Wang Xifeng, wife of Qin Yongmin, refused to go with the police who came to the couple’s home to take her away for questioning. The couple had their marriage ceremony in May, but the authorities have refused to issue them a marriage certificate.
Wuhan dissident Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) and Wang Xifeng (王喜凤) were married in May 2012. However, authorities have persisted in refusing to issue a marriage certificate to the couple. In this article (Chinese only), Qin and Wang explain how they have had to terminate their pregnancy in order to avoid being accused of violating official family planning policy.
On August 3, 2012, Henan rural rights activist Hong Maoxian (洪茂先) was released from prison after serving a one-year sentence on conviction of “obstructing official business” and “destroying public property.” Hong’s prosecution arose following a clash between police and villagers in Fushan Township, Shangcheng County, Henan Province in early January 2002. The local authorities opened investigation into the incident in 2011 after Hong began making plans to run as an independent candidate in the local people’s congress election. Hong was originally sentenced to three years in prison, and the sentence was reduced to one year on appeal. He is a veteran of the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979).
The 16 members of the Defenders of Lin Zhao’s Legacy have been announced as the recipients of the Fifth annual Promoting Progress in China Award from the Australia-based Qi’s Cultural Foundation. In their nomination for the Defenders of Lin Zhao’s Legacy, Hu Jie (胡杰), Ai Xiaoming (艾晓明), and Ai Weiwei (艾未未) write, “The Defenders of Lin Zhao’s Legacy have meticulously worked to preserve the legacy and spirit of Lin Zhao and her life over the past 30 years through thick and thin, allowing a strong voice criticizing China's authoritarian regime to be able to passed on to the people....”
Authorities in Leiyang, Hunan Province demanded that Liang Konglian (梁孔莲), a young woman from Guangxi who had given birth to a boy in May 2012, receive a tubal litigation in July 2012. On July 26, 2012, Liang had the procedure performed at the Liyang family planning service center. Liang fell ill following the surgery, and five days later she died at the family planning center. Police refused access to the center, and did not allow Liang's family into the ward to view her body.
[Black Jails]Four Shanghainese petitioners were intercepted by authorities on July 20, 2012 as they attempted to go to Beidaihe District, Hebei Province for a weekend trip. The four were detained and forcibly returned to Shanghai. Li Yufang (李玉芳) writes of two of the petitioners' experiences upon returning—she was locked in a black jail, and Wang Kouma (王扣玛) was questioned by the police, became ill and had to be rushed to the hospital, and as of July 31, 2012 was under 24-hour surveillance in his home.
This short article (Chinese only) describes Shanghai petitioner Wang Kouma’s determination to continue to fight his case despite being categorized as one of the five types of people accused by a Chinese expert of being used by the United States to interfere with China’s rise. The five types of people were listed in the July 31, 2012 People’s Daily article “What Are Real Challenges for China?” by Yuan Peng, head of the American Institute of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
Ye Jinghuan (野靖环), a representative from a group of independent candidates for the local people's congress, writes in this essay (Chinese only) of how she, the independent candidates, and a group of villagers went to the Guangqumen Bridge area of Beijing to mourn the victims of the July 21, 2012 flood. Why, the mourners asked, does the government always undertake rescue efforts rather than disaster prevention measures in the first place? "This is because rescue work garners attention and acclaim, while disaster prevention does not," responds Ye.
Following the release of an investigation report by Hunan provincial authorities which confirmed activist Li Wangyang’s (李旺阳) death as suicide, ten lawyers from mainland China and Hong Kong sent an open letter to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (Chinese only). The lawyers stated in the letter that there were five major questions concerning the death scene inspection and autopsy and held that the police’s handling of Li’s death seriously violated the law. The lawyers urge that the Standing Committee lift the unlawful house arrest of Li’s family, friends, and supporters, and instruct the Ministry of Public Security to set up a joint investigative team to conduct an independent and professional investigation of Li’s death, as well as to make the findings of that investigation public.
Beijing-based disabled rights defender Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) was twice imprisoned for fighting against forced eviction. In April 2012, both she and her husband, Dong Jiqin (董继勤), were convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Ni was also convicted of “fraud” and was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 yuan ($159). Her husband was sentenced to two years in prison. The couple appealed but the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court has, to date, not issued a ruling.
[Shang Zhaoshu] Shang, a paraplegic since childhood as a result of a reaction to a vaccine, is a petitioner in Hegang City of Heilongjiang Province. Because of his petitioning activities, he was made to spend a year in Reeducation-Through-Labor and another year in detention. In June 2012, while petitioning, he was detained and sent to a psychiatric hospital. A sympathetic person from the hospital sent out a message that Shang recently went on hunger strike in protest and is “close to death.” This person appeals for public attention.
[Protest] More than 200 petitioners staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Supervision in Beijing. This account points out that the protest focused not on the individual cases of the petitioners, but on systemic issues including corruption and human rights abuses.
