China Human Rights Briefing  January 22, 2010

Headlines 

• Illegal Restriction of Shanghai Lawyer Zheng Enchong’s Movement Resumed
• Beijing Police Continue Harassment of House Church Activist Chen Tianshi
• Illegally-Detained Elderly Petitioner Released from RTL Camp on Bail for Medical Treatment

Harassmentof ActivistsIllegalRestriction of Shanghai Lawyer Zheng Enchong’s Movement ResumedPresidentHu Jintao (胡锦涛)visited Shanghai on an inspection tourfrom January 14 to January 17, and during that time Shanghai policestationedoutside the home of housing activist Zheng Enchong (郑恩宠)prevented him from leaving on at leastone occasion. On the evening of January 15, Shanghai police andNationalSecurity officers stopped Zheng at the gate of his residential quarterand toldhim he could not leave the premises until the afternoon of January 18.Zheng,who provided legal assistance to victims of forced evictions andhousingactivists in Shanghai, was imprisoned for three years for “leakingstatesecrets” in 2003. He has been unable to practice law following hisreleasebecause Chinese law bans individuals convicted of any crime from actingaslawyers. However, Zheng continues to provide legal consultation tovictims ofproperty rights abuses, which has earned him the ire of localofficials. (CHRD)[i]BeijingPolice Continue Harassment of House Church Activist Chen TianshiForthe second consecutive day, police arrived atthe office of Beijing house church activist and former 1989 studentleader ChenTianshi (陈天石)on January 22 to question him. As was the case on January 21, theofficersrefused to produce any documents authorizing their actions and wouldnot givethe reason for their presence at the Beijing school where Chen isemployed.After Chen voiced his objection to their intrusion on his work and lifewithouta legitimate cause, officers asked him a few basic questions about hisfamilyand job and left after approximately one hour. (CHRD)[ii]Tortureor Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading TreatmentIllegally-DetainedElderly Petitioner Released from RTL Camp on Bail for Medical TreatmentCHRDhas learned that Liu Shuoxiang (刘硕祥),a 70 year-old petitioner, was granted a release on bail from aRe-educationthrough Labor (RTL) Camp for medical treatment on January 11. Liu, whosuffersfrom high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, had been detainedin Hebei'sNumber One RTL camp since September 23, 2009, in violation of RTLRegulations. Accordingto Article 11 of the 2002 "Guidelines for the Handling of Re-educationthrough Labor Cases by Public Security Organs", no individual who isoverthe age of 60 or seriously ill may be sent to an RTL camp. Liu, ofLiuguangtunVillage, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, has petitioned on numerousoccasionsabout the complicity of local officials in illegal logging of villagetrees. Hiswife, Liu Fengqin (刘凤芹),diedin an RTL camp after she was sent there in August 2009. (CHRD)[iii]Editors:David Smalls and Lin SangNewsupdates from CHRD: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/Index.htmlReiningin Civil Society: TheChinese government’s use oflaws and regulations to persecute freedom of association http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200908/20090810214902_16733.html CHRDYearbook 2007-2008: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200808/20080807093200_9888.html[i]"ZhengEnchong: Hu Jintao Visits Shanghai, I Cannot Leave Home to Visit theBathhouse(郑恩宠：胡锦涛到沪我出门洗澡被拒),"January 22, 2010, http://crd-net.org/Article/Class18/Class43/201001/20100122220445_19563.html[ii]"June4th Student Leader Chen Tianshi Continues to Be Harassed and ThreatenedbyPolice (六四学生领袖陈天石连续遭到警察威胁骚扰),"January 22, 2010, http://crd-net.org/Article/Class18/chentianshi/201001/20100122122013_19562.html,see also: "June 4th Student Leader Chen Tianshi Threatened and HarassedbyPolice (六四学生领袖陈天石遭受警察威胁骚扰),"January 21, 2010, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class18/chentianshi/201001/20100121180341_19543.html[iii]"70Year-old Hebei Petitioner Liu Shuoxiang Obtains Release on Bail forMedicalTreatment (河北70岁访民刘硕祥获保外就医),"January 21, 2010, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class53/201001/20100122105712_19561.html Source: CHRD