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China Convicts Prominent Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang of Speech Violations While Nominated for Columbia 2016 Global Freedom of Expression Award

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A court in Beijing convicted Pu Zhiqiang, one of China’s foremost human rights lawyers, of crimes early on December 22, 2015 because of comments he posted online. The court sentenced Pu to three years in prison, but, according to the BBC, said that the sentence would be suspended.

The charges against the lawyer essentially equate the exercise of freedom of expression with criminal activity. Ironically, Pu frequently appeared in court on behalf of clients to advocate for freedom of expression and freedom of information.

The Chinese government claims that Pu, in seven Twitter-like posts on Weibo “created disturbances” or “provoked ethnic relations” in his criticism of the Chinese rulers or political conditions, according to Human Rights Watch, which lambasted the charges against Pu.

Last month, an international working group of individuals nominated Pu Zhiqiang for the 2016 Global Freedom of Expression Award at Columbia University in New York. The international working group is comprised of more than a dozen writers, activists, scholars, legal observers and concerned citizens living in four countries.

Pu is known for his tenacious defense of writers, publishers, artists and activists in China whose commentary has made them targets of the government. Among his most famous clients is the artist Ai Weiwei.

Pu served as defense attorney in 2004 to Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, authors of a book, An Investigation of Chinese Peasants, about cases of excessive taxation by local Communist Party officials. The couple was charged with libel. Unusually, the trial judge decided not to issue a verdict. Washington Post reporter Philip P. Pan wrote about the case in his 2009 book Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China, describing how Pu’s masterful arguments for his clients completely shifted the focus in the courtroom to government misdeeds.

In another 2004 case, Pu successfully defended China Reform magazine from a real estate developer who accused the publication of libel. The Chinese court determined that journalists cannot be held liable legally as long as they base their stories on information obtained from reasonably reliable sources.

Pu received a bachelor’s degree in history from Nankai University in 1986, and LL.M. degree from China University of Political Science and Law in 1991. He joined the pro-democracy movement in 1989, and, as he wrote in an article for the New York Review of Books, would return each year to Tiananmen Square to commemorate the June 4th massacre.

The working group that nominated Pu for the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression Award includes Liao Yiwu, writer and former political prisoner; Jim Glanzer, Manager, Bruder Capital in New York City and Columbia MBA graduate; Han Lianchao, Vice President, Initiatives for China; Andrew Nathan, Columbia University Professor of Political Science; Yang Jianli, President, Initiatives for China; Rose Tang, author and Tiananmen Massacre survivor; Tienchi Martin Liao, former president Independent Chinese PEN; Wang Tiancheng, former lecturer Peking University Law School and a Pu client; Chu Hailan, translator and democracy activist; Liu Wei, human rights law activist in China; Herbert Wiesner, author and former German PEN Centre Secretary General; Liu Nianchun, poet and democracy activist and former political prisoner. (Full disclosure: I am one of the signatories, as well.) Other nominators on the working group are anonymous for reasons related to geography or political sensitivity.

Journalists attempting to cover Pu’s trial on December 14, 2015 reported that they were pushed away by guards and plainclothes officers. Pu was detained in May 2014after attending a meeting about the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989, a topic that is censored in China. He has been held in custody for 19 months, despite diabetes and other adverse health conditions. Pu’s entire trial lasted three hours.

In 2009, China waited until December 25, a quiet day for Western media, to announce an especially harsh 11-year sentence for Liu Xiaobo, the well-known freedom of speech advocate in China, former president of Independent Chinese PEN and a leading drafter of the democracy manifesto, Charter 08. Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize one year later for his peaceful pursuit of human rights in China, but is still held incommunicado in a Chinese prison. His spouse, Liu Xia, has been held in isolated house detention ever since.

This is the second year of the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression Award. Last year’s winners were announced in March. (The awards went to Media Legal Defence Initiative for its work in Burkina Faso, the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe for striking down the offence of criminal defamation, and the Constitutional Court of Turkey for lifting bans on Twitter and YouTube.)

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression was launched in 2014 “to advance understanding of the international and national norms and institutes that best protect the free flow of information and expression in an interconnected global community,” according to its website. Dr. Agnès Callamard, a human rights expert and former director of the organization ARTICLE 19, is executive director.

Letter to UN Women from the Defense Attorneys for the Feminist Five

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By Defense Attorneys for the Feminist Five in China                                                  Sept 23, 2015

The Honorable UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,

We are a group of Chinese human rights lawyers, who are also the defense attorneys for the five young Chinese feminist activists detained by the police in March, 2015 (Wei Tingting, Zheng Churan, Wu Rongrong, Li Tingting and Wang Man). On the eve of the 2015 International Women’s Day, they were detained by the police authorities under the allegation of “Picking Quarrels and Making Trouble” as they were planning to organize activities to prevent sexual harassment on public transportations. Although they were released on bail in April thanks to the vigorous support of domestic and international communities, the police have not yet revoked this apparently wrong case.

