NGO coalition asks US to impose sanctions on Chinese security officials for Cao Shunli’s torture and death
The dissident died in jail four years ago. She had been tortured and denied medical care. Deputy Public Security Minister Fu Zhenghua and Beijing’s Municipal Public Security Bureau deputy head Tao Jing stand accused.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) – An international coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has called on the United States government to impose sanctions against Chinese public security officials responsible for the detention, torture and death of activist Cao Shunli, who died four years ago.
The NGOs want the Human Rights Accountability Act (also known as the Global Magnitsky Act) to be applied on officials for human rights violations and high-level corruption around the world.
For this reason, 23 groups wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calling for action against officials in the Ukraine, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Central Asian nations and China.
At the explicit request of the China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), the list includes Chinese officials like China’s Deputy Public Security Minister Fu Zhenghua and Beijing’s Municipal Public Security Bureau deputy head Tao Jing, who are accused in connection with the death of dissident Cao Shunli.
Cao was detained exactly four years ago, on 14 Sept 2013, on her way to attend a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva ahead of the its universal periodic review on China.
Cao disappeared for five weeks before police confirmed that she was being held under criminal detention. Cao's repeated applications for medical bail were refused in spite of her worsening health, and she died six months later, in police custody, on 14 March 2014.
China has always refused an independent investigation into Cao's death and has detained her supporters, threatened her family, and persecuted her lawyers.
Based on the evidence the CHRD collected, both Fu and Tao are held responsible for Cao’s torture and death.
At the time, Fu was the head of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, whilst Tao was Public Security Sub-Bureau Chief in Chaoyang District where Cao was held.
The two are responsible for her death also because they covered up the case and failed to punish any of their subordinate police officers involved in her abuses.
For CHRD, “It is inconceivable that either official was unaware of the gross human rights violations in Cao Shunli’s case.”
(Photo: HRIC)
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