Guangzhou Officials Formally Arrest Rural Activist Guo Feixiong

November 20, 2005

Public security officials in Guangzhou formally arrested rural activist Guo Feixiong on October 4, over three weeks after a Chinese news source reported him as missing and likely to be in police custody, according to the Epoch Times, BBC, and South China Morning Post (subscription required). Officials detained Guo on September 13 and have charged him with "gathering people to disturb public order," a crime under Article 290 of China's Criminal Law. The charges relate to efforts by Guo to provide legal advice to the villagers of Taishi village, Guangzhou city, in their recall campaign against the village committee head.

Public security officials in Guangzhou formally arrested rural activist Guo Feixiong on October 4, over three weeks after a Chinese news source reported him as missing and likely to be in police custody, according to the Epoch Times, BBC, and South China Morning Post (subscription required). Officials detained Guo on September 13 and have charged him with "gathering people to disturb public order," a crime under Article 290 of China's Criminal Law. The charges relate to efforts by Guo to provide legal advice to the villagers of Taishi village, Guangzhou city, in their recall campaign against the village committee head.

A local Guangzhou paper reported the official end to the recall campaign on September 30 and said that villagers had withdrawn their application to remove village chief Chen Jinsheng, whom they accused of corrupt use of village funds. According to reports in the South China Morning Post, villagers clashed with public security officials on August 16 and again on September 12, despite their vows to protest peacefully. During the September 12 confrontation, about 1,000 public security officials entered the village, seizing village account books and taking into custody nearly 50 mostly elderly village residents. Although Zhongshan University Professor Ai Xiaoming, political commentator Yao Lifa, and the human rights organization Empowerment and Rights Institute have issued open letters challenging the legality of local official actions, more than 10 villagers remained in custody through mid-October. Officials have formally arrested at least five of them, including Guo Feixiong, Feng Weinan, Feng Qiusheng, Liang Shusheng, and Chen Runqiang. Professor Ai told Radio Free Asia on October 5, "I think that there is actually very little space for free debate on this subject, and now there's really very little left to talk about."

Guo Feixiong is an activist whose real name is Yang Maodong. He previously participated in and reported on rural issues in Foshan city, Guangdong province, in late July 2005, according to the Epoch Times. He began a hunger strike and sent a letter requesting legal assistance shortly after officials took him into custody on September 13. Guangdong lawyers Tang Jingling and Guo Yan did not receive his letter until September 26 and immediately made a visit to the Shawan Detention Center, where officials held Guo. That same day, a group of at least 15 Chinese legal scholars and writers formed a volunteer advisory group to assist Guo, according to the China Information Center. Officials have thus far allowed only one client meeting with Guo, which took place on September 28 and included Tang Jingling and Guo Yan.

Chinese scholars and the legal profession view Guo's detention and the related events in Taishi as a test of the government's commitment to village democracy and the rule of law. Under Article 64 of China's Criminal Procedure Law (CPL), officials must produce a detention warrant and have 24 hours to notify a suspect's family or work unit upon detaining that individual. Although Article 69 authorizes a detention period of up to 30 days for "major suspects" in exceptional cases, Article 65 allows no more than 24 hours of detention without charges for most crimes. A suspect's defense counsel has the right to complain to authorities on behalf of the suspect, arrange for bail, and check on charges under Article 96. Guangzhou public security officials denied a request by Guo's lawyers for temporary release under guaranty while pending trial, according to a South China Morning Post report. Article 124 of the CPL requires that they hold him for no more than two months following his October 4 arrest, with a one-month extension possible only upon approval by the People's Procuratorate at the next higher level.