China Human Rights Briefing<\/b><\/p>\n
April 23-25, 2017<\/p>\n
Contents<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
Arbitrary Detention<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n Freedom of Religion<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arbitrary Detention<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n String of Trials Characterized by Trumped-Up Charges and Deprived Due Process Rights<\/b><\/p>\n Chinese authorities put several human rights defenders on trial over phony charges in several cities across China in the past week. These cases involve two human rights lawyers, one citizen journalist, one migrant labor rights activist, four activists who had exposed local illegal detention facilities, and five members of a Christian church. Authorities violated the defendants\u2019 due process rights in every one of these cases. In many, their lawyers\u2019 requests to visit them were rejected or the lawyers were told that the defendants \u201cdismissed\u201d them. The trials and hearings, in most cases, were not open to the public. In one of the most contentious cases, involving the human rights lawyer Xie Yang (\u8c22\u9633<\/span>)<\/a>, there appeared to be no advanced public notice about a trial. When supporters, foreign journalists and diplomats showed up outside a court in Changsha on April 25, they learned that the trial was either relocated or postponed. The government had detained or imprisoned all the defendants, in some cases for many months without a trial, in retaliation for defending or exercising human rights. Some of them have accused police of subjecting them to torture or inhumane treatment.<\/p>\n Migrant Labor Activist Hu Changgen Put on Trial in Shanghai<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Labor rights defender Hu Changgen (<\/b>\u80e1\u5e38\u6839<\/b><\/span>)<\/b> was put on trial for \u201cpicking quarrels and provoking trouble\u201d on April 25 at the Pudong New District People\u2019s Court in Shanghai. The hearing ended without announcing a verdict. The prosecution tied Hu\u2019s alleged criminal activity to views that he\u00a0expressed online<\/a>\u00a0about discriminatory policies towards rural migrant laborers. The activist\u2019s health has declined in detention, according to his lawyer, Ji Zhongjiu (\u7eaa\u4e2d\u4e45<\/span>), who visited Hu in early March. Ji said that Hu had grown thin and extremely weak, and that he suffers from high blood pressure. Police initially detained Hu in June 2016, around the sensitive June Fourth anniversary, on suspicion of \u201cfabricating and spreading false terrorist information.\u201d Authorities changed the criminal charge when formally arresting Hu last July. Hu was scheduled for a trial in September 2016, but that hearing was abruptly cancelled.<\/p>\n Originally from Anhui, Hu Changgen, 45, had been a migrant laborer in Shanghai for over 20 years, and was working in a factory when police detained him. From the mid-2000s, Hu had actively posted comments online<\/a> about human rights issues. He called for rights protections for migrants like himself, including equal opportunity for their children to attend public school. Rural laborers seeking work in urban areas in China do not have the official \u201chousehold registration\u201d (hukou<\/i>) that entitles their families to the social and economic benefits enjoyed by urban residents, unless they meet onerous requirements and pay large fees. Due to his advocacy, police have often harassed and threatened Hu, and he had previously been briefly detained several times.<\/p>\n In Jiangsu, Four Activists\u2019 Trials Took Place Also Without a Verdict<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n A court in Wuxi City put four activists\u2014Shen Aibin (<\/b>\u6c88\u7231\u658c<\/b><\/span>)<\/b>, Cheng Tianjie (<\/b>\u7a0b\u5929\u6770<\/b><\/span>)<\/b>, Zhou Xiaofeng (<\/b>\u5468\u5c0f\u51e4<\/b><\/span>)<\/b>, and Zhu Bingquan (<\/b>\u6731\u4e19\u6cc9<\/b><\/span>)<\/b>\u2014on trial<\/a> for sham charges of \u201cpicking quarrels and provoking trouble\u201d on April 23. The trial ended<\/a> without a verdict. Police blocked off the entrance to the Huishan District People\u2019s Court to over 100 supporters who wanted to attend the trial. Inside the court, the presiding judge frequently interrupted the defendants\u2019 lawyers, Chang Boyang (\u5e38\u4f2f\u9633<\/span>), Zhang Jianping (\u5f20\u5efa\u5e73<\/span>), Li Baiguang (\u674e\u67cf\u5149<\/span>), and Yu Shijin (\u865e\u58eb\u9526<\/span>), who reportedly defended their clients\u2019 innocence for almost 14 hours.<\/p>\n The four activists were among more than 20 individuals detained<\/a> in a police operation in Wuxi in April 2016. They were initially held on suspicion of \u201cintentional injury\u201d until their arrests. The charge was tied to an incident in February 2015, when a scuffle broke out between supporters of Shen Aibin, who was then being freed from a detention center, and a suspiciously disguised person who was photographing the group. Police claimed that the disguised person was hurt in the clash. In May 2016, Zhou Xiaofeng and Zhu Bingquan were formally arrested for \u201cpicking quarrels and provoking trouble,\u201d while Shen Aibin and Cheng Tianjie were put under \u201cresidential surveillance\u201d at home. Both Shen and Cheng were arrested and taken back into police custody in September.<\/p>\n Shen Aibin, at the center of these cases, had played a leading role in exposing government corruption and the unlawful use by police of extrajudicial detention facilities, termed \u201cblack jails.