Skip to content Skip to navigation

Signature Campaign to Support Chen Pingfu and Oppose Criminalization of Speech

September 8, 2012

This open call (Chinese only) protests the prosecution of Chen Pingfu (陈平福) and calls for people to add their names in support for his case. Chen is a former teacher who was tried for "inciting subversion of state power" on September 4, 2012. The prosecution's charges were based on articles that Chen had posted online about his personal ordeals. The letter alludes to the persecution of speech in the Anti-rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution, and asks, "In the Internet Era and with the use of technology and newsmedia so prevalent in China, what image does China present to the world if posting or reposting articles can be suspected as a crime? It again opens an era of wide-spread political persecution!"