Dissidents in China detained and harassed

By Jun Xing, October Review (Hong Kong), Vol.22 no.4, 31 October 1995

Dissidents in China are still being arbitrarily detained and oppressed. Here are some latest instances.

In the spring of 1995, a group of intellectuals publicized an open letter to the National People's Congress and the state leadership appealing for political democratization and release of dissidents in jail. Many of the petitioners were detained for interrogation and henceforth locked up. They included Wang Dan, the well known student leader of 1989, and Liu Nianchun who has been involved in the movement for democracy since 1978.

Chen Ziming, the alleged black hand of the 1989 movement, is another example of persistent persecution. He has also actively participated in the movement for democracy since 1978, at that time editor of the samizdat journal Beijing Spring. In 1989, the Communist Party blamed intellectuals for instigating the mass revolt, and Chen Ziming was sentenced to jail for 13 years. In jail, he was found to have cancer, and was allowed to return home for medical treatment in May 1994. He had an operation then, and was still under medication when he and his wife Wang Zhihong signed some petition letters urging for democratization and he was once again thrown into jail this year. In jail, he was refused medication, and his health severely deteriorated.

The authorities even froze the couple's bank account and put them in a stranded financial situation. In early October, Chen Ziming went on a hunger strike for over 10 days. His family applied to the Public Security Bureau for permission to hold a demonstration to appeal for his release for medical treatment, but the application was rejected. Wang Zhihong and Chen Ziming's sister Chen Zihua were even detained for several days.

Another instance is Bao Guo. In June 1994, he petitioned the Shanghai Municipal Government requesting permission for him to form a human rights organization, and he was then arrested and sentenced without trial to three years in the labour re-education camp. He is guilty of attempting to exercise the right of association guaranteed by the Constitution.

As for the well known dissident Wei Jingsheng, he was sentenced to jail for 15 years merely because he wrote some articles criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. He was released from prison six months before the expiry of the prison term, at a time when China was bidding for hosting the Olympics 2000. Soon afterwards, Wei Jingsheng was arrested again and it has been over one and a half years, but his whereabout is still unknown. His family made enquiries but did not obtain any explicit reply. On October 24, when Shen Guofang, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was asked by journalists about Wei, he said, the judicial authorities will announce this at an appropriate time. Of course, such a long detention is a violation of PRC's own Law on Criminal Prosecution.

When Shen Guofang was also asked about the case of Wang Zhihong and Chen Zihua being taken away by the police, his answer was: the fact that they were taken away by the Public Security people itself shows that they have committed illegal acts.

In New York, Jiang Zemin, the General Secretary of the CCP and the President of the PRC, spoke in a luncheon meeting and acknowledged that there are some cases of violations of human rights in the social life of our country, but the Chinese government has always taken a staunch position against these violations, and has redressed them according to law. He even added that we have always insisted that no-one will be found guilty or penalized for their speech. With these words, Jiang Zemin flatly denied all the persecutions of dissidents and violations of citizens' constitutional rights in all these years of CCP rule and which are still continuing.

15 October 1995