Authorities in Jiangsu Arrest Writer Yang Tianshui on Suspicion of Subversion

November 28, 2006

Public security officials in Zhenjiang city, Jiangsu province, have arrested freelance writer Yang Tongyan (also known as Yang Tianshui) on suspicion of "subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105(1) of the Criminal Law, according to a January 30 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) press release citing unnamed sources. Public security officials in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province, detained Yang on December 23.

Public security officials in Zhenjiang city, Jiangsu province, have arrested freelance writer Yang Tongyan (also known as Yang Tianshui) on suspicion of "subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105(1) of the Criminal Law, according to a January 30 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) press release citing unnamed sources. Public security officials in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province, detained Yang on December 23. On January 28 the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) reported that Yang's family received a notice of the arrest on January 27. Dated January 22, the notice disclosed that the arrest took place on January 20, and that authorities are holding Yang at the Dantu District Detention Center, according to a January 31 Radio Free Asia report.

According to CPJ, authorities have held Yang without access to a lawyer or contact with his family since his detention, and have denied him access to a lawyer on the grounds that the case involves state secrets. In an interview with the Epoch Times, Li Jianqiang, a lawyer and ICPC member in Shandong who has represented other people detained for their writings, and who has been retained to represent Yang, explained:

In political cases in mainland China, it is typical to not allow the lawyer to get involved during the period of investigation; this is a tacitly understood unwritten rule. Public security typically uses [the excuse of involving state secrets]. Actually, in many cases the issue doesn't exist, but under present conditions it is not even possible to verify whether a case involves state secrets.

Once public security authorities detain someone, they have a maximum of 37 days (including a 7-day arrest authorization period) during which they must get approval from the procuratorate to make a formal arrest. After that, the case remains in a period of public security investigation, which generally lasts 45 days (but can be extended in special circumstances). After the case has been transferred to the procuratorate, the "examination before prosecution" stage begins, and at this point the lawyer may meet directly with the client, and does not need public security or procuratorate approval.

According to the ICPC, Yang (who is also an ICPC member) served a 10-year prison sentence from 1990 through 2000 after being convicted of "counterrevolution," a crime set forth under Chapter 1 of the 1979 Criminal Law, but eliminated in the 1997 Criminal Law revisions. Yang was one of at least nine prominent intellectuals and activists whom Chinese authorities either detained or imprisoned in November and December 2004. Authorities detained Yang on December 24, 2004, in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, but released him on bail on January 24, 2005. Yang's current detention appears to be unrelated to that incident.