As their defense attorneys, after we got involved in this case, we found that the three activities that the police was accusing them of, namely the “March 7th Stickers Against Sexual Harassment”, “Occupy Men’s Toilets” and “Blood-tainted Brides”,  were neither illegal nor criminal. More importantly, we found that the police officers in charge of this case had conducted many behaviors that violate the laws in China as well as international human rights laws. Therefore over the past six months, the Feminist Five and us have reported and appealed to relevant government departments in China in written words for multiple times, demanding the police to revoke the criminal charges and demanding the Procuratorate to supervise this case.

However, these actions and written texts met with no responses from any relevant departments. On the contrary, ever since the Feminist Five were released on bail, they have been continuously investigated and surveilled as criminal suspects, their travelling and social activities have been restricted, and they cannot return to their work at NGO. At the same time, a number of NGOs in China were affected by this case: Their normal activities were restricted and harassed; their employees were threatened; some organizations were even forced to shut down; several supporters and volunteers were prohibited from international travelling and were newly listed as criminal suspects, two of whom have been arrested on unwarranted ground.

On July 7th, 2015, the “Five Feminist Sisters” wrote to both of you, hoping to get attention and help, but have not received any replies. On September 27th, UN Women will co-host the global women’s summit with the Chinese government. The president of People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, is going to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony. We want to remind UN Women  that as the Procuratorate in China have refused to approve the arrest of the “Five Feminist Sisters,” it is not difficult for the police to revoke this case. However, on the occasion of the forthcoming opening of the global women’s summit, the Feminist Five are still being treated as “criminal suspects” . This is abusive police power, which could be easily interpreted by the general public as humiliation against any effort of the global women’s rights communities to advocate for the release of the Feminist Five in April.  Co-hosting such event with the Chinese government will render UN Women questioned by the public that UN Women is not committed to promoting women’s rights and empowerment, but rather working as an accomplice to the abusive police. Remaining silent on the current situation will easily confirm such interpretation.

As the defense attorneys for the “Five Feminist Sisters,” we are now writing to you not only to explain the situation of this case and to express our opinions as lawyers, more importantly we want to ask for your attention to our clients’ request for help, to help our clients, and in particular taking the opportunity of this global women’s summit to raise concrete opinions and suggestions to the Chinese government. Here are our demands for the UN Women:

  1. Please pay attention to the living conditions of the Feminist Five;
  2. Based on the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, please voice your opinions on the Feminist Five case in fulfillment of your duty as an international organization;
  3. The persecution of China’sFeminist Five by the police is one of the most significant events against the global women’s rights community this year. No matter how much UN Women could actually help the five sisters, at least it should respond to their request for help to avoid blemishing its honorable history.

Finally, we’d like to express our sincere gratitude to both of you, and we hope to hear from you soon.

 

Defense Attorneys for the Feminist Five in China:

Ge Wenxiu: +86-18028627307

Liu Shuqing: +86-13355415256

Yan Xin: +86-13601297308

Lv Zhoubin: +86-13968096061

Wu Kuiming: +86-13006881043

Chen Jinxue: +86-13826002506

“Aboveground- 40 Moments of Transformation” ; A Photography exhibtion of young feminist activism in China

Few of Feminist groups hold event at LES Gallery on September 27, 2015.

WRIC director Jing Zhang is being interviewed by a VOA reporter. Jing Zhang says the President Xi Jinpang persecuting feminism and NGO groups in China was worse than the previous CCP leaders.

 

105 Feminists Calling on the Release of Women’s Rights/ Human Rights Lawyers

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By WRIC                    26th August, 2015

Since the crackdowns began on 9th July, 2015, 17 human rights lawyers, lawyers’ assistants and law firm staff have remained in detention. Although “verdict” has been given by CCTV and the state media that these people  are “guilty of defending human rights”, and yet for their family members and for the public, they are regarded as disappeared  because no one knows where they are, let alone protecting their legal rights such as that of meeting their lawyers. We have learnt at the same time that by 18:00, 21 August 2015, another 241 people have been summoned by the police and warned not to take part in any solidarity action.  Among them, 124 are lawyers.

