Sentencing of Mrs. Liu Jie to Re-Education Through Labour (RTL)

November 14, 2007

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention on the following situation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by “Chinese Human Rights Defenders” (CRD) about the sentencing of Mrs. Liu Jie, an activist for the rights to complain and to seek justice, to Re-Education Through Labour (RTL).

According to the information received, on November 12, 2007, Mrs. Liu Jie’s husband was informed by the Beian Nongken Detention Centre that his wife was sentenced to 18 months of Re-Education Through Labour (RTL) by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of the Beian City Military Farm Bureau (Nongken) in Heilongjiang Province. RTL is an administrative detention measure according to which, without any proper legal procedures or court proceedings, the PSB can send individuals to detention facilities for a maximum of four years. Detainees sent to RTL are deprived of their rights to legal counsel and appeal.

Mrs. Liu is currently detained at the Beian Nongken Detention Centre.

On October 13, 2007, Mrs. Liu Jie was officially detained for suspicion of “instigating trouble” and “gathering crowds to disturb social order”, on the basis of Article 61 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which pertains to the initial detention of “major suspects” or “active offenders”. Her family obtained her formal detention order from the PSB of the Beian City Military Farm Bureau (Nongken). Mrs. Liu was the lead organiser of a public letter signed by 12,150 petitioners calling on the Chinese Communist Party leaders to implement political and legal reforms on the eve of the 17th Party Congress.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about the sentencing and arbitrary detention of Mrs. Liu Jie and recalls that the denial of her rights to due process, free and fair trial and legal counsel is a flagrant violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 9), which China has signed but not yet ratified, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 9-11). Her detention is also a flagrant violation of the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular of its article 6c, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to study, discuss, form and hold opinions in the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”.

The Observatory also fears for Mrs. Liu’s physical and psychological integrity as an increasing number of human rights defenders have been subjected to torture or ill-treatments by the authorities over the past years.

Background information:

On October 11, 2007, Mrs. Liu was arrested by Beijing police around noon as she was leaving some friends at Beijing Zhong Ding Village, near the South Train Station. She was taken to the nearby You-an Men police station where her cell phone was confiscated. Police officers then put her in a car and drove away.

She and other organisers spent the last two months surveying petitioners and collecting signatures for the open letter addressed to the leaders of the Communist Party. They collected a rather large number of signatures by petitioners from many provinces, who had been to Beijing to file complaints about their mistreatments by local officials, many of whom suffered official harassment and police brutality. Since 2003, Ms. Liu has organised petitioners every year to submit open letters addressing Chinese leaders at important meetings, such as the annual National People’s Congress, advocating legal and political reforms. Other organisers of the open letter campaign are now in hiding.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China, urging them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Liu Jie;
2. Ensure her immediate release since her detention is arbitrary as it merely aims at sanctioning her human rights activities;
3. Put an end to the harassment against all human rights defenders in the People’s Republic of China;
4. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, Article 6c above-mentioned and Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
5. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People’s Republic of China.

Addresses:

• President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, USA, Fax: +01 202 588-0032;
• Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Sifabu, Wu Aiying, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345;
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Waijiaobu, Mr. Yang Jiechi, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn;
• Ambassador Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, P.O. Box 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int;
• Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Avenue de Tervuren, 463 1160 Auderghem, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 663 30 10 / + 32 2 663 30 17 / +32 2 771 14 97 / +32 2 779 43 33; Fax: +32 2 762 99 66 / +32 2 779 28 95; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn.

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the People’s Republic of China in your respective country.

***

Geneva - Paris, November 14, 2007

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29