Dissident Writer-in-Exile Yu Jie Details Torture by Police

2012-01-18

In a statement today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Yu Jie (余杰), dissident writer and former vice president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center who left China a week ago, recounts his torture by state security police after he was kidnapped on December 9, 2010, the day before the award ceremony for Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize. Yu’s press statement, “Exposing CPC Tyranny and Running to the Free World: My Statement on Leaving China,” has been translated and released by Human Rights in China at Yu’s request.

China Must Address Root Causes of Growing Tibetan Protests

2012-01-27

Human Rights in China (HRIC) is deeply concerned about the protests and violence in Luhuo County (Drango in Tibetan) and Sêrtar County (in Chinese, Seda County [色达县], also known as Sertha County) in western Sichuan Province on January 23 and 24, the first days of the Chinese New Year.

What Is behind Hu Jintao’s Caution against “Western Cultural Infiltration”?

HRIC Commentary
2012-01-26

18th Party Congress Watch (1)

Gao Wenqian, HRIC Senior Policy Advisor

In an article published in early January 2012 in the Communist Party policy magazine Qiushi, Chinese President Hu Jintao cautioned against Western culture infiltrating and subverting China. In fact, the warning is one of the main points in a speech he gave last October at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th Party Congress. Now that it has been bill-boarded in the official Chinese press, the international media are trying to decode it. What is the actual message being sent? Is it just the same old talk of “guarding against peaceful evolution” (from one-party rule toward democracy) from the Mao era? Or is it something deeper? Below is a brief analysis.

Rights Defender Recounts Incarceration in Psychiatric Hospital

2012-01-11

Li Jinping (李金平), from Shilipu Village, Changying Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing, worked as a police officer at the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau until he resigned in 2000. After Zhao Ziyang, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, passed away in 2005, Li set up a devotional stand in his home to commemorate Zhao. In early 2008, the authorities, without reaching a relocation agreement with Li, demolished his home, wrecked the devotional stand, and destroyed the tree nursery on which he depended for his livelihood.

No Verdict Issued in Ni Yulan’s Case

Case Update
2011-12-29

On the morning of December 29, 2011, the Xicheng District People’s Court of Beijing heard the case of human rights advocate Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) and her husband, Dong Jiqin (董继勤). Both are charged with “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “fraud.” Their defense counsel Cheng Hai (程海) entered a not guilty plea on their behalf and submitted a request for access to new evidence, including evidence related to Ni Yulan’s physical health and injuries. After a hearing of four and a half hours, the court did not announce its verdict and is reportedly considering the request for new evidence.

Veteran Guizhou Activist Chen Xi Sentenced to Ten Years

2011-12-26

On the morning of December 26, the Guiyang Municipal Intermediate People’s Court of Guizhou Province sentenced veteran dissident and human rights activist Chen Xi (陈西), to ten years prison and three years’ deprivation of political right for “inciting subversion of state power.” This heavy sentence follows the nine-year term imposed on Sichuan dissident Chen Wei (陈卫) three days ago. Chen Xi insists on his innocence but will not appeal.

Democracy Activist Chen Wei Gets Nine Years for “Inciting Subversion”

2011-12-23

On December 23, the Suining Municipal Intermediate People’s Court of Sichuan Province convicted democracy activist Chen Wei (陈卫) of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced him to nine years in prison and two years’ post-release deprivation of political rights. The verdict, which was read in the court but not delivered in written form, calls Chen a “repeated offender” whose “crime was heinous, and influence vile.”

Wife of Disappeared Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Urges International Attention

2011-12-22

On December 20, HRIC spoke with Geng He (耿和), wife of the Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), whose prosecution, torture, and disappearances by the Chinese authorities have gained worldwide attention and concern. In the interview, Geng He reacts to the latest official action against her husband, a revocation of Gao’s five-year sentence suspension that has put Gao back in prison, and provides fresh details on the ordeal that various family members have endured since 2006, including threats, taunts, and lies from various Chinese authorities, and describes the last phone contact she had with Gao, on April 17, 2010, before his disappearance since.

Dissident Chen Wei to Be Tried on December 23

2011-12-21

Sichuan dissident Chen Wei (陈卫) is scheduled to go on trial at 9 a.m. on December 23, 2011. His case will be heard by the Suining Municipal Intermediate People’s Court of Sichuan Province on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” Chen’s defense lawyers, Zheng Jianwei (郑建伟) and Liang Xiaojun (梁晓军), received Chen’s indictment on December 20 and will be pleading not guilty on his behalf.

Wang Lihong, Zheng Yichun, Bo Xiaomao Released

2011-12-20

Wang Lihong (王荔蕻), a well-known rights defender from Beijing, was released in the early morning of December 20 from the Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing, where she completed a nine-month sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Wang’s son Qi Jianxiang (齐健翔) posted a public message on Twitter Tuesday asking that those planning to greet Wang outside the detention center not go there, saying that Wang is temporarily staying “another place to recuperate for a couple of days.”