Lawyers Appeal to Twitter CEO for Help

An Appeal Letter to Mr. Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter for Joint Effort to Rescue Twitter User Wang Yi

Dear Mr. Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter:

From a message retweeted by a Twitter friend on December 3, 2010, at 5:55:38 p.m., we learned that you expressed your concern over and support of Ms. Wang Yi (known as Cheng Jianping on her national ID card, hereinafter “Wang Yi”) who met with misfortune after posting on Twitter her satirical remarks on China’s “angry youth.” “Dear Chinese Government,” you tweeted, “year-long detentions for sending a sarcastic tweet are neither the way forward nor the future of your great people.”

As Wang Yi’s attorneys, we feel encouraged and gratified from the bottom of our hearts. We will, on our next visit with Ms. Wang Yi at the Henan Women’s Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) Center, convey your concern and stance toward her and this incident.

To facilitate your understanding of the whole incident, we are providing a brief introduction of the events as follows:

On October 17, 2010, an anti-Japanese march broke out in Mianyang, Sichuan Province. It was reported that some people disturbed public order during the anti-Japanese march by grabbing Japanese-made video cameras, still cameras, and cell phones from demonstrators’ hands and throwing and smashing them on the ground.

Expressing his dissatisfaction and sarcasm over lawless acts and criminal behavior of wanton destruction of others’ property, Mr. Hua Chunhui, fiancé of Ms. Wang Yi, posted on the Internet from his home in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, the following (original text): “As for anti-Japanese demonstrations and smashing Japanese products, that was done years ago by [anti-Japanese activist] Guo Quan and his like. It’s not a new trick. If you really want to make a scene, immediately fly to Shanghai and smashthe Japan Pavilion at the World Expo.”

Upon reading this, Ms. Wang Yi followed Mr. Hua Chunhui’s post and wrote from her home in Wuxi: “Angry youth, charge!” (The original [tweet] text did not include the three words “Hurry, go smash” – which were added into Reeducation-Through-Labor decision by the Xinxiang government.)

Based on this, the Reeducation-Through-Labor Committee of Xinxiang Municipal People’s Government,Henan Province, in its Decision on Reeducation-Through-Labor [2010] no. 186, issued on November 12, 2010, took a forcible administrative measure against Ms. Wang Yi (Ms. Cheng Jianping) in the form of one year of Reeducation-Through-Labor. Ms. Wang Yi was forced into the Henan Provincial Women’s Center for Reeducation-Through-Labor on November 16, 2010, and has been there since.

After Ms. Wang Yi (Cheng Jianping) was “found guilty for tweeting,” we, as her attorneys, have visited relevantgovernment departments in Henan Province numerous times to report the situation. We have also sent letters to persons in charge of the Henan Provincial People’s Government and Xinxiang Municipal People’s Government in the hope that she be determined not guilty and set free immediately. But there has been no response.

We went twice (on December 1 and December 20, 2010)to the Hongqi District People’s Court, which has jurisdiction over the case – as the Hongqi District is the location of the administrative organ in the Henan Province Xinxiang Municipal People’s Government that made this Reeducation-Through-Labor decision [namely, the Xinxiang Municipal Reeducation-Through-Labor Committee (新乡市劳动教养管理委员会)] –to file a legal case, requesting the defendant Xinxiang Municipal People’s Government of Henan Province to immediately withdraw the unlawful Reeducation-Through-Labor decision against Ms. Cheng Jianping. The Hongqi District People’s Court in Xinxiang City, however, refused to accept the case without giving any reason. We then had to file the case through mail. But there has been no response whatsoever.

During this time, we also filed complaints with government institutions, including the Xinxiang Municipal People’s Procuratorate, Xinxiang Municipal People’s Congress, and the Xinxiang Communist Party Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs, against Hongqi District People’s Court’s unlawful refusal to accept our case. Until now we have received no clear response.

There is no doubt that Ms. Wang Yi’s case sets a precedent as the first mainland Chinese Twitter user to be criminally punished by a local government in Henan for sending a normal tweet. This case has already received widespread attention in the international community and is being aggressively covered by the free press of the world.

This event will undoubtedly have anextremelynegative impact on Twitter in China. We believe that there is a clear-cut universal principle: One person’s loss of liberty signifies everyone’s loss of liberty. Once Wang Yi’s Reeducation-Through-Labor sentence for tweeting serves as a precedent for punishing Twitter users, the message it sends about tweeting is self-evident. This cannot but attract the attention and consideration of everyone, including Twitter and all Twitter users.

