Authorities Reduce Sentences of Six Political Prisoners, Release Three on Parole
The Chinese government has granted sentence reductions to six political prisoners, and released three others on parole, according to a report in the Fall 2006 issue of Dialogue, a newsletter published by The Dui Hua Foundation, and a September 26 Dui Hua press release. Authorities subsequently granted an additional reduction to one of the six prisoners and released him, according to a December 11 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report. The Dialogue report describes the prisoners as "high-profile cases of concern to the international community."
The Chinese government has granted sentence reductions to six political prisoners, and released three others on parole, according to a report in the Fall 2006 issue of Dialogue, a newsletter published by The Dui Hua Foundation, and a September 26 Dui Hua press release. Authorities subsequently granted an additional reduction to one of the six prisoners and released him, according to a December 11 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report. The Dialogue report describes the prisoners as "high-profile cases of concern to the international community." Dui Hua obtained the information during recent months, according to the report, which states: "Some of these sentence reductions were not previously reported by the Chinese government, even though it had the opportunity to do so in response to requests for information. Others reflect reductions given to prisoners who already served significant portions of exceptionally long prison sentences."
Although the Commission welcomes the news of the sentence reductions and early releases on parole, it remains deeply concerned that the Chinese government imprisons citizens for the peaceful exercise of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly. Dialogue also reports a sentence extension for a Tibetan prisoner, Jigme Gyatso, reflecting the government and Party's continued repressive policies toward the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. Information about the prisoners is available in the CECC Political Prisoner Database.
Sentence Reductions (in alphabetical order)
Hu Shigen, a labor and democracy activist, was detained in May 1992 for helping to establish the China Freedom and Democracy Party and the China Free Trade Union Preparatory Committee. After more than two years of detention, a Beijing intermediate people's court sentenced Hu in December 1994 to 20 years' imprisonment for "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary group" and "engaging in counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement." Both crimes were eliminated by the 1997 revision to the Criminal Law. Hu received the heaviest sentence of the 15 labor and democracy activists arrested around the same time and is held at Beijing No. 2 Prison, where he is reportedly in poor health. Officials granted him a seven-month sentence reduction on December 16, 2005, according to the Dialogue report, and he is due for release on October 26, 2011.
Liu Xianbin, a veteran political activist and a local China Democracy Party (CDP) organizer, was detained in Sichuan province in July 1999, according to Dui Hua and a Fall 2006 Human Rights in China (HRIC) report. In August, the Suining Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu to 13 years' imprisonment for subversion, a crime under Article 105 of the Criminal Law, as punishment for his activities on behalf of the banned CDP. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) reported (based on information that it received from the Chinese government after its September 2004 country visit to China) that the trial took place on August 7, 1999, and that Liu was also sentenced to three years' deprivation of political rights. Chinese officials reported recently that Liu received a one-year sentence reduction on May 21, 2004, according to the Dialogue report. He will be due for release from Chuandong Prison on July 6, 2011.
Ngawang Phuljung, a monk of Drepung Monastery, was detained in April 1989 and sentenced by the Lhasa Intermediate People's Court along with nine other Drepung monks at a public rally in November. His 19-year sentence was one of the longest imposed on the group of monks, and he is the longest-serving Tibetan who remains imprisoned for counterrevolutionary crimes. Ngawang Phuljung's crimes included "forming a counterrevolutionary organization," "spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda," "passing information to the enemy," and "crossing the border illegally and spying," according to a 1994 UNWGAD report that quoted an official Chinese response about the case. The UNWGAD report declared Ngawang Phuljung's detention arbitrary, and stated that the alleged espionage and betrayal of state secrets "consisted in fact in the exposure of cases of violations of human rights including their disclosure abroad." After serving more than 16 years of his sentence, Ngawang Phuljung received a six-month sentence reduction on September 22, 2005, and is due for release from Qushui Prison on October 18, 2007, according to the Dialogue report.
Xu Zerong, a senior research fellow at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences in Guangzhou and head of an independent publishing company in Hong Kong, was detained in June 2000, according to the September 26 Dui Hua press release. In December 2001, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu to a total of 13 years in prison for committing two crimes, according to a February 14, 2003, HRIC report. The court sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment for revealing state secrets by copying and sending historical material dating from the 1950s about the Korean War to researchers overseas, and 3 years' imprisonment for illegally operating a business by selling books and periodicals without officially issued book numbers. Revealing state secrets and illegally operating a business are crimes under Articles 111 and 225, respectively, of the Criminal Law. After the Guangdong High People's Court rejected Xu's appeal in December 2002, officials transferred him to Dongguan Prison, and then to Guangzhou Prison in 2004, according to the Dui Hua press release. Xu received a nine-month sentence reduction on an unknown date and is due for release on September 23, 2012.
