Criminal Justice
The Shuangyashan Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in Heilongjiang province convicted 17 members of the Three Grades of Servants house church on charges of murder and fraud, and defense lawyers said that several confessions were coerced under torture and that the defendants would appeal, according to a July 6 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. The government accused the house church members of murdering 20 members of the Eastern Lightning religious group and of unspecified counts of fraud. The court sentenced three of the leaders to death, three others to death sentences with a two-year reprieve (which usually results in commutation to life in prison), and the remainder to prison terms ranging from 3 to 15 years.
Public security officials in Yinan county, Shandong province, formally arrested legal advocate Chen Guangcheng on June 21, on charges of "intentional destruction or damage to property" and "gathering people to disturb traffic order," according to a June 25 Boxun report (in Chinese) containing the text of the notice of arrest. On March 11, about 100 security officials detained Chen after physically blocking him from seeking out Yinan county officials, according to a June 3 Chinese Rights Defenders (CRD) report. Chen and his relatives had planned to report the beating of Chen's cousin Chen Guangyu by four unidentified men earlier that day.
The National People’s Congress (NPC) withdrew a proposed amendment to the Criminal Law that would have penalized sex-selective abortions, according to a June 26 Xinhua article. Parents or medical personnel involved in a sex-selective abortion would have faced fines and up to three years in prison under the proposed amendment. Zhou Kunren, Vice Chairman of the Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, announced that NPC Standing Committee members as well as government officials had disagreed over the proposed amendment, according to a June 24 Xinhua article.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) announced at a November 2 court conference that it will require all Chinese courts to establish systems of responding to citizen petitions and resolving citizen complaints following judicial decisions, according to a November 3 China Court article.
Under the new system, trial judges who issue judicial decisions will be responsible for responding to parties who visit the court and raise questions or complaints about the verdict. Trial judges will work with docketing tribunal (li'an) judges to resolve complaints. The trial judges' record of handling such complaints will be made part of their regular performance reviews, along with their trial records.
Human Rights Watch and Boxun both posted on July 19 timelines of events related to the Chinese government's criminal case against Chen Guangcheng. The timelines recount several weeks of continuing harassment and violence against Chinese human rights defenders, including legal scholars and advocates who have attempted to participate in Chen's criminal defense:
Obstruction of Attempts By Rights Defenders to Publicize Chen's Case
A July 7, 2006, article (in Chinese) in the Guangming Daily Observer criticized Chinese officials for shielding one another from punishment and thereby allowing the continued abuse of authority in violation of human rights. Gao Yifei, a legal scholar at Southwest University of Politics and Law, argued that the Chinese government has been too lenient in punishing officials who abuse their authority to coerce confessions under torture, acquire evidence through the use of force, or maltreat prisoners. In support of his argument, Gao highlighted several cases in which torture resulted in the deaths of Chinese citizens while in custody. State-run media reported in 2006 that courts imposed criminal sentences of varying lengths on the parties responsible for the deaths in three of those cases:
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) distributed "Six Prohibitions on People's Prison Police" and "Six Prohibitions on People's Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) Police" on February 14 for implementation by justice bureaus across China, according to a February 16 Legal Daily article (in Chinese). MOJ Vice Minister Fan Fangping told Legal Daily that, beginning on the date of the announcement, prison and RTL police found violating the prohibitions would be subject to punishments ranging from warnings to dismissal. In cases in which police behavior may constitute a crime, authorities will also investigate the actor's criminal liability. Vice Minister Fan disclosed that the MOJ is preparing to dispatch a supervisory group of its own, and that local justice bureaus will also be expected to implement regular supervision and investigation of police activities.
A Legal Daily report details third-quarter crime statistics released by China's public security ministry (MPS) this week. According to these official statistics, public security filed a total of 1,191,000 criminal cases in the third quarter of this year, a decline of 0.3% over last year. Property crimes account for 85% of the total. MPS claims that the number of murder and rape cases filed are down 1.3% and 9.6%, respectively, over the same period last year, while fraud and burglary are down 5.2% and 0.6%, respectively. However, the number of public order cases investigated by public security is reportedly up 17%.
Judges in Henan province convicted a man for rape and murder on the strength of his confession under torture, according to a September 20 report on the New York Times Web site. Public security officials relied on the statements of three child witnesses to detain and interrogate the suspect. The court ordered a closed trial, excluded defense witnesses from the courtroom, and ended the proceedings within several hours. The suspect avoided execution only after a local retired soldier voluntarily confessed to the crime, according to the report.
The Hohhot Intermediate People's Court tried ethnic Mongol physician Naguunbilig and his spouse Daguulaa on June 12 for crimes related to "practicing an evil cult," "printing and distributing illegal publications," "advocating idealism and superstition," and "conducting illegal business," according to a June 20 report from the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC). Authorities first arrested Naguunbilig and Daguulaa on June 7, 2005 for engaging in what officials labeled "a Mongol version of Falun Gong" and for holding "illegal gatherings." The SMHRIC reported that the court adjourned the trial on the afternoon of the 12th without issuing a decision.