We feel that the Henan Province Xinxiang Municipal Government’s criminal punishment of Ms. Wang Yi because of her tweet satirizing China’s “angry youth” is not only a crude trampling of Ms. Wang Yi’s basic human rights, such as her lawful right to freespeech and expression, but also a violation ofthe relevant provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed. Further, it constitutes clear harassment of you and an infringement on the lawful business activities in which Twitter, the company you created, engages. For this reason, we call on you and your company to initiate legal proceedings as soon as possible to protect your lawful interests, and take practical action to protect your loyal customers’, that is, Twitter users’, lawful and legitimate rights and interests. We believe that you, together with the concerned party Wang Yi, will prevail over this very difficult period.

We have no doubt of Twitter’s international influence. Many countries’ leaders, including U.S. President Obama, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, and Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, all have Twitter accounts. For this reason, in the Wang Yi “punished for tweeting” incident, we urge you and Twitter to use this global influence to play a unique, constructive role to help those whose human rights were violated and actively press for the unconditional release of Wang Yi and work toward a satisfactory resolution of the case. We are willing to work with Twitter in the realization of justice and a satisfactory outcome in this case.

Because we have no means of contacting you directly, and in light of other considerations, we have chosen to issue this letter on Human Rights in China’s website. Thank you for your understanding.

Respectfully,

Your loyal customers and Twitter users,

Teng Biao, Professor
China Politics and Law University
@tengbiao

Lan Zhixue, Lawyer
Beijing Jiafa Law Firm
@lanzhixue

January 8, 2011, Beijing


Attachment:
Message related to your tweet

@yokel007: Upon learning that Cheng Jianping received a one-year sentence of Reeducation-Through-Labor due to her post “Angry youth, charge!”, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo tweeted his support for this Chinese woman. Costolo wrote: “Dear Chinese Government, year-long detentions for sending a sarcastic tweet are neither the way forward nor the future of your great people.”
Posted by leo5029 17:55:38 Dec 3rd, 2010 via 敏感词

行政起诉书

原告人：

程建萍 女 汉族 1964年5月15日出生 居民身份证号：410728196405157566 身份证地址：河南省长垣县蒲东区东关街北辛庄 经常居住地：无锡市南长区薛家弄48号302号室，自由撰稿人

原告委托代理人：
腾彪 中国政法大学教师 电话：18601278870

原告委托代理人：
兰志学律师 北京市佳法律师事务所 电话：13001251152 地址：北京市丰台区东铁营横六条十九号 邮编：100078

被告人：
新乡市人民政府劳动教养委员会 法定代表人：孟钢 职务：主任
地址：新乡市新飞大道66号
邮编：453000

原告程建萍因不服河南省新乡市人民政府劳动教养管理委员会作出的认定事实错误、适用法律错误的新劳决字[2010]第186号劳动教养决定，特向你院提起行政诉讼

诉讼请求：

1, 依法撤销河南省新乡市人民政府劳动教养委员会新劳决字[2010]第186号劳动教养决定，立即解除其具体行政违法行为并释放原告人程建萍女士

2, 承担本案诉讼费用

事实与理由：

一、本案的基本事实经过：

2010-10-17日，四川绵阳市发生反日游行。相关报道称：在反日游行队伍中有人公然扰乱公共秩序，把路人手里的日产摄像机、照相机、手机夺过去摔砸。

基于对这些所谓“愤青们”的无法无天的举动和任意毁坏他人财物的违法行为的不满和讽刺，华春辉先生（本案原告人程建萍女士的未婚夫）在江苏省无锡市自己家中通过网络发贴如下（原文）：“反日游行、砸日系产品这类事，多年前郭泉他们就干过，没啥新花样。其实最给力的是立即飞到上海，砸了世博园的日本馆”。

程建萍女士看到此贴后，也在无锡家中跟（华春辉先生）贴写道：“愤青们，冲啊”（原文，绝无“快去砸”三个字）。

据此，2010年11月12日河南省新乡市人民政府劳动教养委员会以新劳决字[2010]第186号劳动教养决定书作出对程建萍女士劳动教养一年的强制性行政措施。

二、被告人新乡市劳动教养委员会认定事实错误，适用法律错误：

本案当中，不论是华春辉先生还是原告人程建萍女士在网络上发贴和跟贴的初衷都是基于对肆意扰乱公共秩序、任意毁坏他人财物的所谓“愤青”们的无知和不负责任的违法行为的不满而进行的讽刺和调侃。这是显而易见的不争事实！

