Criminal Justice
Hangzhou public security officials detained six members of the informal environmental group “Green Watch” on October 19, according to a report by Human Rights in China (HRIC). Tan Kai, Lai Jinbiao, Gao Haibing, Wu Yuanming, Qi Huimin, and Yang Jianming formed the group after villagers from Huashui Township, Zhejiang province, began voicing concerns about pollution from a chemical factory near Huaxi that the villagers say threatens the lives and livelihoods of residents.
Why the Hangzhou authorities detained the six environmentalists is not clear. According to HRIC, Tan opened a bank account in mid-October to begin saving money to register the group as a social organization under the relevant national law. Shortly thereafter, the six group members were detained, with Tan placed in criminal detention. Public security officials released the other five after a brief detention.
The Guizhou High People's Court sentenced seven people to death and 38 people to punishments ranging from five years to life in jail for child trafficking, according to an October 19 Xinhua report. The Anshun Municipal Public Security Bureau set up a special investigation team that uncovered the network responsible for abducting 61 children in Anshun and Guiyang from April to September 2003. Most of the children were boys under five, and traffickers sold to them to counties in Henan and Hebei, according to an October 20 SCMP report. Officials have recovered 25 of the victims.
The High People's Court in Bengbu, Anhui province, rejected writer Zhang Lin's appeal of his conviction for subversion of state power, according to an October 15 report on the Boxun Web site. Zhang's wife told Boxun that officials at the Intermediate Court gave her the High Court's opinion on October 14, which stated simply: "Appeal rejected, original judgment upheld. This ruling is the final ruling."
Chinese legal scholars have completed a working draft of the second set of revisions to China's Criminal Procedure Law (CPL), according to an October 11 report by government-run China Radio International Online (CRI). Professor Xu Jingcun of Southwest University of Political Science and Law formally announced completion of the document during the 2005 National Conference on Procedure Law, held from September 24 through 26 in Tianjin. In his interview with CRI, Professor Xu revealed that a scholar-led working group has been discussing the revisions since June 2004 and should be ready to release their draft to affected public security, procuratorial, and court agencies for review and comment in November.
Lu Banglie, a local people's congress representative escorting an British journalist seeking to report on events in Taishi village, Guangdong province, was beaten by a number of unidentified individuals on October 9, according to an October 10 Guardian report and an October 11 South China Morning Post (SCMP) report (subscription required). Similarly, reporters working for Radio France and the SCMP were assaulted on October 7, according to an October 10 SCMP article (subscription required).
The following translation of the judgment in the Shi Tao state secrets trial was prepared by CECC staff based on versions provided by the Independent Chinese PEN Center and the Dui Hua Foundation (via Reporters Without Borders). The original Chinese version of the judgment, along with what is reported to be a copy of the communication to the Asia Democracy Foundation referred to therein, can be viewed by clicking "more" below.
Additional background on this case is available here.
On April 27, 2005, a Chinese court sentenced newspaper editor Shi Tao to 10 years imprisonment for disclosing state secrets for e-mailing notes of an editorial meeting to an organization in New York City. On September 6 Reporters Without Borders noted that the court's decision cited "customer information provided by the Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited" to verify that the e-mail originated from Shi Tao's place of work. Specifically, the decision cited the following:
Public security officials interrogated Chen Guangcheng on September 23, according to a September 25 report of the Voice of America (in Chinese). Chen is a lawyer who brought international news media attention to illegal physical coercion by population planning officials in Linyi in Shandong province. Officials continue to hold under house arrest Chen and at least one other person who has been associated with him.
The Intermediate People's Court in Yingkou, Liaoning province, has sentenced Chinese author Zheng Yichun to seven years imprisonment and three years deprivation of political rights for inciting subversion of the state's political power, according to articles posted on the Web sites of Radio Free Asia, the Epoch Times, and Boxun on September 22. These articles reported that the primary charges listed in the court's judgment were:
A court in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has found three Sichuan Chemical Company officials and three local environmental protection bureau officials criminally liable for severely polluting the Tuojiang River in 2004, according to a People's Daily article. The Sichuan Chemical Company incident was one of two damaging pollution incidents in March and May 2004 along the Tuojiang River. The incidents forced the water supply to about 1 million people to be suspended, and caused heavy financial losses and physical damage that will take years for the area to recover from, according to these three reports (1, 2, 3).