China Human Rights Briefing  26 Jan 2010

Headlines

• Petitioners Harassed as People’s Congress, People’s Political Consultative Conference Meet
• Hebei Petitioners Detained Four Months in Psychiatric Institution

ArbitraryDetention

PetitionersHarassed as People’s Congress, People’s Political ConsultativeConference Meet

As delegates to provincial People's Congressesand People's Political Consultative Conferences gather in meeting roomsacrossthe country, CHRD has begun to receive reports of petitioners detainedorharassed for attempting to present their grievances to these officials.  For example:

• Zhang Dean (张德安), from Liuchang Village, Qianjiang City, Hubei Province, has had her freedom of movement restricted by local police since the morning of January 25. Zhang was met outside her home by police while en route to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei; after being forced into a police car and driven into the Qianjiang City, Zhang was accompanied on board a train by two police officers.  When she arrived in Wuhan, the accompanying officers would not permit her to petition: instead, they forced her to check into a hotel and threatened to detain her for the duration of the meetings if she attempted to petition.
• In Xi'an, Shaanxi, hundreds of petitioners from across the province gathered outside the building where the Provincial People's Congress was meeting on January 26.  They found the sidewalk completely blocked by police, and when they moved instead to the Shaanxi Letters and Visits Office nearby, they were also met by large numbers of police and interceptors. One eyewitness at the scene reported seeing six or seven petitioners seized over the course of one hour. (CHRD)[i]

Hebei Petitioners Detained FourMonths in Psychiatric Institution

As of January 26, sisters Jin Hanyan (金汉艳) andJin Hanqin (金汉琴),of Shiyan City, Hebei Province, have been detained in psychiatricinstitutionsfor more than four months. The two travelled to Beijing to petition about localcorruptionand police harassment on August 27, 2009, and on September 18, theywere seizedby Shiyan police and government officials and forcibly returned toShiyan.  After being detained separately forfourdays, on September 22 they were taken to the Huanglong PyschiatricHospital inShiyan. Thesisters, who are now detained in the RedCross Hospitaland the ShiyanCity PsychiatricHospital,respectively, learned from doctors that local officials were currentlyplanningto use public insurance funds to pay for the sisters’ hospital bills.Psychiatricinstitutions are routinely used to detain petitioners as no judicialproceedings, or independent mental health evaluations, are required toadmitindividuals to these hospitals. (CHRD)[ii]

Editors: David Smalls and Lin Sang

News updates from CHRD: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/Index.html

Reining in Civil Society: The Chinesegovernment’s use of laws and regulations to persecute freedom ofassociationhttp://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200908/20090810214902_16733.html

CHRD Yearbook 2007-2008: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200808/20080807093200_9888.html

[i]"LargeNumbers of Petitioners Seized outside of Shaanxi Provincial GovernmentLettersand Visits Reception Center" (陕西省政府信访接待站门前大规模抓访民),January 26, 2010, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/fmzj/201001/20100126174639_19638.htmland "Hubei Provincial People's Congress Meets; Petitioners Placed underHouse Arrest” (湖北省人大召开 访民被限制自由),January 26, 2010, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/fmzj/201001/20100126130543_19629.html

[ii]"ShiyanCity, Hubei Province Government Illegally Uses Social Security Funds toPay forDetention of Petitioners" (湖北十堰政府套取社保金为关押访民买单),January 26, 2010, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class53/201001/20100126223555_19641.html