The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the People’s Republic of China.
New information:
According to the information received, on June 16, 2007, some guards of the Liyni City Prison (Shandong Province) obliged six prisoners to beat Mr. Chen Guangcheng after he refused to have his head shaved. When his wife visited him on June 19, 2007, he told her that he had pains in his ribs and that he feared to have a broken rib. His wife, Ms. Yuan Weijing, protested to the guards about the mistreatment and demanded that the prison immediately arrange for Mr. Chen to be sent to a hospital for a check-up, including an x-ray of his ribs, which the authorities refused.
Mr. Chen said he was punished for "being disobedient" due to his insistence on filing an appeal to the provincial higher court for a review of the verdict in his case. Since Mr. Chen has been blind since infancy, he requires the assistance of his lawyer or his wife to write down what he would dictate, but his lawyers and his wife have been denied the right to visit him longer than the normal half-an-hour long, which has made it impossible to prepare an appeal for Mr. Chen.
Indeed, the Observatory recalls that Mr. Chen Guangcheng remains detained since March 11, 2006, and that he was sentenced to four years’ and three months’ imprisonment for "organising a mob to disrupt traffic" on August 24, 2006 (See background information).
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about Mr. Chen’s arbitrary detention, these acts of ill-treatment as well as the systematic denial of the prison guards to allow Mr. Chen to seek for legal assistance and fears these actions only aim at depriving him from having his case reviewed.
Furthermore, the Observatory wishes to recall that the National People’s Congress amended the Chinese Constitution in 2004 to include that "the State respects and safeguards human rights" and that in April 2006, China submitted a document to the UN in order to support its candidacy to the Human Rights Council’s first election [1], in which it affirmed that the amendment to the Constitution was aiming at "defining the position of human rights in the overall national development strategy". The Observatory further wishes to point out that, as a member of the Human Rights Council, China "shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights" [2].
Background information:
On March 11, 2006, Mr. Chen Guangcheng was arrested with other militants by local police officers for "disturbing traffic". It is only on June 11, 2006 that his wife was informed by the Yinan PSB that her husband was charged with "deliberate destruction of property" and "organising a mob to disrupt traffic".
Before he was arrested, Mr. Chen had been campaigning against the Linyi city authorities’ recurrent use of violence for the implementation of the Government birth quotas. Starting in April 2005, Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, began to investigate villagers’ claims that Linyi City authorities were employing extensive violence, and to put together briefs for lawsuits against officials involved. Their work represented one of the first-known domestic effort to challenge the use of violence in the enforcement of China’s population policy.
On June 19, 2006, the authorities banned a press conference in Beijing that called on the international community to denounce Mr. Chen’s situation. The organisers of the conference were interrogated and put under surveillance. Mr. Chen’s family was also subjected to repeated acts of harassment.
The first hearing in his case, scheduled for July 20, 2006, was finally postponed until August 18, 2006 by the Linnan County People’s Court in Shandong Province.
On August 24, 2006, Mr. Guangcheng was sentenced to four years’ and three months’ imprisonment, without his lawyers being allowed inside the hearing room. His trial only lasted two hours.
On October 31, 2006, the Court of Appeal ordered the review of Mr. Chen’s case.
On November 27, 2006, the new proceedings against Mr. Chen took place before the People’s Court of Yinan Canton and lasted ten hours. His lawyers, his wife and his mother were allowed to attend the hearing.
On December 1, 2006, the Court sentenced Mr. Chen to four years and three months in prison for "intentionally disrupting traffic" and "inciting material destruction".
On December 8, 2006, Mr. Chen’s lawyer appealed the decision to the Intermediary Court of Linyi City.
Actions required:
Please write to the Chinese authorities urging them to:
i.Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Chen Guangcheng;
ii.Release him immediately and unconditionally since his detention is arbitrary;
iii.Conduct a fair, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment above-mentioned, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply to them the civil, penal and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
iv.Guarantee that adequate reparation is provided to him, as a victim of abuses;
v.Put an end to any kind of act of harassment and threats against Mr. Chen as well as against all human rights defenders in the country;
vi.Conform with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its article 1, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", its article 9, which states that "[...] everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to benefit from an effective remedy and to be protected in the event of the violation of those rights" and its article 12.2, which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the i.competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [...] Declaration";
ii.Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People’s Republic of China.
Addresses:
President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, USA, Fax: +01 202 588-0032
Ambassador Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, Case postale 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Genève, Suisse, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int
Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Wu Aiying Buzhang, Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Yang Jiechi Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Avenue de Tervuren, 463 1160 Auderghem, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 663 30 10 / + 32 2 663 30 17 / +32 2 771 14 97 / +32 2 779 43 33; Fax: +32 2 762 99 66 / +32 2 779 28 95; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn
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Paris - Geneva, June 22, 2007.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH: 33 1 43 55 55 05 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29.