\u201d In June 2013, he helped rescue<\/a> five petitioners from such a facility inside a Wuxi guesthouse. He had since been in and out of detention. Shen was sentenced in November 2014 to 18 months in prison for \u201cintentionally damaging property\u201d in connection to the rescue operation. Shen alleged that, prior to that conviction, he was tortured by police<\/a> and forced to sign a confession.<\/p>\n In Yunnan, Citizen Journalist Li Tingyu Put on Trial in Secret<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n The Dali City People\u2019s Court reportedly put citizen<\/span> journalist Li Tingyu (<\/b>\u674e\u5a77\u7389<\/b><\/span>)<\/b><\/a> on trial in secret on April 20, according to the lawyers of another citizen journalist, a co-defendant, Lu Yuyu (<\/b>\u5362\u6631\u5b87<\/b><\/span>)<\/b><\/a> and CHRD sources. The details or outcome of the trial remain unknown as the trial took place without any prior public notice of the precise time or location. Authorities had told lawyers authorized by Li\u2019s family that they were dismissed and replaced by government-appointed lawyers. Dali police first detained bothjournalists for \u201c<\/span>picking quarrels and provoking trouble\u201d in June 2016 in retaliation for their work documenting protests and demonstrations and posting the information on their blog (<\/span>Fei Xinwen<\/i><\/span> \u201cNot the News\u201d). According to CHRD\u2019s sources, Li\u2019s family reportedly learned about the trial on April 20, though its unknown if the family attended the hearing. <\/span><\/p>\n Authorities have given both Li and Lu only sporadic access to their lawyers, and since early March 2017, officials at the Dali City Detention Center refused to allow Li\u2019s family-appointed lawyers Ge Yongxi (<\/span>\u845b\u6c38\u559c<\/span>) and Huang Simin (<\/span>\u9ec4\u601d\u654f<\/span>) to meet her on the grounds that she had \u201cfired\u201d them. Prosecutors then indicted Li and Lu on March 24, 2017. Lawyers Ge and Huang <\/span>applied again to meet her<\/span><\/a> on April 17, but were again denied access. According to Lu Yuyu\u2019s lawyers, Xiao Yunyang (<\/span>\u8427\u4e91\u9633<\/span>) and Wang Zongyue (<\/span>\u738b\u5b97\u8dc3<\/span>), they <\/span>went to the courthouse<\/span><\/a> to review Lu\u2019s indictment on April 20, but were met with a heavy police presence. The lawyers only then learned that their clients\u2019 cases would be prosecuted separately, and that Li Tingyu\u2019s trial was inside the court. <\/span><\/p>\n Xia Lin\u2019s 12-Year Sentence Reduced by 2 Years but Appeal Court Upholds Guilty Verdict<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n The Beijing Higher People\u2019s Court upheld the original guilty verdict against human rights lawyer <\/span>Xia Lin (<\/b>\u590f\u9716<\/b><\/span>)<\/b><\/a> during his appeal hearing on April 21, but reduced his sentence from 12 to 10 years. Xia was <\/span>convicted on trumped-up charges of \u201cfraud\u201d<\/span><\/a> in September 2016. The harsh sentence was clearly in retaliation for his legal representation of detained human rights defenders in politically-sensitive cases. Xia\u2019s lawyers said the appeal proceeding was flawed, since the court did not allow Xia or his lawyers to present their argument, and refused to consider new evidence uncovered since Xia\u2019s first-instance trial. In handing down the ruling on Xia\u2019s appeal, Chinese authorities ignored an <\/span>August 2016 opinion<\/span><\/a> in which the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Xia\u2019s imprisonment was arbitrary and called on the government to release and compensate him. <\/span><\/p>\n Freedom of Religion<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n 5 Christians in Xinjiang Imprisoned for Attending Religious Gathering <\/b><\/p>\n A Xinjiang court sentenced<\/a> five Christians to prison for three to five years each on charges of \u201cgathering a crowd to disrupt social order\u201d on April 18. Their imprisonment was punishment for attending a religious gathering. The decision by the Chongji City People\u2019s Court follows a trial that took place on October 27, 2016. All five, who are of Han Chinese ethnicity, pleaded not guilty and said they would appeal the verdict. Those sentenced are:<\/p>\n The five had been part of a group of around 40 Christians from across Xinjiang and neighboring provinces. They gathered in Changji City on March 5, 2016 for a Bible study group. A large contingency of police officers and armed police broke up the activity. Police detained Yang, Wang, Cheng, and Zheng at the meeting and initially held them on suspicion of \u201cillegal assembly\u201d before changing the crime to \u201cgathering a crowd to disrupt social order\u201d the next day. A week later, police detained Liu Yan, who had helped transport attendees to the meeting. Police formally arrested the five on April 11, 2016. Reportedly, prosecutors sent the case back for further investigation twice before indicting them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [CHRB Report] China Human Rights Briefing April 23-25, 2017 Contents Arbitrary Detention Migrant Labor Activist Hu Changgen Put on Trial in Shanghai In Jiangsu, Four Activists\u2019 Trials Took Place; No Verdict Announced In Yunnan, Citizen Journalist Li Tingyu Put on … Continue reading \n
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