Under the pressure to keep silent, any attempt to express solidarity with the detained lawyers could be risky and is difficult to make known. Nonetheless, activists in China have tried relay their messages by various means. Since 30th July, 2015, an appeal letter “Forward the Women’s Rights Drift Bottle: Calling On The Release Of Women’s Rights/ Human Rights Lawyers” has been put in circulation discreetly.

As of 12:00, 24th August, 2015, a total of 105 feminists have signed the petition. Among them, 55 are from 14 provinces across China, 24 from Japan, 8 from Europe, 7 from North America, 4 from Hong Kong, 3 from Taiwan and 4 from other countries.

Moreover, the parents of the victims of the Jiangxi Sexual Abuse of Young Girls’ Case, which was represented by Wang Yu, one of the detained lawyers, have also released a public statement.

 

Alliance of the Women’s Rights Advocacy: Human Rights Lawyers have strived For Women’s Rights Cases

According to the petition letter, human rights lawyers have been important allies to the feminist movement. “Wang Yu, who was arrested recently, had handled many cases on women’s rights, such as the Jiujiang case in Jiangxi in which young female students were sexually assaulted by her teacher, the Hainan case in which young girls were sexually abused by their headmaster, and the Yiyang case in Hunan in which girls were molested by their teacher.

“During the ‘16 days of Activism against Gender  Violence’ campaign last year, Wang Yu arranged  visited the Ministry of Education with a list of recommendations on the setting up of a response mechanism for cases of sexual abuses in schools.” The letter also noted other examples such as “lawyer Li Heping who had handled cases related to forced family planning in Linyin of Shandong, and  lawyer Wang Quanzhang  who had represented the case of Bian Xiaohui, a post-90s girl from the Hebei province who was not allowed to see her father in prison..”

This petition letter has been initiated by a group of anonymous feminists. They believe that “as feminists, we care about various issues related to women’s rights in this country. Human rights lawyers like Wang Yu have been defending rights in accordance with the law.  They are in pursuit of justice, and have been striving, selflessly and fearlessly, to promote women’s equal rights. Now when they are secretly detained, in contravention of the statutory legal procedures, and when their family members are treated inhumanely, we do not want to just stand by and look on.

 

Undercurrent In The Storm: Forwarding The Women’s Rights Drift Bottle

In the petition letter, the feminists have demanded:

  1. The immediate and unconditional release of all detained lawyers and other relevant parties;
  2. That all detainees can enjoy their legal rights, including but not limited to  immediate family notification  regarding their detention and meeting their  defense lawyers;
  3. That no one should be put under secret detention and or tortured;
  4. That all defamatory and smearing reports and coverages without support of any evidence should be stopped.
  5. That the civil society as a whole should continue to follow the crackdowns and respective development.

Taking into consideration the concerns for security,  the initiators of the campaign have designed two ways for the public to join. The first one is to encourage the public to repost this petition to Weibo, Weixin, and any other social media that they use, and then forward it to 3-5 friends and encourage them to help spread the message. The other one is to send relevant personal information to a gmail address or to fill in a Google doc form. People in China need to use VPN to access the form if they want to try the second method.

The initiators also emphasized in the petition that “To our knowledge,  forwarding unoriginal information via social media has by far not led to any calls for interviews by the authorities.  We can always find space to spread our message, to make ourselves heard and to counter the monopoly of the state media.

It is reported that the petition has been widely shared on social media and  so far 105 people have co-signed.

 

Parents of victims of sexual abuse released a statement: “lawyers helped us according to the law”

The parents of victims of the Jiangxi Sexual Abuse of Young Girls’ Case released a statement concerning the detention of lawyer Wang Yu on 24th August, 2015.

In the statement, the parents described lawyer Wang Yu as follows. “She is a kind-hearted rights defense lawyer, with a strong sense of justice and integrity. Wang Yu lent a helping hand to us when we were most isolated, confused and desperate. She provided us with legal services and rendered us big help in resolving our difficulties in daily life.  Lawyer Wang Yu has always followed the laws and regulations when she handled the cases. She never aided and abetted or incited her clients to go against the law, let alone any attempt to possibly endanger the state security. She has been making full use of the law and worked within the legal framework to bring maximum benefits for the victims.

The parents also wrote in the statement that as clients who have received her generous help, they could be the witnesses to lawyer Wang’s professionalism and were obliged to  express their deep concern in this matter. “We hope the authorities will abide by the laws and related regulations in their investigations, and that they will fully respect and protect Wang Yu’s basic rights.”

The authors of the petition have at the same time expressed their worries about the safety of Wang Yu’s family members. They call on the authorities to ensure the implementation of “rule according to law”, to respect the facts and  be serious in listening to people voice. They should work to uphold justice for the innocents.

