The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
New information:
According to the information received, Mr. Chen Guangcheng’s wife, Mrs. Yuan Weijing, who visited her husband at the Linyi Prison in Shandong Province in late December 2008, recently reported that Mr. Chen has been suffering from diarrhoea daily since July 2008. As she was seeing her husband for the first time in more than a year, Mrs. Yuan discovered that his skin had become sallow and he appeared emaciated and frail.
According to the prison doctor, who has examined Mr. Chen three times since the beginning of his illness in July 2008, Mr. Chen has blood in his stool and suffers from chronic gastroenteritis. However, the doctor has not performed bacterial cultures necessary to properly diagnose Mr. Chen, and prison officials refuse to allow further medical examination without provincial-level approval. In addition, Mr. Chen’s condition is being exacerbated by a lack of access to clean water inside the jail, and a diet restricted to thin rice gruel.
Mr. Chen, who is blind, is eligible both for parole and for release on bail for medical treatment, according to relevant Chinese laws and regulations. However, since submitting his applications for parole in September 2008 and for release on bail for medical treatment more than a year ago, he has received no official response.
Furthermore, Mr. Chen has been prevented from receiving regular visits from his wife, as a group of 20 local officials and guards keep her under constant surveillance at home, and have intercepted and restrained her as she tried to travel to the prison on numerous occasions.
The Observatory expresses its deep concern about his arbitrary detention, which seems to merely sanction their human rights activities and as such is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998. Accordingly, the Observatory urges the Chinese authorities to release him immediately.
The Observatory is also very much concerned by Mr. Chen Guangcheng’s health condition and calls on the Chinese authorities to allow him the medical examination and treatment he requires.
The Observatory further 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, the PRC submitted a document to the UN Secretariat 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.
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.
On May 14, 2008, the Beijing Municipal Chaoyang District People’s Court upheld an administrative ban issued by the Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection in August 2007 against Mrs. Yuan Weijing, following a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Yaun to challenge the August 2007 decision. The Court held the hearing behind closed doors, on grounds that the case involved State secrets, including Mrs. Yuan’s status as a criminal suspect, and the invalidation of her passport[3]. Mrs. Yuan was unable to attend as she was forcibly kept at her home by the local authorities. This ban will prevent her from leaving the country to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award on her husband’s behalf in the Philippines.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China, urging them to:
i.Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Chen Guangcheng and of all his relatives;
ii.Ensure that he has access to adequate medical treatment;
iii.Release him immediately and unconditionally since his detention is arbitrary;
iv.Cancel the above-mentioned administrative ban against Ms. Yuan Weijing as it is contrary to internationally recognised human rights standards;
v.Put an end to any acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Mr. Chen Guangcheng, his relatives and, more generally, against all human rights defenders in the People’s Republic of China;
vi.Conform with the provisions of 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 states that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation 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 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 present Declaration";
vii.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;
·Mr. Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Guojia Zongli, The State Council General Office, 2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu, Beijingshi 100017, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
·Mr. Wu Aiying, Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345, minister@legalinfo.gov.cn / pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.cn
·Mr. Yang Jiechi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn;
·Mr. Meng Jianzhu, Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang, Gong’anbu, 14 Dongchang’anjie, Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100741, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 63099216
·Ambassador Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, P.O. Box 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int;
·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.
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the People’s Republic of China in your respective country.
***
Geneva- Paris, January 15, 2009
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:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
[1] http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/china.pdf.
[2] See OP9 of the General Assembly resolution A/RES/60/251.
[3] Her passport was revoked in August 2007, when the ban was issued against her.