chinese government’s systematic suppression of political, ethnic, and religious dissent and crack down on civil liberties. The draft includes a broad and ill-defined definition of “national security,” and provisions that would allow prosecution of dissenting views, religious beliefs, information (read more…)

[CHRB] Forced Psychiatric Detention Persists 2 Years After China Enacted Mental Health Law (5/8-14/2015)

May 15, 2015 Comments Off

Forced psychiatric commitment is still widespread two years after China enacted its first Mental Health Law, according to reports by groups in the CHRD network that provide further evidence of the law’s lack of implementation. In particular, officials continue to punish individuals who challenge officials’ conduct or government policies, by (read more…)

[CHRB] “Inciting Subversion” Cases Move Forward; Pu Zhiqiang Still in Legal Limbo (4/23-5/7/15)

May 7, 2015 Comments Off

Six human rights defenders—five activists and a lawyer—facing charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and other “political” offenses have seen developments in their cases this week. As partly seen in these cases, authorities since late 2014 have returned to using more explicitly political charges, like those involving “subversion” and (read more…)

[CHRB] Alleged Torture To Coerce Confessions in Criminal Gang Case, Violence Against Lawyers (4/17-23/2015)

April 23, 2015 Comments Off

Police allegedly tortured several defendants in a criminal gang case in Hunan Province in order to extract confessions, which prosecutors then used as evidence against them at trial, according to their lawyers. Among 47 total defendants in the case—all accused of being members of the triad known as “Zhou clan (read more…)

[CHRB] Call for Independent Investigation After Attack on Lawyer in Courthouse (3/20-4/16/15)

April 16, 2015 Comments Off

CHRD joins more than 300 lawyers in China in calling for an independent investigation into the alleged violence against lawyer Cui Hui (崔慧), and for the perpetrators to be held legally accountable. Judges and bailiffs at a Beijing courthouse attacked Cui on April 2. The physical assault on Cui follows (read more…)