IDHAE Observatoire sans frontières des violations des droits de la défense et des droits de l’homme des avocats dans le monde

Au service des avocats depuis 1984

APPEL URGENT

CHINE

10 juin 2013

Ding Jiaxi et des militants anti-corruption officiellement arrêtés encourent une peine

allant jusqu’à 15 ans de prison.

Plus d’une douzaine de militants anti-corruption à Pékin et dans la province de Jiangxi ont été arrêtés entre fin mars et fin mai, après avoir participé à, ou organisé des manifestations appelant les dignitaires du gouvernement à révéler leur patrimoine. Depuis le 7 mai, neuf militants – dont Ding Jiaxi,– ont été officiellement arrêtés. Ding Jiaxi est détenu au centre de détention n°3 à Pékin. Les chefs d’accusations incluent «rassemblement illégal», «incitation à la subversion du pouvoir de l’État», «trouble de l’ordre social» et «détournement». L’incitation à la subversion peut entraîner une peine allant jusqu’à 15 ans de prison et les autres infractions entraînent jusqu’à 5 ans. Le 31 mars, la police a arrêté quatre militants à Pékin pour avoir brandi des banderoles comportant dans slogans tels que «demandons aux dignitaires de révéler publiquement leur patrimoine» et «à moins de mettre un terme à la corruption des dignitaires, le ‘rêve chinois’ ne sera qu’une rêverie» sur la place Xidan dans district de Xicheng à Pékin. Par la suite, les autorités de Pékin ont aussi incarcéré des militants suspectés d’avoir participé à, et organisé la campagne, dont l’avocat Ding Jiaxi, l’universitaire Sun Hanhui, l’écrivain Zhao Changqing, le militant Li Wei et le militant Qi Yueying. Ils ont été placés en détentions préventives pour «rassemblement illégal». Bien que l’article 35 de la constitution chinoise garantisse le droit des citoyens à se rassembler, la loi de 1989 sur les rassemblements, les processions et les manifestations (loi sur les rassemblements) et les règles d’application de 1992, mettent en avant une série de restrictions qui lorsqu’elles sont appliquées, empêchent pratiquement les citoyens d’exercer leur droit. En vertu de ces règles, toutes les manifestations doivent être approuvées par la police; toutefois, en pratique, la police n’approuve que très rarement les manifestations, et particulièrement celles qui semblent critiques vis-à-vis du gouvernement. Dans certains cas, les personnes qui demandent l’approbation du gouvernement ne se voient pas seulement interdire de manifester, elles sont aussi harcelées ou détenues pour avoir demandé. Depuis qu’il a pris officiellement le pouvoir en mars 2013, le président Xi Jinping affirme que lutter contre la corruption est l’une de ses priorités. Toutefois, les militants chinois et les citoyens font campagne pour que le gouvernement aille plus loin et adopte une loi obligeant les membres du gouvernement à révéler leur patrimoine. En décembre 2012, un groupe d’intellectuels a rédigé une pétition appelant les membres du comité central du Parti communiste chinois à révéler leur patrimoine ; plus de 7000 personnes ont signé. Les militants ont aussi déployé des banderoles et distribué des tracts dans tout le pays, et ils ont encouragé la participation à cette vaste campagne nationale pour que le patrimoine soit révélé.

À travers le pays, les militants ont fait part de leur soutien envers les personnes récemment arrêtées à Pékin et dans la province de Jiangxi. Plusieurs avocats ont organisé des équipes pour offrir des conseils juridiques et représenter ces individus, et à Shanghai and Pékin, les militants se sont rassemblés et ont déployé des banderoles appelant à la libération des détenus. Un groupe d’activistes connus impliqués dans cette campagne a adressé une lettre ouverte au gouvernement chinois l'appelant à libérer les militants et à mettre en place des politiques en faveur de la révélation du patrimoine.

MERCI POUR VOTRE ACTION EN FAVEUR DE DING JIAXI.

CHINA

10 June 2013

Ding Jiaxi and anti-corruption activists now officially arrested for ‘illegal assembly’

are facing 15 years in prison. Chinese authorities have detained at least a half-dozen in what appears to be a crackdown targeting a campaign to publicize the financial assets of top government officials. Human rights groups named six supporters of the New Citizens Movement who they said had been rounded up by security forces in several waves starting on April 1. Among them were Ding Jiaxi, a human rights lawyer, and Zhao Changqing, a former student leader from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. More than a dozen anti-corruption activists in Beijing and Jiangxi Province were detained between late March and late May after participating in or organizing demonstrations calling for government officials to publicly disclose their assets. Since May 7, 10 of the 15 have been formally arrested, indicating that they are likely to be prosecuted and convicted. The charges against the 15 include “illegal assembly,” “inciting subversion of state power,” “disturbing social order,” and “extortion.” The crime of inciting subversion carries up to 15 years in prison, while the other crimes have an upward penalty of five years in prison. On March 31, police detained four activists in Beijing: journalist Hou Xin, securities trader Yuan Dong, retiree Zhang Baocheng, and bus driver-turned-inventor Ma Xinli. They were detained for “illegal assembly” after holding large banners with slogans such as “require officials to publicly disclose assets” and “unless we put an end to corrupt officials, the ‘China Dream’ can only be daydreams,” in Xidan Cultural Plaza in Beijing’s Xicheng district. In the following days, Beijing authorities also took into custody activists who are suspected of having participated in or organized the campaign, including lawyer Ding Jiaxi, legal scholar Sun Hanhui, writer Zhao Changqing, activist Li Wei and activist Qi Yueying. With the exception of Qi Yueying, who was detained for “extortion,” the rest were taken into custody for “illegal assembly.”Since May 7, Ding Jiaxi and eight of these activists have been formally arrested. He is held in Beijing No.3 Detention Center. Although article 35 of the Chinese constitution guarantees citizens’ right to assembly, the 1989 Law on Assembly, Procession, and Demonstration (the Assembly Law), and the 1992 implementing regulations, outline a series of restrictive requirements that in application effectively bar citizens from exercising the right. Under the regulations, all demonstrations must be approved by the police; however, in practice, police in China rarely approve public protests, particularly ones that seem likely to be critical of the government. In some instances, people who apply for approval are not only denied permission, but are also harassed or detained for making the application. Since formally assuming power in March 2013, President Xi Jinping has described fighting corruption as one of his top priorities. However, Chinese activists and citizens are campaigning for the government to go further, urging that it pass a law requiring government officials to disclose their assets. In December 2012, a group of intellectuals drafted a public letter calling on Chinese Communist Party Central Committee

