Authorities Arrest Gao Zhisheng Supporters for Inciting Subversion

December 6, 2006

Chinese authorities formally arrested writer Zhang Jianhong (whose pen name is Li Hong) and Internet essayist and China Democracy Party (CDP) member Chen Shuqing, and charged each with "inciting subversion of state power," according to notices delivered on October 12 and October 17, respectively. The arrests came after both posted articles on the Internet expressing support for Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Li Jianqiang, a lawyer and a member of the Independent Chinese Pen Center (ICPC) who has represented other writers and activists, including Yang Tianshui and Guo Qizhen, is serving as defense lawyer for both men.

Chinese authorities formally arrested writer Zhang Jianhong (whose pen name is Li Hong) and Internet essayist and China Democracy Party (CDP) member Chen Shuqing, and charged each with "inciting subversion of state power," according to notices delivered on October 12 and October 17, respectively. The arrests came after both posted articles on the Internet expressing support for Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Li Jianqiang, a lawyer and a member of the Independent Chinese Pen Center (ICPC) who has represented other writers and activists, including Yang Tianshui and Guo Qizhen, is serving as defense lawyer for both men.

Gao, former head of the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, has represented numerous activists, religious leaders, and writers. Authorities first detained Gao on August 15 and initially denied him access to a lawyer on the grounds that his case involves state secrets. They formally arrested him on September 21 on the charge of "inciting subversion of state power," but it was not until October 12 that Gao's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, found out about the arrest, according to an October 12 Boxun article (in Chinese). For more information on Gao's case, see the CECC's Political Prisoner Database.

Zhang Jianhong

Authorities in Ningbo city, Zhejiang province, notified Zhang's wife on October 12 that Zhang had been formally arrested and charged with "inciting subversion of state power," according to a Boxun report (in Chinese) on the same day. The Boxun report did not specify the actual date of the arrest. On September 6, police first took Zhang into custody, removed disk drives and a phone book from his home, and questioned his wife about articles he had posted on foreign Web sites, according to a September 19 Reporters Without Borders report. Ningbo authorities notified Zhang's family on September 7 that Zhang had been placed in criminal detention, according to the Boxun report.

Li Jianqiang said the arrest came after Zhang, a member of the ICPC, posted an article on the Internet calling for Gao's release, according to an October 18 Agence France-Presse (AFP) report (reprinted by ABS-CBN Interactive). An essay Zhang wrote titled "Return Gao Zhisheng Back to Us, Return China's Conscience Back to Us," appeared on both the Epoch Times Web site and Boxun Web site on August 17. In addition, the AFP report said that Zhang wrote articles condemning the arrests of other activists and organ harvesting in China. A September 19 Committee to Protect Journalists report noted that two days before he was detained, Zhang posted an essay highlighting international criticism of the government's human rights record and recent harassment of journalists, calling the situation "Olympicgate."

Zhang was a founder and editor of the literary and news Web site Aegean Sea (Aiqinhai), which authorities shut down in March for posting news without a license. He spent a year and a half from 1989 to 1991 in a reeducation through labor center for "counterrevolutionary incitement," as a result of his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, according to a biography (in Chinese) of Zhang posted on the ICPC's Web site. Authorities also detained him for one month in 1999 for his involvement with the CDP, according to the biography.

Chen Shuqing

Authorities in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, notified Chen's wife on October 17 that Chen had been formally arrested and charged with "inciting subversion of state power," according to a Boxun report (in Chinese) on the same day. The Boxun report did not specify the actual date of the arrest. Li Jianqiang said that Chen was arrested after he posted an article on the Internet calling for Gao's release, according to the AFP report. On August 21, Epoch Times and Boxun posted an essay written by Chen titled "Gao Zhisheng Is in Trouble and We Are Duty-Bound to Give Him Our Help and Protection." Police originally detained Chen on September 14, according to a September 15 Boxun article (in Chinese). Radio Free Asia reported on September 18 (in Chinese) that after Chen’s detention, police in Hangzhou questioned CDP members Gao Haibin, Wu Yuanming, and Wang Rongqing about Chen's personal contacts, writings, and his involvement in a hunger strike proposed by Gao Zhisheng and other rights defenders. According to an October 10 letter issued by the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN, Chen is a leading member of the Zhejiang provincial branch of the CDP. For more information on Chen and the CDP, see an earlier CECC analysis on Chen's detention.

Earlier this year, authorities used Article 105, the Criminal Law provision on subversion, to sentence other individuals who published essays on overseas Web sites. For example, Jiangsu authorities sentenced freelance writer Yang Tianshui in May to 12 years in prison for "subversion of state power," Guizhou authorities sentenced journalist Li Yuanlong in July to 2 years' imprisonment for "inciting subversion of state power," and Hebei authorities sentenced Internet essayist Guo Qizhen on October 9 to 4 years' imprisonment for "inciting subversion of state power." The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), in a report on its 2004 mission to China (available on the UNWGAD's Country Visits Web page), recommended that the Chinese government halt the use of vague, imprecise, or overly broad criminal law provisions such as "subverting state power" to punish peaceful expression, assembly, and religious practice.