Yue Tianxiang, a former driver at the state-owned Tianshui City Transport Company in Gansu province, was detained by Tianshui public security officials in January 1999 along with another driver after they distributed to the international press a letter they sent to President Jiang Zemin in late 1998, according to Dui Hua information and a June 4, 2006, China Labour Bulletin (CLB) report. The letter requested that Jiang take action to compel the company to provide unpaid wages to laid-off employees (including Yue), and to fulfill a ruling by the Tianshui Labor Disputes Arbitration Committee that the company should assist the former employees to find new jobs. Yue and his former coworker also set up the China Labor Monitor, a journal that published articles about labor rights-related issues. The Tianshui Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yue to 10 years' imprisonment in July 1999 on the charge of "subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105 of the Criminal Law, according to CLB. Yue received a one-year sentence reduction on March 23, 2005, and is due for release from Lanzhou Prison on January 8, 2008, according to the Dialogue report.
Sentence Reduction and Subsequent Release
The Dialogue report also noted that Chinese officials only recently reported that Gao Qinrong's 12-year sentence was reduced by 1 year and 9 months in 2002 and by 2 years in 2004, and that his release was expected on March 3, 2007. Authorities released Gao on December 7, 2006, after he received a third sentence reduction for good behavior, according to the RSF report. According to the Dialogue report, the Xinhua journalist was detained in December 1998, after exposing official corruption in connection with an irrigation project in Yuncheng city, Shanxi province. Authorities sentenced Gao to 12 years in prison in May 1999 for "accepting bribes, soliciting prostitutes, and fraud," according to a May 14, 2001, Legal Daily report. Gao's report led to national media coverage of the Yuncheng city scandal and members of the Communist Party-controlled Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference submitted a motion at its annual meeting in March 2001 to urge the Party Central Discipline Inspection Commission and Supreme People's Court to reopen Gao's case, according to a Committee to Protect Journalists report on December 1, 2005.
Releases on Parole (in alphabetical order)
Shao Liangchen, a leader of the Jinan Workers' Autonomous Federation in Shandong province during the May 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, was detained in June 1989, tried in September 1989 by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court on charges of "sabotaging communications equipment," and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to Dui Hua information and a CLB report. The court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in 1991 and to a 17-year fixed term in July 1994. Shao received three more sentence reductions, in 1998, 2000, and 2002. Officials released him from Shandong's Weihu Prison on medical parole on September 8, 2004, according to the Dialogue report. No information is available about the nature or severity of Shao's medical condition, and his sentence remained in force until it expired on November 4, 2006.
Yang Yong'e, a farmer living near Beijing, was detained in September 2002 for protesting the land requisition and resettlement policies implemented by the Tongzhou district government in connection with a development project in suburban Beijing. On March 28, 2003, the Tongzhou District People's Court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment on the charge of "gathering people to disturb public order," a crime under Article 290 of the Criminal Law. According to a report (in Chinese) posted on a Tongzhou district government Web site, her criminal activities included staging a sit-in, posting protest fliers and banners, organizing villagers, refusing to accept government propaganda, attacking officials, and disrupting traffic. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court rejected Yang's appeal in 2004. In response to a request for information about her case, the Chinese government revealed that she had been released on medical parole in January 2005, according to the Dialogue report. No information is available about the nature or severity of Yang's medical condition, and her sentence will remain in force during the parole period until it expires in September 2007.
Authorities detained Yao Jie in October 1999 and accused her of organizing an April 1999 rally of Falun Gong practitioners outside Zhongnanhai, the central government's leadership compound, according to Dui Hua. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yao on December 26, 1999, to seven years' imprisonment for crimes related to organizing and using a cult (as specified under Article 300 of the Criminal Law) and for illegal acquisition of state secrets, a crime under Article 282. According to the Dialogue report, Chinese press reported that authorities granted Yao medical parole on August 22, 2000, and released her from Beijing Women's Prison, but officials sent her back to prison on February 2, 2001. The Chinese government indicated in 2006 that they released Yao on parole on February 27, 2006, less than eight months before her sentence ended.
See the CECC 2006 Annual Report (in HTML or PDF format) for more information about the Chinese government's human rights practices, and about the imprisonment of Chinese citizens who attempt peacefully to exercise their rights under China's Constitution and laws, and under international human rights accords.