Mixed signals on human rights from Beijing
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Human rights activist Lu Gengsong has been condemned to four years in prison for criticizing public officials. But also yesterday, a leader of the communist party who ordered an illegal arrest was dismissed, and the journalist Ching Cheong was freed. In the Olympic year, Beijing appears to be wavering increasingly between the "usual" repression and greater respect for rights.
Yesterday, the tribunal of Hangzhou sentenced Lu (in the photo, on the right) for "inciting subversion of state power", without allowing him to make any requests or statements. It is a generic accusation, frequently used against dissidents and critics of the government. Lu's wife, Wang Xue, says that only she, their daughter, and two friends were permitted to be present yesterday. "The judge began to read the sentence immediately", Wang recounts. "No questions could be asked and there was no chance for any of us to say anything".
Lu's lawyer explains that the accusations merely listed the 19 writings he had posted to the internet, some of which speak of the corruption of public officials in collusion with construction managers on development projects. Lu was arrested in August of 2007.
Meanwhile, also yesterday, Zhang Zhiguo, a communist party secretary in the county of Yifeng (Liaoning), was forced to resign. Zhang had ordered three policemen to go all the way to Beijing (800 kilometres away) to arrest the journalist Zhu Wenna on defamation charges. The reporter had written for the magazine Legal Man the story of Zhao Junping, the owner of a petrol station that was taken over in 2006, who accused Zhang of not giving her adequate compensation. Zhu was able to avoid arrest in the case, and the matter ended up in the national press. In one day, there were more than 30,000 comments on the internet, criticizing the systematic use of "local judiciary power" on the part of public officials. "What difference is there", asks one message "between this and the feudal emperors?"
The arrest order was revoked, and the police apologized four days later. Now the communist party committee of Tieling has stated that Zhang demonstrated "a weak sense of the rule of law". Experts have also observed that "the order to resign" is a sanction much less serious than "expulsion", and it does not exclude a new official post in the future.
It must be said that the director of Legal Man, Wang Fengbin, who has publicly criticized the attempted arrest, was forced to resign. And the former petrol station owner Zhao, who spread telephone messages to tell her story and demand just compensation, is still in prison for defamation.
Yesterday morning, Ching Cheong was released with a warning. Ching, a Hong Kong journalist condemned without proof to five years in prison for "espionage on behalf of Taiwan", was released after completing half of the sentence in a Guangzhou jail.
Just a few months from the Olympics, China is sending mixed signals. It is harshly squelching critics and human rights activists, and maintaining rigid control over the media and the internet. But the government is being much more careful not to provoke international criticism. At the same time, domestic public opinion seems to have become more sensitive, and is punishing officials responsible for mismanagement and corruption - perhaps in order to avoid more serious social upheaval.
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24/01/2007