Liu Fanbi (刘凡必), a victim of financial fraud, was sentenced to five years on a trumped-up charge after he offended a procuratorate officer while trying to retrieve his losses that the authorities had confiscated from the criminals. Liu began petitioning to authorities at different government levels after his release. In March 2010, the local procuratorate office issued a written promise that it would return the money to Liu within one month. It has not done so to date. In this account (Chinese only), Liu equates his fate to that of an ant.
Xiao Guozhen, a Beijing lawyer, was summoned for a police interrogation, which she thought might be because of her lead role in forming a group of attorneys to investigate the purported suicide of activist Li Wangyang. She issued an emergency notice stating that she might be taken away and announced that she would not commit suicide. In addition, her online article “Shifang! Shifang!” was removed from the site where it was posted. The article quoted Chinese law and pointed out that Shifang police using force to suppress the protesters "constitutes a crime committed by public authorities.” Xiao also called for a “5 Requirement Solution” to the clashes between the police and the protesters in Shifang.
[Remember June Fourth] On the 23rd anniversary of the crackdown of the 1989 Democracy Movement, four Shanghai petitioners publicly commemorated the June Fourth Tiananmen Massacre by holding placards on People’s Square in the center of Shanghai.
In accepting the 2012 Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literature in Warsaw, Poland, Liao Yiwu spoke exclusively about Li Bifeng. Li isa poet, a character in one of Liao’s books, and Liao’s former prison mate who was imprisoned twice following the 1989 June Fourth crackdown on the Democracy Movement. Li was arrested again shortly before Liao Yiwu left China in 2011, and is being accused of economic crimes and facing a prison sentence of 10 years or more.
In his poem (Chinese only), Guo Yongfeng, a Shenzhen-based rights defender—who considers himself a “new fighter for democracy”—expresses his admiration for a veteran who devoted his entire life to the cause of democracy in China as well has his anger towards the authorities which had brutally suppressed the democratic movement.
The Statement, drafted by Zhou Zhirong, a veteran democracy activist from Hunan, raises the question whether the police designation of Li Wangyong’s death as suicide is a cover up. The statement calls upon both the international community and civil society groups to form a committee to investigate the truth of Li’s death. About 17 people, including Li’s sister and brother-in-law and Guo Yongfeng signed on to the committee.
Liu Ping, one of the three independent candidates running for the local people’s congress of Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province, details the abuses and brutalities she and her two fellow candidates, Wei Zhongping and Li Sihua, have suffered since they began their campaigns. The brutalities include repeated house arrest, illegal detentions, and beatings. Their families have also been severely affected. When they tried to petition in Beijing, they were kidnapped and sent back to Xinyu. They were tortured, had their properties robbed, had blacks hood pulled over their heads, and were beaten with their arms tied behind their backs.
In this letter of complaint (Chinese only) to the government of Qingshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), a Wuhan-based dissident, and his fiancé, Wang Xifeng (王喜凤), recount how the public security bureaus in both Qingshan District and Hunyuan County, Shanxi Province, where Wang is from, put up obstacle after obstacle to prevent them from getting their marriage license. In the letter, they ask the authorities to remove procedural hindrances so that they can obtain the relevant documents required for a marriage license, and guarantee their freedom of movement.
On May 28, democracy activists in Guizhou Province held a rally to commemorate June Fourth in the bustling People’s Square, in Guiyang, the provincial capital. Lu reports in the write-up of the event (Chinese only) that it attracted several thousand spectators. Lu said that despite the difficult situation this year, the fact that the rally took place shows that “tyranny is unpopular, and democracy will replace authoritarian.”
Chongqing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court
2009-07-07
On May 15, 2012, Chongqing dissident and Chinese Pan-Blue Alliance leader Zhang Qi (张起) was released from Yuzhou Prison after having served a four-year sentence. Zhang was detained on May 16, 2008, formally arrested on June 20, 2009, and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” on July 7, 2009. His appeal was dismissed. He is subjected to two years of post-release deprivation of political rights.
On May 15, 2012, Chongqing dissident and Chinese Pan-Blue Alliance leader Zhang Qi (张起) was released from Yuzhou Prison after having served a four-year sentence. Zhang was detained on May 16, 2008, formally arrested on June 20, 2009, and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” on July 7, 2009. His appeal was dismissed. He is subjected to two years of post-release deprivation of political rights.
Sun Haixiang (孙海洋), a rights defender in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, writes of a recent ordeal of attempted abduction. Sun has been beaten many times by thugs for reporting illegal gambling. On May 3, 2012, Sun was then beaten harshly by bailiffs from the Shenhe District People's Court. On May 9, 2012, he went to the Huangcheng Substation of the Shenhe District Public Security Bureau and requested an examination by a medicolegal expert due to the injuries he sustained from the bailiffs. He was told to wait and went to stand outside the substation. After he exited, three unidentified men suddenly appeared and dragged him to a nearby parked car. Sun screamed for help and officers rushed out to bring him back into the substation. Sun attempted to file a complaint of abduction, but the substation refused, citing that the men had claimed that Sun had borrowed 30,000 yuan, despite having no evidence of the transaction.