members to disclose their assets; over 7,000 people signed. Activists have also displayed banners and handed out fliers across the country, and encouraged participation in this loosely organized, national “asset disclosure campaign.” Activists across the country have demonstrated support for those recently detained in Beijing and Jiangxi Province. A number of lawyers have organized teams of lawyers to offer legal advice and representation to these individuals, and in Shanghai and Beijing, petitioners gathered and displayed banners calling for the release of these activists. A group of well-known activists involved in the asset disclosure campaign issued a public letter to the Chinese government to call for the government to release the activists and implement the asset disclosure policies.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION FOR DING JIAXI.

Agissez en faveur de Ding Jiaxi. Copiez la lettre ci-dessous et envoyez-la à l'adresse indiquée. Target adresses: President Xi Jinping The State Council General Office 2 Fuyoujie Xichengqu 100017 Pékin République populaire de Chine + 86 10 6307 0900

[Your name here] Mr. Xi Jingping, President of the People’s Republic of China, At a time when all walks of life in China are still interpreting President’s Xi Jingping’s new concept of “the China Dream” with greatest goodwill, we are shocked to hear that the Beijing Public Security Bureau has criminally detained ten citizens with absurd excuses. They are human rights lawyer Ding

Jiaxi (丁家喜), Zhao Changqing (赵常), Sun Huihan (孙含会), Yuan Dong (袁冬), Zhang Baocheng (张

宝成), Hou Xin (侯欣), Ma Xinli (马新立), Wang Yonghong (王永红) and Li Wei (李蔚). Anyone can

tell, that their real “crime” is nothing but demanding wealth disclosure by government officials. What Ding Jiaxi Zhao Changqing, and their fellow citizens demand is what all Chinese people demand. Asset disclosure by government officials is a common practice in all civilized nations, and an instrumental measure in preventing bureaucratic corruption. It is in line with President Xi’s “China Dream”, which calls for implementation of the Constitution and the revival of the Chinese nation. Their words and deeds are not only exercises of their civil rights, as guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, but also embody the most rare and valuable civic spirit. If you truly intend to realize the China Dream, people like Zhao Changqing and Ding Jiaxi should be honored as model citizens, instead of being persecuted. In China today, millions of government officials are greedy and corrupted. Violations of citizen’s rights are a common occurrence. A mass protest happens every three minutes on average. When you came into power, you have chosen to carry on the stability-maintenance mechanism that your predecessors created. You continue to monitor and suppress your own people as if they were enemies and have successfully turned them into “enemies”. Many people have become opponents of the government and China’s political system, such as dissidents, independent intellectuals, rights-defense lawyers, farmers whose lands were taken from them, victims of forced demolition, victims of forced abortion, veterans, workers

who were laid off, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Christians, Falungong practitioners and even many retired party cadres. Commenting on Mikhail Gorbachev’s dissolution of the Soviet Communist Party, President Xi recently famously said “A Party of such a size, there were no men (to resist).” When we look at the grave reality in China today, we can’t help but make a similar comment. There are no men in China’s top leadership to take up the historic responsibility and introduce fundamental political changes in China. There are no men in the leadership who truly care about the welfare of millions of Chinese people. On the other hand, true men or women who fight for a better China are either imprisoned or forced into exile, including

Zhao Changqing (赵常青), Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜), Sun Hanhui (孙含会), Yuan Dong (袁冬), Zhang

Baocheng (张宝成), Hou Xin (侯欣), Ma Xinli (马新立), Wang Yonghong (王永红), Li Wei (李蔚), Liu

Xiaobo (刘晓波), Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), Wang Binzhang (王炳章), Yang Tianshui (杨天水), Liu

Xianbin (刘贤斌), Chen Wei (陈卫), Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫), Chen Xi (陈昕) and Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚

). So, please tell us gentlemen, how are you going to revive the Chinese nation? We sincerely hope that the arrests of these ten citizens are simply mistakes made by low-level police, who continued the past practice out of habit. If that is the case, please do what is required by your position and by the laws in China. Please release them immediately and apologize for your mistakes. It will be the first step of positive interaction between the government and the civil society. You will gain people’s trust and make the most out of a simple mistake. However, if you have endorsed the arrests of these wonderful citizens, Initiative for China, along with many other human rights organizations throughout the world, will get to the bottom of this issue. This will be the first case of human rights violation under the new leadership of the Chinese government. We will file a complaint with the United Nations’ human rights bodies and urge the international community to sanction the perpetrators.

[Signature]

L' bservatoire sans frontières des violations des droits de la défense et des droits de l’homme des avocats dans le monde

Institut des Droits de l’Homme des Avocats Européens European Bar Human Rights Institute

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