China Human Rights Briefing September 21-28, 2011

Highlights

    *Case Against Guangxi Lawyer Sent to Procuratorate: The “obstructing testimony”case against Yang Zaixin (杨在新), a lawyer from BeihaiCity, Guangxi Province, has been transferred to a local procuratorate. Yang isone of four lawyers—but the only one formally arrested—who had been detained inJune for defending individuals in a beating death case.

    *Hebei Activist Reveals Abuses After RTL Release: On September 22, rightsactivist Xu Yishun (徐义顺), of Baoding City, Hebei Province, wasreleased after an 18-month Re-education through Labor (RTL) punishment, and hasdiscussed abuses and overall mistreatment he suffered in detention.

Contents

Arbitrary Detention

    *Case Against Guangxi Lawyer Transferred to Procuratorate

    *Hebei Activist Released From RTL, Reveals Abuses & Mistreatment

    *Chongqing Authorities Issue 2-Year RTL Punishment to Petitioner

    *Guangdong Independent NPC Candidate Criminally Detained for “UnderminingElection”

    *Members of Guizhou Human Rights Forum Released After Three Weeks of Detention

    *Jiangsu Authorities Detain Petitioners in Black Jail for Petitioning Outside UNOffice

    *Authorities Detain Petitioner in Black Jail in Beijing

Harassment of Activists

    *Activists Assaulted, Temporarily Go Missing After Trying to Meet ChenGuangcheng

    *Shanghai Police Search Activists’ Home, Confiscate Feng Zhenghu’s Writings

Local NPC Election Watch

    *Beijing Authorities Disrupt Candidate’s Event

    *Heilongjiang Authorities Issue Tough Demands for Candidate Recommenders

Arbitrary Detention

Case Against Guangxi Lawyer Transferred to Procuratorate

CHRD learned on September 22 that the Haicheng Districtbranch of the Beihai Public Security Bureau has transferred the case of“obstructing testimony” against lawyer Yang Zaixin (杨 在新), from Beihai City, GuangxiProvince, to the Haicheng District People’s Procuratorate. On that day, Yang’slawyer, Zhang Kai (张 凯),received the written recommendation for prosecution, and also visited Yang inthe Beihai City Detention Center. Zhang indicated that Yang’s spirit is strong.

Yang is among a group of four lawyers detained in June inconnection with their defense of individuals in a beating death case in Beihai.On June 29, Yang was formally arrested while the three others were released onbail a day earlier. More than 20 lawyers from across the country had cometogether to work in support of the lawyers. (CHRD)[i]

Hebei Activist Released From RTL, Reveals Abuses &Mistreatment

On September 22, human rights activist Xu Yishun (徐义顺),of Baoding City, Hebei Province, returned home after completing an 18-monthRe-education through Labor (RTL) punishment at the Gaoyang RTL, and has spokenof abuses he suffered in detention. Xu has indicated he was violently beaten byprison guards and was singled out for mistreatment, and that his right arm andright ear were seriously injured. He also went on two hunger strikes to protestthe conditions in RTL. In addition, Xu has said that RTL authoritiesconfiscated his belongings, including clothing and other daily items as well asdiaries he had kept; he had actually gone home last week with virtually nomoney and shirtless, wearing only his underpants. Once his health recovers, Xuhas said he will file a lawsuit over the abuses he endured and the lostpersonal property.

