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Ten Petitioners and Rights Defenders Sentenced in Wake of Official Statistics on Decline of Petitions in China

29.09.2010

A court in Sichuan Province convicted ten petitioners and rights defenders of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order” in connection with a February 2009 protest they staged to draw attention to their previously unanswered petitions. The sentences, issued by the Shizhong District People’s Court of Leshan came just two days after the release of a government white paper on human rights stating that a 2.7 percent drop in the number of petitions in 2009 over the previous year indicated human rights progress.

The defendants are Bao Junsheng , Liu Jiwei ,Zeng Li ,Yang Jiurong,Zeng Rongkang, Xu Chongli , Huang Xiaomin, Yan Wenhan, Xing Qingxian, and Lu Dachun. Most of them are victims of forced eviction, inadequate compensation for land requisitioned by government authorities, and other injustices, and have been petitioning various authorities for several years for redress.

The sentences range from a three-year prison term to one year of surveillance by public security authorities. At trial, all but one of the defendants maintained their innocence, and asserted that the right to express their grievances through protest and the right to freedom of expression are guaranteed by Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution.

On Februrary 23, 2009, six of the defendants – Bao, Liu, Zeng, Yang, Zeng, and Xu – staged a protest outside the gate of the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court. Several dozen other petitioners joined them. Bao, Liu, and others hung banners from the top of the 3U Department Store across from the court and made gestures to jump from the building. Other protestors carried placards and wore paper hats emblazoned with the words “defend rights” and “injustice” .The protestors used iron chains to link themselves together in front of the gate of the court. As a result, the incident has come to be known as the “Chain Gate” case.

The other four defendants – Huang, Yan, Xing, and Lu – helped spread the news of the protest by taking photos and videos and writing a report that they circulated online on overseas websites such as 64 Tianwang (64tianwang.com), Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Boxun. The photos and videos show a peaceful protest. (See below for links to the photos and videos.)

Ran Tong , the lawyer for Lu, who received a two-year sentence, said: “The only weapon that [my client] had was the constitutional right to freedom of expression and to supervise and criticize the government. Depriving him of this weapon runs contrary to the promise made by our premier Wen Jiabao that the government ‘should create opportunities for the people to supervise and criticize the government’ ”

Huang Xiaoqin, the sister of Huang Xiaomin, a rights defense activist, said that her brother intends to appeal. “They gave him such a heavy sentence [two years and six months] because he was the one who broke the story of the protest on the Internet, and that enraged the authorities.”

“Among the netizen comments we have seen in reaction to the Chinese government’s just-released Human Rights White Paper, by far the greatest number expressed dismay and disbelief at the claim that a decline in the number of petitions is an indication of human rights progress in China. This case perhaps shows us the real reason contributing to the decline,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC Executive Director. “Instead of addressing the grievances of petitioners, the authorities simply lock them away.”

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