CHRD tells Germany not to deport Chinese activist Liu Bing
According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Liu risks an unfair trial and torture once at home where he was already penalised for ties with human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong. Angela Merkel is the main backer of an EU-China investment agreement, held up by the European Parliament.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a human rights organisation, is calling on Germany not to deport activist Liu Bing to China.
Liu is currently held in an immigration centre in Büren, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and is schedule for repatriation on 26 August.
CHRD notes that under international law no one can be deported to a country that practices torture or other inhumane treatment.
Because of his protest activity and criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, Liu risks persecution at home, starting with an unfair trial.
Hailing from Heilongjiang, the 31-year-old activist was targeted by Chinese authorities as early as 2012 when he set up an NGO that helped marginalised people.
Due to his links with human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong (now in jail for subversion), Chinese authorities have hindered the activity of his organisation, forcing Liu to leave Fujian, where he lived.
According to CHRD, police arrested and mistreated Liu for taking part in the commemorations of Lin Zhao, a young woman persecuted during the Maoist era. Critical of the Party, before she was executed Lin wrote poems of resistance in prison with her own blood.
Liu was jailed for joining protests in Guangzhou (Guangdong) in 2013 against corruption and for press freedom as part of the "Southern Street Movement",
In 2019 Liu was photographed with a group of activists commemorating the Tiananmen massacre of 4 June 1989.
One of the demonstrators in the photo, Yin Xu’an, received a four-year prison sentence on 21 July; if Liu is sent back, he faces the same fate for the same reason, CHRD points out.
Reinhard Bütikofer, a leader of the European Greens and head of the EU Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with China, repeated the CHRD’s request on Twitter.
Bütikofer is one of the MEPs sanctioned by China after the European Union imposed punitive measures in March on four senior officials and a Chinese government body, accused of repressing Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Due to Chinese countermeasures, the European Parliament in May put on hold the ratification process of the EU-China investment agreement until Beijing withdraws sanctions against European officials and institutions.
Under pressure from German exporters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the efforts to finalise the agreement with the Chinese last December. Negotiations began in 2013.
(Photo CHRD)
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29/05/2018 15:53
10/07/2018 09:24