A former reporter for Public Opinion (民 意) magazine, Xu was sentto RTL for “fraud” in April 2010 after he tried to visit Yuan Weijing (袁伟静),the wife of Shandong “barefoot” lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚).After being initially detained, Xu was beaten by fellow detainees andhospitalized after suffering a heart attack, which was apparently brought on bythe abuse. On August 25, 2010, the RTL facility granted him five days of leavebut did not require him to return. RTL officials again seized Xu on January 6of this year, however, and sent him back to the facility, likely because he hadcontinued to take part in public human rights activities during his release.(CHRD)[ii]

Chongqing Authorities Issue 2-Year RTL Punishment toPetitioner

CHRD learned on September 24 that Bai Zhongmei (白中美), a petitioner fromChongqing Municipality, has been issued a two-year Re-education through Labor(RTL) punishment after being seized in Beijing in late June. On June 30, morethan 20 Chongqing national security personnel and Beijing public securityofficers abducted Bai from lodging she had been renting in the capital. Bai isserving her punishment in the Chongqing Women’s No. 2 RTL, but reportedly noRTL notice has been issued. Bai has been petitioning since her residence wasdemolished and also on behalf of her parents, who both eventually passed awayafter pursuing a grievance over wages they had not been paid. Bai has sufferedgreat emotional stress as well as physical beatings as the local government hastried to prevent her from petitioning. (CHRD)[iii]

Guangdong Independent NPC Candidate Criminally Detained for“Undermining Election”

On September 21, police in Shunde District, Foshan City,Guangdong Province criminally detained Li Biyun (李碧云), a petitioner and independentcandidate for the local People’s Congress, on suspicion of “underminingelections.” Li, who is being held at the Shunde District Detention Center, becameeligible to run in the Ronggui electoral district in mid-September. She soonafter questioned the local election committee why it had not publicized theelection. Li subsequently had her electoral qualifications stripped, and sheattempted to file suit against the committee on September 19, but the ShundeDistrict People’s Court refused to consider her case. Li then appealed to otherlocal authorities when she learned primary candidates were going to be selectedby a so-called “resident representatives committee” instead of by registeredvoters.

Li chose to run in the election to represent the interestsof fellow Rongli Village residents after enduring abuses for her petitioning.In January 2009, Li and three others petitioned the Guangdong Public SecurityDepartment over the local government’s expropriation of their village land. Liwas beaten and had her neck grabbed and her breathing obstructed. When she bither abuser in self-defense, police took her into custody for “obstructingofficial business.” (CHRD)[iv]

Members of Guizhou Human Rights Forum Released After ThreeWeeks of Detention

On September 25, several members of the Guizhou Human RightsForum, including Chen Xi (陈西), Liao Shuangyuan (廖双元), Wu Yuqin (吴玉琴), Lü Yongxiang (卢勇祥), Li Renke (李任科), Huang Yanming (黄燕明), Mo Jiangang (莫建刚),and Tian Zuxiang (田祖湘),were released after three weeks of detention. Beginning on September 2, GuiyangCity authorities forced them to leave their homes and held them in varioushostels to ensure that the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities,which occurred in Guizhou between September 10 and 18, would take placesmoothly. They were cut off from the outside world, as they were not allowed touse phones or the Internet. Two other members of the Guizhou Human Rights Forumalso faced restrictions on their movement: Zhu Zhengyuan (朱正园) was forced to stay in hisresidential compound for the duration of the Games and had to report to thepolice everyday, and Du Heping (杜和平)was also forced to leave his home, but was sent home after a few days due tohealth reasons. (CHRD)[v]

Jiangsu Authorities Detain Petitioners in Black Jail forPetitioning Outside UN Office

Authorities in Jiangsu Province have detained in a blackjail, among others, rights activist and petitioner Hua Huiqing (华惠清), from Xishan District, WuxiCity, after they were accused of “complaining to foreigners” on September 18around the Jianguomenwai area, where foreign embassies are located. Out ofcontact since that day, Hua had arrived in Beijing on September 14 to petitionand, four days later, she and other petitioners encountered Wuxi interceptorscollecting grievance materials across from the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme office building. Thinking their local representatives wished to helpthem, Hua was among those who were duped into handing over materials. But theinterceptors instead roughed up Hua and others and took them back to Wuxi. OnSeptember 20, Hua’s husband and a local resident went to the Xishan DistrictLetters and Visits Bureau to inquire about Hua. The bureau chief said that Huahad been sent to a “legal education class”—a euphemism for detention in a blackjail—for her alleged actions around the diplomatic area. (HRCC)[vi]