应该着重说明：“愤青”是网络常用贬义词，专指那些心智不够成熟，在别有用心的心理暗示之下，动辄就以所谓爱国的名义进行毫不负责的破坏和从事其他扰乱公共秩序行为的人。一定意义上讲，如同说这些人是“傻子”“弱智”一样。在网络中，这是众所周知的事情。

由此，按照正常人的思维逻辑就不难看出本案中原告人程建萍的意图实际上就是调侃和讽刺这种人。即华春辉、程建萍的发帖和跟贴是对这种扰乱公共秩序行为的否定而不是支持，更不是煽动，这同样是显而易见的事实！这样的讽刺意味十足的网络发贴和跟贴所反应出来的主观心理态度与所谓“煽动扰乱公共秩序”的主观恶意是截然不同的风马牛不相及的两回事。

被告人河南省新乡市劳动教养委员会对“愤青”这一通俗的网络词语、社会现象及其行为特点缺乏最起码的认知，并且还一再歪曲事实，在“愤表们，冲啊”的原文后面竟公然强加了三个字“快去砸”。这种旨在意图陷害他人而编造事实的行为是显而易见的！

被告人正是基于这种错误的事实认定以及在原有错误认定的基础上再行添加和编造其他虚假事实，把本来是反对扰乱公共秩序行为的原告人直接认定为了煽动扰乱公共秩序的违法者，进而再错误地适用《劳动教养试行办法》第十条第四项、第十三项对原告人作出劳动教养一年的强制性行政措施。这是原告人及广大善良和正直的公民所无法接受和无法容忍的！

更加耐人寻味的是，在对程建萍女士作出非法劳动教养之前，程女士已经于2010年10月29日以相同的事实和理由被无锡市公安局南长分局以南公（谈）行决字[2010]第2661号公安行政处罚决定书处以治安行政拘留五日。

根据“一事不二罚”的行政执法原则，政府依法行政过程中不能以相同的事实和理由对行政对象重复作出两次以上的具体行政行为。尤其是，被告人在没有管辖权的情况下（行为发生地、经常居住地均不在新乡），不经当事人程建萍本人的书面申辩，不经任何听证程序和没有任何的抗辩过程就擅自对原告人作出限制和剥夺人身自由权利的具体行政行为，更是一种滥用职权的违法行为，应依法判决立即纠正！

原告人坚定认为本案当中所涉及的行为和言论不具有任何社会危害性，没有任何违法和故意扰乱公共秩序的主观故意。相反，原告人对那些头脑发热的动辄就打砸抢烧的“愤青”（容易情绪冲动的愤怒青年）的调侃和讽刺，正说明了原告人对这种扰乱社会公共秩序者所持有的批评和否定的态度。原告人将抗争到底！

基于上述，贵院理应依法独立行使审判权，查明本案事实，还事实本来面目，公正认定事实真相，使原告人的冤情得以昭雪！并在此基础上正确适用法律，依法撤销被告人在本案当中的具体行政行为，立即释放程建萍女士！

此致

敬礼
原告人：程建萍
委托代理人：腾彪
委托代理人：兰志学律师
2010 年12月 26 日

附件：

1，关于愤青：

为了便于理解愤青的基本含义，下面专对“愤青”进行相关必要的解释：愤青：“愤青”英语简称GTK，顾名思义，是“愤怒青年”的意思。愤青另有粪青、粪粪、FQ、脑残等变体称呼。多带贬意，且有戏谑的味道。愤青现已经成为中国大陆网络语言中的专有词汇，以此形容中国大陆的激进民族主义者，同时也是一个放弃考问真相、不善于独立思考问题、思想不够成熟的社会心理结构畸形的群体。其特点是在一定的不正常的社会心理暗示和引导下，一瞬间突然爆发出来强烈的中国民族主义激情（特别是盲目的爱国主义情绪），且具有较激进的思想、言论或行动的大陆人（一般是网友），其中有一部分人的理念甚至达到了极端民族主义的地步，严重者可以达到打砸抢烧等严重不计后果、对社会产生严重危害性的程度。

附件：2，新乡市劳动教养管理委员会劳动教养决定书

附件3：无锡市公安局南长分局公安行政处罚决定书

附件4：原网络推文：

说明：@wxhch 代表原告人的未婚夫华春辉的网络名称.“反日游行，，，世博园的日本馆”为华春辉先生的原贴。
“愤青们，冲啊!”是原告人程建萍的跟贴注意。程建萍的网名：wangyi09
注意：这个跟贴绝没有“快去砸”三个字。
[link to original tweet]