News | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

[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…)

China: Release Journalists, Protect Press Freedom

May 1, 2015 Comments Off

On the eve of 2015’s World Press Freedom Day, CHRD calls on the Chinese government to release the dozens of journalists, bloggers, and citizen journalists imprisoned in China, including the recently imprisoned 71-year old journalist Gao Yu (高瑜). On April 17, a Beijing court sentenced Gao to seven years in (read more…)

China Fails to Right A Wrong, Sentences Victim of Domestic Violence To Death a Second Time

April 24, 2015 Comments Off

(The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders — April 24, 2015) Following a retrial of the death penalty case that was returned by the Supreme People’s Court, the Sichuan Provincial People’s High Court issued its verdict of death with a 2-year delay in execution to Li Yan (李彦), who had (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…)

[CHRB] Concerns Over Health of Detained Woman Activist & Anniversary of Cao Shunli’s Death (3/13-19/2015)

March 19, 2015 Comments Off

Wu Rongrong (武嵘嵘), one of the five female human rights defenders under criminal detention in Beijing after a coordinated police action last week, has been denied any treatment for a serious medical condition. March 14 marked the one-year anniversary of the persecution to death of activist Cao Shunli (曹顺利), with (read more…)

“Silencing the Messenger: 2014 Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China”

March 15, 2015 Comments Off

Human rights defenders in China experienced unusually severe reprisal in 2014, says CHRD in its annual report, Silencing the Messenger: 2014 Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China. CHRD asserts that the government’s persecution of human rights defenders in 2014 was as severe as it has (read more…)

Activist Zhou Weilin Named First Recipient of Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders

March 14, 2015 Comments Off

Activist Zhou Weilin (周维林) has been named the first recipient of the Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders, selected by three Chinese groups sponsoring the award. The award committee, made up of three Mainland-based NGOs—Human Rights Campaign in China, Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, and Rights Defense Network—announced (read more…)

[CHRB] 5 Women’s & LGBT Rights Activists Detained in Escalating Clampdown on NGOs (3/6-12/15)

March 12, 2015 Comments Off

Five female activists working on women’s and LGBT rights issues have been put under criminal detention on suspicion of “creating a disturbance” after authorities in three Chinese cities seized nine activists in total on March 6 and 7. They were all taken into custody prior to a planned anti-sexual harassment (read more…)

[CHRB] Rights Lawyers Fight Against Reprisals (2/27-3/5/15)

March 5, 2015 Comments Off

A law firm in Henan Province has forced out lawyer Ma Lianshun (马连顺) in likely reprisal for his representing “politically sensitive” cases of clients seized prior to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. In a related issue, more than 100 Chinese lawyers signed on to an open letter to (read more…)

[CHRB] 82-Year-Old Dissident Writer Found “Guilty,” Given 2.5-Year Suspended Sentence (2/20-26/2015)

February 26, 2015 Comments Off

A court in Sichuan tried the writer Tie Liu (铁流), an outspoken government critic, on February 25, convicting him of “illegal business activity” but issuing him a suspended sentence in a case fraught with rights violations. Liu was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, suspended for four years. His caretaker, (read more…)

[CHRB] UN Body Rules 3 Detentions “Arbitrary”; 27 Still Held for Supporting HK Protests (2/13-19/2015)

February 19, 2015 Comments Off

Three arrested Guangzhou activists are being held unlawfully and should be released and provided reparations by the Chinese government, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention decided in an opinion issued in November and recently made public. Meanwhile, CHRD has documented 115 detentions of individuals swept up since October in (read more…)