Authorities Detain Petitioner in Black Jail in Beijing

Since September 23, authorities have detained Zhu Yongjian (朱永健), a petitioner fromXukou Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, after taking himinto custody in Beijing. Zhu was able to contact CHRD the next day. Heindicated that, as he was preparing to petition at the Supreme People’sProcuratorate Letters and Visits Reception Office, he had been seized and heldby officers from the Tiananmen branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau.The officers handed him over to local interceptors, who detained him at theXingang Kuaijie Hotel in Beijing. Before falling out of contact, Zhu told CHRDthat interceptors were preparing to forcibly take him out of Beijing.

Zhu has been petitioning over a decision made by a Suzhoucourt. His efforts have resulted in his expulsion from the Communist Party andpersecution in psychiatric hospitals and RTL facilities, which in turnreportedly led to his suffering from epilepsy and other illnesses. (CHRD)[vii]

Harassment of Activists

Activists Assaulted, Temporarily Go Missing After Trying toMeet Chen Guangcheng

In the afternoon of September 21, more than 30 hired thugsattacked four activists attempting to see “barefoot” lawyer and activist ChenGuangcheng (陈光诚), who is under house arrest in Dongshigu Village, Linyi City,Shandong Province. Traveling in two separate cars and accompanied by an Israelijournalist, those attacked outside the village were Liu Shasha (刘沙沙), Huang Bin (黄宾), Wang Xuezhen (王雪臻),and Huang Huang (晃晃),who temporarily went missing. The foreign journalist, whose passport and otheritems were taken, was separated from the group, forced into a vehicle, anddriven back to Linyi before being taken back to Beijing. On September 19, Liuhad also been abducted, attacked, robbed, and expelled to Dayou Village byauthorities after trying to visit Chen. (CHRD)[viii]

Shanghai Police Search Activists’ Home, Confiscate FengZhenghu’s Writings

On the morning of September 27, more than 10 nationalsecurity officers from the Yangpu District in Shanghai Municipality searchedthe home of petitioner-activists Chen Qiyong (陈启勇) and Li Huifang (李惠芳), his wife, andsummoned them for questioning. Early that afternoon, Chen indicated to CHRDthat he was being interrogated at the Yinhang Police Station, allegedly onsuspicion of “disrupting public order.” During the home search, police confiscated writings by rights activistFeng Zhenghu (冯正虎)—Supervisory Bulletin(督察简报) and a collection of cases of injustice in Shanghai’scourts—that the couple had allegedly copied themselves for distribution inShanghai. Feng’s work includes details on Chen and Li’s forced home eviction,damage to their property, and their experience of Re-education through Laborthat they have endured due to their petitioning and activism. (CHRD)[ix]

Local NPC Election Watch

Beijing Authorities Disrupt Candidate’s Event

On September 21, police in Beijing disrupted an electionevent being held at the neighborhood of Wang Xiuzhen (王秀珍), an independent People’sCongress candidate from the Xinyuan South Road area in Chaoyang District. Thatmorning, Wang was to host a publicity event when more than 10 plainclothespolice— reportedly with the Chaoyang branch of the Beijing Public SecurityBureau (PSB)—along with security guards and women from the neighborhoodcommittee blocked off the entrance to the area so participants could not enterthe neighborhood. Policemen on the scene forbade fellow independent candidatesand friends of Wang from entering the area and ordered them to disperse. WangXiuzhen was held by police in the neighborhood and later released. (CHRD)[x]

Heilongjiang Authorities Issue Tough Demands for CandidateRecommenders

On September 25, election authorities in Acheng District,Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province sent independent candidate Zhang Guolong (张国龙)a notice listing out additional demands for his electoral recommenders, makingit significantly harder for Zhang to have his recommenders be officiallyeligible. The local election office’s notice required that, at 1 p.m. the nextday, exactly 10 recommenders present their residence and ID cards and, ifemployed, work permits to the neighborhood committee office, where they wouldalso need to sign off again on their recommendation. Zhang has voiced hisprotest over the demands but to no avail, and he has been unsuccessful incontacting relevant authorities to discuss the issue. (CHRD)[xi]

Editors of this issue: Victor Clemens and Songlian Wang

Follow us on Twitter: @CHRDnet

Join us on Facebook: CHRDnet (NEW!)

