Criminal Justice

On April 28, Southern Weekend published a detailed article arguing that the Nie Shubin wrongful execution case must be resolved, following rumors that the Hebei provincial government has concluded its investigation into the case and may not label the original verdict "incorrect." News that Wang Shujin, a suspect in a series of murders, voluntarily confessed to the 1994 killing for which Nie Shubin was executed 10 years ago has caused an uproar in recent months (see related stories 1, 2).

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a press release today characterizing the arrest of Shi Tao on charges of disclosing state secrets as "absolutely scandalous." The Independent Chinese PEN Center reported that officials from the state security bureau of Changsha, Hunan province took Shi into custody at his home in Taiyuan, Shanxi province on November 24, 2004. Shi worked for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News).

According to RSF, in April 2004, Shi sent the online newspaper Min Zhu Tong Xun the abstract note of a document sent to his newspaper by Chinese authorities "warning journalists of the dangers of social destabilisation and risks linked to the return of certain dissidents on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre." The Ministry of State Security told the Procuratorate the document was "top secret."

Chinese security officials detained seven unregistered Catholic priests in Hebei province on April 27, reports the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a U.S.-based NGO that advocates for the religious freedom of China’s unregistered Catholics. The seven priests all come from the diocese of Zhengding in Hebei, and were arrested in Wuqiu village of Jinzhou city while attending a religious retreat conducted by Bishop Jia Zhiguo. Bishop Jia had just been released from 24-hour surveillance, maintained between the death of Pope John Paul II and the installation of Pope Benedict XVI (March 30- April 25). Bishop Jia is said to be among the most effective leaders of the unregistered Catholic Church; his diocese is among those most tightly controlled by the Chinese government.

An editorial in the April 26 edition of the Liberation Daily, published by the Shanghai Communist Party committee, stated that 42 "lawbreakers" have been punished in connection with anti-Japanese demonstrations held April 16, and that the police "continue to resolutely pursue and prosecute those lawbreakers engaged in illegal activities such as organizing or inciting illegal assemblies and demonstrations." The Shanghai Evening Post, a sister publication of the Liberation Daily, reported that of those 42, 16 had been detained and 26 had been formally arrested.

The editorial, entitled "Safeguard the Dignity of the Law," goes on to say:

Since March 20, the Holy See and the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a U.S.-based NGO monitoring the unregistered Catholic Church in China, have reported six incidents of detention or heightened surveillance of unregistered Catholics.

* On March 20, James Lin Xili, the 86-year-old bishop of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, was detained.
* On March 22, Gao Xinyou, a collaborator in the pastoral care of the laity in Wenzhou in Zhejiang, was detained.
* On March 30, Zhao Kexun, a priest and administrator of the diocese of Xuanhua in Hebei, was detained.

Hebei provincial government authorities are about to announce the results of their investigation into the Nie Shubin wrongful execution case, and a Hubei court has scheduled a public hearing on April 13 to review the conviction of She Xianglin, according to various Chinese media sources. Nie Shubin was executed ten years ago for a rape and murder that another man confessed to in January (for details, click here). She Xianglin was convicted of murdering his wife in 1994 and sentenced to death, a sentence that was later commuted to fifteen years’ imprisonment. In late March, his wife suddenly returned to their Hubei village (for details, click here). Chinese media have reported widely on both cases, which came to light in recent weeks.

(Updated April 8) The wife of a man sentenced to death ten years ago for her murder suddenly returned to their Hubei village last week. The convict was still alive, however, because after an appeals court rejected the verdict in 1994 and ordered a retrial, his sentence was changed to 15 years’ imprisonment. The story, originally published in the Legal Daily on April 1 and widely circulated in China’s official media since then, comes in the midst of national debate over the death penalty in China and a public uproar over revelations that authorities executed an innocent man named Nie Shubin in nearby Hebei province (see related story here). The Hubei High People’s Court adjudication committee reportedly met last week to evaluate lessons learned from the new case and called on provincial courts to evaluate evidence strictly and exercise care in passing judgment on every criminal case.

(Updated March 31) News that Hebei police likely executed an innocent man ten years ago has caused an outcry in China and is fueling public debate over the death penalty. On March 13, a Henan newspaper revealed that a detainee suspected of committing a series of murders had voluntarily confessed to a 1994 rape and killing for which another man was executed. News of the case spread quickly in Chinese domestic media and Internet chatrooms and has reportedly caused a national uproar. The story, which broke as Chinese leaders were in the midst of a discussion over death penalty reforms, has also intensified calls for the Supreme People’s Court to once again review all death sentences (see related stories here and here) and for the government to consider broad reforms to China's criminal justice system.