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.
New information:
According to the information received, on July 12, 2006, at 6:30 p.m., Mr. Zheng’s home was broken into by a dozen Public Security police from Shangai’s Zhabei District North Station dispatch station who summoned his wife, Mrs. Jiang Meili, to report to the police station on suspicion of “impeding the officials of state organs in the execution of their duties” under Section 82 of China’s Criminal Procedure Law. Sources state that police produced a written summons at the time.
Moreover, a search on Mr. Zheng’s home was carried out and a computer was taken away, along with an important number of other documents. Among the seized documents was a letter Mr. Zheng had written to President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. A search warrant was produced only after the search.
The same night at 10:00 p.m., about a dozen Public Security and State Security police came back to Mr. Zheng’s home. He was required by a summons to accompany the police officers to the police station on suspicion of “during a period of deprivation of political rights, impeding officials of state organs in the execution of their duties”.
Subsequently, Mrs. Jiang Meili has returned home while Mr. Zheng Enchong remains in custody.
The Observatory calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately release Mr. Zheng Enchong and to put en end to this harassment against him and his family.
Background information:
Mr. Zheng Enchong was arrested on June 6, 2003, and sentenced by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court in October 2003 to three years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year, on charges of “illegally providing State secrets to entities outside of China”. In particular, he had been accused of having sent two documents to Human Rights in China. The Shanghai Court of Appeal confirmed this verdict on December 18, 2003 (See Observatory 2004 and 2005 Annual Reports).
On January 13, 2004, Mr. Zheng was transferred from the Shanghai municipal detention centre to the Tilanquio prison, where he was detained in the “high security” compound and was regularly victim of physical violence.
On October 28, 2005, the Zhabei District Court in Shanghai prohibited Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving the country under the pretext of an “estate management dispute”, although she was to attend a ceremony in Germany on December 9, 2005 to receive a prize in the name of her husband from the German Association of Judges.
Subsequently, Mrs. Jiang was refused her usually monthly visit to Mr. Zheng in prison, and her every movement has been monitored. Finally, after many written requests, Mrs. Jiang’s prison visits were restored on April 21, 2006.
On May 16, 2006, the Shanghai home of Mr. Zheng Enchong was broken into by two unidentified men while Mrs. Jiang Meili was on her way to visit him in prison.
On June 5, 2006, officials at the Shanghai’s Tilanqiao Prison took Mr. Zheng Enchong from his cell. and brought him back home.
Since his release, Mr. Zheng Enchong has been under effective house arrest and constant surveillance by police that prevents him from virtually all activities, even those allowed under his sentence of deprivation of political rights.
Indeed, on June 27, 2006, Mr. Zheng requested the police officers on watch outside his home to be allowed to go to the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) office to apply for a new identification card. A police vehicle finally brought him to the police station, where he was told that the residency officer was not available to process his application.
Moreover, on the morning of June 28, 2006, Mr. Zheng and his wife, Mrs. Jiang Meili, attempted to go to the Shanghai Municipal Government offices to submit a complaint about interference in Mr. Zheng’s application, but they were stopped by four plain clothes police officers. Mr. Zheng was then told that the loss of his political rights, under the terms of his sentence, also denied him any freedom of movement. Mr. Zheng staged a one-hour sit-in front of the office in protest. In addition, he is still denied any access to court documents relating to his case, and prevented from traveling to Beijing to meet his lawyer.
Since Mr. Zheng’s release, the local Zhabei District Guoqing Lu PSB office has called him twice relating to interviews he made with news media outside of Shanghai. His home telephone line has been repeatedly cut off, and his neighbourhood is constantly surrounded by dozens of uniformed and plain-clothes police officers who bar entry to outsiders.
Actions required:
Please write to the Chinese authorities urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Zheng Enchong ;
ii. Put an end to any kind of harassment against Mr. Zheng Enchong and his family, and ensure that Mr. Zheng’s additional sentence of one year of deprivation of political rights does not extend to being denied freedom of movement;
iii. Give Mr. Zheng a new identification card immediately, and stop any further interference in his daily life;
iv. Release immediately and unconditionally all Chinese human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained for the sole reason of their human rights activities, and put an end to any kind of retaliation against them;
v. 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”, and article 12.2, which states 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”;
vi. 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, 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
Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Fusen 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, Li Zhaoxing Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of the People’s Republic of China in your respective countries.
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Geneva-Paris, July 17, 2006
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 et fax FIDH : + 33 1 43 55 55 05 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel et fax OMCT : +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29