News updates from CHRD

[i] “Guangxi Four Lawyers’ Case: Yang Zaixin’s ObstructingTestimony Case Transferred to Procuratorate” (广西四律师 案：杨在新伪证案移送检察院), September 22, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_6566.html; “Case of Four GuangxiLawyers: One Arrest Approved, Three Lawyers Released,” (广西四律师案：一人被批捕，三人已释 放), June 29, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post_29.html; “Beihai, Guangxi RightsDefense Lawyer Yang Zaixin Criminally Detained,” (广西北海维权律师杨在新被刑拘),June 14, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post_9513.html

[ii] “Hebei Rights Activist Xu Yishun Completes Punishment,Released” (河 北维权人士徐义顺刑满出狱), September 22, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_22.html; “Hebei Rights ActivistXu Yishun Taken Away by RTL Police” (河北维权人士徐义顺被劳教所干警带走),January 13, 2011, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2011/01/201101131153.shtml

[iii] “Chongqing Petitioner Bai Zhongmei Again Sent Secretlyto RTL After Abduction in Beijing” (重庆访民白中美在京被绑架后又遭秘密劳教), September 24, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_1269.html; “No Further News AfterChongqing Petitioner Bai Zhongmei Seized” (重庆访民白中美被抓 后失去音信), July 14, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_9710.html  

[iv] “Independent Candidate Li Biyun Criminally Detained for‘Undermining Election’” (独 立参选人李碧云被以“破 坏选举罪”刑 拘), September 26, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_1995.html

[v] “Chen Xi and Many Others Released after Being Taken Awayand Put under Soft Detention for 24 Days” (陈西等多人被强制带走软禁24天后获自由),September 25, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/24.html

[vi] “Wuxi Rights Defender Hua Huiqing Suspected to BeenSent to Black Jail” (无锡维权人士华惠清疑被投入黑监狱), September 23, 2011,http://rightscampaign.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_2170.html

[vii] “Jiangsu Petitioner Zhu Yongjian Intercepted inBeijing, No Further News” (江 苏访民朱永健在京遭截访后失去音信), September 25,2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_5836.html

[viii] “Liu Shasha and Others Attacked by More Than 30 ThugsOutside Dongshigu Village, Currently Missing” (刘沙沙等人在东师古村外再遭30多暴徒袭击，目前已失踪),September 21, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/30.html

[ix] “Shanghai Activists Chen Qiyong, Li Huifang Have HomeSearched, Summoned” (上海维权人士陈启勇、李惠芳被抄 家传唤), September 26, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_8505.html?spref=tw;“Shanghai Rights Defenders Chen Qiyong, Li Huifang Taken Away by NationalSecurity Officers” (上海维权人士陈启勇、李惠芳被国 保带走),September 27, 2011,http://rightscampaign.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_2909.html

[x] “He Depu: Record of Citizen Campaign Event for WangXiuzhen” (何德普：为公民参选 人王秀珍助选活动纪实), September 21, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_8506.html; “Police Again SuppressAnnouncement Event for Wang Xiuzhen, NPC Candidate in Beijing” (北京人大选举参选人王秀珍宣传活 动再次被警方打压), September 21, 2011,http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_21.html   

[xi] “Harbin NPC Candidate Zhang Guolong Faces MostDemanding Recommendation Methods” (哈尔滨人大 代表参选人张国龙遭遇最苛刻的推荐方式), September25, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_2456.html