 

The situation of human rights lawyers is worrying: residential surveillance can be reduced to black jails

It is reported that by 18:00 on 21 August 2015, at least 276 lawyers, law firm staff, human right activists, and family members have been detained, arrested, held incommunicado, summoned, restricted freedom temporarily or prevented from leaving the country

Lawyers alleged as “endangering national security” include Wang Yu, Wang Quanzhang, Liu Sixin, Sui Muqing, Xie Yang, Xie Yuandong, Zhao Wei and Gao Yue. Among them, only Liu Sixin and Zhao Wei’s locations of detention are known to the public. Wang Yu, Sui Muqing, Xie Yang, Xie Yuandong, Zhao Wei and Gao Yue were put under residential surveillance at designated location. Past reports indicated that “residential surveillance at designated location” might subject detainees to be held in “black jails” and face the risks of torture and ill-treatment.

None of the above detained lawyers has been allowed to meet with their lawyers by the time this press release is sent out.

Furthermore, the children of lawyer Wang Yu and Li Heping have been banned from leaving the country.

 

[For Enquires, please contact]

K Chan （China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group）：+852-2388-1377

 

[Attachments]

  1. Reports on women-rights cases taken up by women’s rights/human rights lawyers
  2. Forwarding the Women’s Rights Drift Bottle, calling on the release of women’s rights/ human rights lawyers
  3. A Statement Concerning the Detention of Lawyer Wang Yu by the Parents of the Jiangxi Sexual Abuse of Young Girls’ Case

 

【Attachment 1】: Reports on women-rights cases taken up by women’s rights/human rights lawyers

20140718 Oriental Morning News: Jiangxi Sexually-Abused Girls Sued The Bureau Of Education, and Lawyers’ Cellphones Confiscated Before The Trial

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-07-18/114330541357.shtml

20131019 Xinhua Net:　Jiangxi Teacher Who Sexually Abused 7 Girls Sentenced To 14 Years Of Imprisonment, 6 Girls Suffered From Venereal Disease

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2013-10-19/150928477731.shtml

20130822 Xinhua Net: Follow Up Of The Case Of The Principal Having Sex With Girls in Wanning Hainan: Hard For The Victims To Go Out Of The Psychological Shadow

http://www.hq.xinhuanet.com/news/2013-08/22/c_117056668.htm

20130717 Beijing Times: 5 lawyers who applied for information on the case of two girls starving to death in Nanjing got replies – unable to provide the information

http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2013-07/17/c_125021362.htm

 

【Attachment 2】:Forwarding the Women’s Rights Drift Bottle, calling on the release of women’s rights/ human rights lawyers

https://www.facebook.com/chinesefeminists/posts/495474730609279

 

【Attachment 3】:A Statement Concerning the Detention of Lawyer Wang Yu by the Parents of the Jiangxi Sexual Abuse of Young Girls’ Case

Lawyer Wang Yu served as defense counsel for the young girls who were sexual abused by one of the schoolteachers in Ruichang, Jiangxi.

Lawyer Wang fully complies with the relevant laws and regulations in the case all the time. Wang has never urged or incited the parties to engage in illegal activities, Wang is always making full use of the existing law and the legal framework to help the victims to fight for their legal rights and interests.

Lawyer Wang is a kind-hearted rights defense lawyer, with a strong sense of justice and integrity. Wang Yu lent a helping hand to us at the moment when we were most isolated, confused and desperate, and she even provided the victims with material support.Lawyer Wang Yu has helped us to fight for our rights and safeguard justice, she helped us without reservations. With her generous help, our cases have a better outcome and all the victims’ parents are very grateful.

Since Lawyer Wangyu is in danger and suffering now, as clients who has received her generous help and witness of her excellent professional skills, we must express our serious concern. We would like to remind the relevant departments to obey laws and related regulations, to fully protect the suspect’s basic rights and interests.

We are shocked to learn that Wang Yu is currently held under ‘residential surveillance at a designated place’ and has been denied of access to lawyers for having ‘endangered’ the state security, her husband Bao Longjun is detained and even their only son Bao Mengmeng who is just 16 years old and totally unrelated with this case is also under surveillance. As parents of teenagers ourselves, we feel a strong anger and pain about Bao Mengmeng’s great physical and mental suffering, so we urge the departments that are handling this case to stop getting the innocent boy involved in any form, including making threats, intimidating and limiting his personal freedom.

Moreover, concerning the smearing of Wang’s reputation by some of the official media, we urge the investigating authorities to work in accordance with the law, to investigate the facts thoroughly, to listen to people’s opinion, and to uphold justice firmly.

The family of victims in Jiangxi sexual abuse case

2015.08.24