Landrat Dr. Rainer Haas
Stadverwaltung Ludwigsburg
Hindenburgstrasse 40
71638 Ludwigsburg, Germany
Fax: (49) 7141-144-396
Email: mail@landkreis-ludwigsburg.de

June 15, 2006

Dear Dr. Hass,

As an international Chinese NGO, Human Rights in China writes to respectfully request your urgent attention to a case in Ludwisgburg’s sister city of Yichang, China. On June 8, a man named Fu Xiancai was attacked by an unknown assailant in Yichang’s Zigui County shortly after the Zigui Public Security Bureau questioned him regarding an interview with Mr. Fu broadcasted on Germany’s ARD television station. He is currently paralyzed from the shoulders down and is awaiting an operation in Yichang No. 1 Hospital.

Mr. Fu was actively involved in pressing for the rights of people relocated because of the Three Gorges Dam project. Prior to this attack, Mr. Fu had been subjected to a string of threats and harassment, sometimes by unknown persons, but other times reportedly by individual officers of the Public Security Bureau.

This incident has raised great concern in the international community, including formal protests to the Chinese government from Germany’s Foreign Ministry and ARD Chairman Jobst Plog.

A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman recently promised that Mr. Fu will receive the medical treatment he needs, but we are urging the international community to continue to monitor the case. We understand that Ludwisgburg has undertaken a particular commitment to upgrading medical care in Yichang, including the provision of medical supplies and professional exchanges with Yichang No. 1 Hospital. Given Ludwigsburg’s substantial commitment to the health and welfare of the people of Yichang, we urge you to monitor Mr. Fu’s situation, and if necessary to intervene on Mr. Fu’s behalf with hospital administrators and with Yichang’s General Secretary, Li Youcai, to ensure that Mr. Fu receives all operations, procedures and medication necessary to address his serious injuries without delay.

Sincerely yours,

Sharon Hom
Executive Director