Zhu Chengzhi held by police in a place unknown to the family or his lawyer. He is accused of "undermining state security". But Zhu is only investigating the suspicious death of a Tiananmen democracy dissident, Li Wangyang. Even the much-vaunted "reform" of laojiao likely to be only a cosmetic: change of name, but people will still be interned. In Beijing's "black jails" for 70-80 thousand prisoners.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Zhu Chengzhi, an activist from Hunan who was investigating the death of a Tiananmen dissident has been detained in an unknown location for six months. Friends, relatives, lawyers can not see him. Yet, from January 1st, Beijing has implemented the reform of the Penal Code, which states that the police must inform the family of the suspect within 48 hours to allow the lawyer to meet his client. None of this is true: since January 4, Zhu Chengzhi has been under "residential surveillance" in an unknown location thanks to a quirk of the reformed code that gives the police the power to subject an individual to "enforced disappearance," if they "threaten the security of the state, "so that the family "does not interfere with the investigation. " Thus, neither the family nor his lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, have had a chance to meet Zhu. The police have just informed them that Zhu is under "house arrest" on charges of "incitement to overthrow state power."

The "danger" that Zhu Chengzhi poses to the state is simple: he continues to investigate the death of trade unionist Li Wangyang, a democratic dissident of Tiananmen in 1989 who died in suspicious circumstances while in police custody.

In the world of dissidence there is also skepticism towards the reform of the labor camps. In recent days, Meng Jianzhu, Secretary of the legal and political system of the Chinese Communist Party, said that by the end of 2013 China will have "stopped" the laojiao, "re-education through labour", a method of detention and labor forced that lasts from the time of Mao Zedong.

According to the CHRD (China Human Rights Defenders), the so-called "reform" is merely cosmetic, and in fact is just a change of name from laojiao to " Illegal Behavior Correction." Similarly, even the "stations of custody," where those who present petitions are held prisoners since 2003 have been called "custody and repatriation stations", the notorious "black jails" where people disappear for months and which have multiplied dramatically in recent years. According to witnesses, in Beijing alone, the "black jails" can contain up to 70-80 thousand prisoners.

• china
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• dissident
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