Citizens' Square

On November 9, 2011, 150 Shanghainese petitioners gathered to celebrate Chen Guangcheng’s in a banquet at Xinxianghui Restaurant after petitioning to the municipal government. A list of attendees is included.

This open letter (CH) from Lu Qing (路青), the wife of Ai Weiwei (艾未未), to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (NPC) urges that the NPC not adopt the Draft Amendment without dropping several exceptional provisions that would allow the authorities to execute residential surveillance on, detain, and arrest individuals without informing their family members. Lu states that the Draft Amendment should confine the police's arbitrary power, so that citizens can be protected by law when they face public power and that their rights enshrined in the constitution can be realized.

[Feng Zhenghu] In this article (CH), the Shanghai-based rights activist and law educator Feng Zhenghu (冯正虎) explains the importance of a citizen’s right to file a legal case and the urgency of the fight for this right. In early 2011, Feng complied and published “I Want to File a Complaint: A Collection of Judicial Inactions in Shanghai,” a four-volume collection of 430 cases filed by 190 complainants that were ignored by the courts. He states that some Shanghai residents are beginning to recognize the important function of the law in protecting their rights and are pursuing legal action instead of petitioning the government.

[Wang Lihong] On September 9, 2011, Beijing rights activist Wang Lihong was sentenced to 9 months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” On April 16, 2010, Wang organized a protest for the Three Netizens on trial after they exposed a police cover-up of a rape and murder. The government alleged that the protest resulted in disorder inside the courtroom and traffic confusion in the area.

[Lü Gengsong] Zhejiang rights defender Lu Gengsong was arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” on August 24, 2007 for publishing articles critical of the government. The court convicted and sentenced him to four years in prison and one year of deprivation of political rights. Lu appealed. On April 7, 2008, the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People’s Court upheld the trial verdict. The original Chinese ruling is linked below.

[Wang Lihong] Beijing rights activist Wang Lihong (王荔蕻) was charged with “picking quarrels and proving troubles” after she organized netizens to go to the Mawei District People’s Court in Fujian to observe three netizens’ trial on April 16, 2010. Wang was tried on August 12, 2011, and her lawyers Liu Xiaoyuan and Han Yichun pleaded not guilty on her behalf. See Chinese original linked below.

[Luo Yongquan] Domestic security officers ordered Luo, a dissident, not to leave the city of Nanxiong, Guangdong, and forced him to return a train ticket he had already purchased for a trip to Zhuhai in order to find work.

Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤) was released one month before completing her 18-month Reeducation-Through-Labor order due to her deteriorating health. She had been in a prison hospital in Shanghai since February 24, 2011, when she was taken into custody, just two days after having been released on medical parole. For more information, see "Petitioner Mao Hengfeng Released from Reeducation-Through-Labor in Serious Condition".

[Zhu Yufu] On March 5, 2011, Zhu Yufu was detained on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power; his home was also searched and his possessions confiscated. Zhu was formally arrested on April 11, 2011, and is being held at the Shengcheng District Detention Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. His wife, Jiang Hangli, submitted this application for his medical parole because of Zhu’s illness. Zhu is a founder of the Zhejiang Provincial Preparatory Committee for the China Democratic Party; he has been twice imprisoned previously, one of which was force nine years.

[Feng Zhenghu] The noted Shanghai-based rights defender had his home searched again and was summoned by the police for interrogation on suspicion of “deliberately disturbing the social order by other means.” The police took away a computer, the 11th of Feng’s computers confiscated in police searches.

On June 3, the Nanhai District People’s Court in Guandong held another hearing of the case brought by farmers of Sanshan Island in Nanhai against their local government for its failure to make public land agreements from 1992. At the hearing, Tian Li, a legal aid volunteer for the Chinese Citizens Rights Defense Alliance serving as the farmers’ legal representative, requested again that the defendants make public the agreements signed by the former Nanhai County Bureau of Land and Resources and several township and village leaders.