Access to Justice

Introduction

One of several recent cases in China of lead poisoning in children that occurred in Fengxiang county, Shaanxi province garnered national and international attention after citizens protested in August 2009. During the incident, parents of affected children first utilized institutionalized channels to seek remedies for their children's environmental health problems, but then resorted to street protests. The case highlights ongoing lax compliance with environmental laws and policies, government accountability gaps, and insufficient protection for citizen's environmental rights, including rights of access to environmental information in China.

Feng Chongyi, a noted Chinese professor, has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese customs office located in Guangdong province near Hong Kong after officials there confiscated 11 of his books, according to an October 22, 2009, Southern Weekend (SW) article (in Chinese, English translation provided by Danwei). According to the SW article, as Feng was entering China through Guangzhou city in Guangdong on June 5, 2009, officials at the Tianhe Station Customs Office confiscated the books during an inspection. The officials claimed the books had been banned.

Tan Zuoren Case

August 12 Trial, Defense Not Permitted To Call Witnesses and Present Evidence, Witness and Parents of Quake Victims Held in Custody, Reporters Barred and Harassed

The Chengdu Intermediate People's Court conducted the trial of writer and environmental activist Tan Zuoren on August 12, 2009, on the charge of inciting subversion of state power, according to an August 13 China Daily article and an August 13 Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) article. The conduct of the trial reportedly was marred by official abuses and procedural violations, including:

Following the forceful police suppression of a demonstration by Uyghurs on July 5 and outbreaks of violence starting that day in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) capital of Urumqi, authorities in Xinjiang and Beijing have taken steps to restrict lawyers' activities defending people accused of committing crimes on July 5. The steps precede an announcement in late July that the XUAR Justice Department will select and train lawyers to provide criminal defense to suspects alleged to have links to crimes committed on July 5 when they go to trial. Chinese media reports on the nature of the legal defense are inconsistent, however, and a number of details remain unknown. The announcement comes as authorities continue to report on detentions, arrests, and preparations for trials in connection to events on July 5.

On July 9, 2009, The RTL Management Committee in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, ordered Sun Xiaodi, a Gansu environmental activist who reportedly exposed pollution problems and illegal activities at a mine in Diebu County, Gansu to serve two years of reeducation through labor (RTL) for "illegally providing state secrets overseas" and "rumor mongering," according to a July 17, 2009, Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) news release. Authorities in Gannan also ordered Sun's daughter, Sun Haiyan (also known as Sun Dunbai) to serve 18 months of RTL for the same activities according to CHRD. The RTL committee asserted that Sun "stole" information about the No. 792 Uranium Mine in Diebu County, according to a copy of the RTL decision available in a July 16, 2009, Human Rights in China article.