February 18, 1991 1 UPDATE ON ARRESTS IN CHINA No.2 INTRODUCTION Beginning in January 1990, Chinese officials began releasing dissidents arrested in connection with the spring 1989 pro-democracy movement, but the repression is by no means over. Arrests, trials and sentencings continue, and Chinese authorities still refuse to issue a list of those detained, arrested, tried or released. Only a handful of released activists - most of them internationally known - have been officially identified. Of the thousands arrested since June 1989, fewer than 1000 have been publicly identified, and few of those identifications come from official sources. Asia Watch has only recently become aware of certain arrests that may have taken place as long ago as June 1989. In many cases, the first indication that an arrest had occurred was official acknowledgment of trial and sentencing. Two dissidents, awaiting sentencing in Beijing for allegedly heading a counterrevolutionary group were previously unknown to human rights organizations and even now little information about their backgrounds or activities during the 1989 pro-democracy movement is available. Presumably they are workers who have had little opportunity to make their arrests known outside China. In another instance, at least two dissidents released in Beijing on January 26, 1991 were never officially listed as in detention. All this suggests that the true figure for the total arrested after June 4 may be much higher than earlier estimates. SUMMARY: 111 The current series of updates began with Update No.1, January 30, 1991. The updates should be read in conjunction with two 1990 Asia Watch reports, Punishment Season and Repression in China Since June 4, 1989: Cumulative Data and with a shorter report, "Rough Justice in Beijing," issued in January 1991. Sentences announced Students and intellectualsintellectuals: Chen Ziming ( ); Hu Ruoyang ( ); Li Haitao ( ); Li Nong ( ); Liu Gang ( ); Wang Juntao ( ); Xiao Feng ( ) WorkersWorkers: Liu Zihou ( ) Tibetan activistsactivists: Gadrub; Lobsang Chondru; Ngawang Dzegyan; Ngawang Gyatso; Ngawang Kunga; Ngawang Namgyal; Ngawang Rigzin; Sampal Gadrub Catholics and ProtestantsProtestants: Bishop Peter Liu Guangdong ( ); Father Su Zhimin ( ) Releases Students and intellectualsintellectuals: Bai Nansheng ( ); Chen Xiaoping ( ); Wang Ruowang ( ); Xiao Xuehui ( ) ; Xu Xiaowei ( ); Yang Wei ( ); Zhang Weiguo ( ) Hong Kong and Macao ChineseChinese: Xie Zhenrong (Tse Chun-wing) ( ) WorkersWorkers: Chen Wei ( ); Ding Xiaoping ( ); Wen Jie ( ); Zhang Wei ( ) Death under torture TibetansTibetans: Chozed Tenpa Choephel; Lhakpa Tsering Awaiting Sentencing WorkersWorkers: Chen Yanlin; Zhang Yawei Formal Arrests Students and intellectualsintellectuals: Wang Peigong ( ) Arrests Students and intellectualsintellectuals: He Jiandong; Lu Jieming; Tu Haiying ( ) WorkersWorkers: Guo Wenshen; Wang Yongqian; Zhang Jinzhong Tibetan activistsactivists: Dorje Alleged Taiwan spiesspies: Bai Xue; Chen Xuedeng; Chi Hecan; Lin Weisheng; Liu Bihua; Sun Daoshun; Wang Qianyang; Xu Jiansheng; Yan Di; Yang Tao; Zhan Taixing; Zhao Zongxiang; Zhou Changzhou CatholicCatholicss and ProtestantsProtestants: Liu Shuhe ( ); Shi Chunjie Additional Information Students and intellectualsintellectuals: Li Shengping ( ); Sun Changjiang ( ) WorkersWorkers: Wang Weilin ( ) Tibetan activistsactivists: Lhakpa Tsering; Migmar Tsering Catholics and ProtestantsProtestants: Bishop Huo Guoyang 2 SENTENCES ANNOUNCED Students and intellectuals ### CHEN Ziming and WANG Juntao were sentenced on February 12, 1991 by the Beijing Intermediate People's Court to 13 years' imprisonment and four years' deprivation of political rights on charges of sedition and counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement. According to Xinhua, the official China news agency, Chen and Wang "committed very serious crimes but have so far shown no willingness to repent" (AP, February 12, 1991). Trials and sentencing were swift: Wang, seriously ill of hepatitis, did not go on trial until the day of the verdict; Chen, who went on a hunger strike on February 7 in an effort to gain time to prepare his defense, went on trial a day prior to sentencing. He had not been formally charged until February 5, giving the lawyer hired by his family less than a week to prepare. Appeals must be filed within ten days. In spite of a petition from Hou Xiaotian, Chen's wife, for an open trial to give the people a "just accounting", both men's trials were closed to the public and police officers stood outside the courtroom in order to bar foreigners from even reading posted trial notices (AP, February 11, 1991). Chen's mother and sister were permitted to attend the trials; his wife, father, younger brother and uncle were not. There had been threats that none of the family could attend if Chem continued his hunger strike. Chen and Wang, incarcerated in Qincheng Prison outside Beijing, had been denied visits from family members until as late as February 9 when Hou Xiaotian, Wang's wife, was finally permitted a prison visit. According to Shijie Ribao (February 13, 1989), Chen was moved to Banbuqiao, the Public Security Bureau Detention Center in Beijing. Chinese officials have condemned Wang and Chen as "the black hands behind the black hands" who attempted to manipulate protestors in an effort to overthrow the government. They "gathered together some illegal organizations in Beijing" and helped organize "attacks against the armed forces," said Xinhua. In a further reference to Chen and Wang, as well as to Liu Gang and Chen Xiaoping (see below), the agency said "Some of the four defendants gathered together and used illegal organizations to resist and sabotage the implementation of state laws and decrees and carried out a series of conspiratorial activities to subvert the government... Others resorted to a variety of means to wantonly and blatantly incite the masses to subvert the people's political power and the socialist system." Commenting on the sentences, the agency said that verdicts were handed down "combining punishment with leniency...according to the circumstances and degree of harmfulness of the crimes and the defendants' attitude toward their crimes and punishments." According to the report, sources close to the families of Chen and Wang, as well as to those of Liu Gang and Chen Xiaoping said that none of the men admitted guilt. Chen Ziming is said to have characterized the charges against him as unfair and incorrect (AP, February 11, 1991). After the trial Chen's mother (Shijie Ribao, February 13, 1991) said that Chen was not permitted to read his prepared statement and that in spite of weakness, he could not sit down. Permission for her to visit him after the trial was denied; in fact she could not even approach him. She added she had been warned not to report unfavorably on the trials, but, she said she was no longer afraid to speak up. "I have a mouth; I can say the truth; nobody can stop me from speaking," she said. For more information about Chen and Wang, see "Rough Justice in Beijing" (News From Asia Watch, January 27, 1991) and "Update on Arrests in China" (January 30, 1991). ### LIU GangGang, 29, was sentenced on February 12, 1991 to six years in prison. His exact offense is not known, but Xinhua, the official Chinese News Agency, did say his was a "mitigated sentence" because he "acknowledged his crimes and showed willingness to repent" (Reuters, February 12, 1991). He will have ten days in which to appeal. Liu, who was able to choose his own defense lawyer (Hong Kong Standard, February 1, 1991 in FBIS, same day), went on trial February 6, 1991 in the No.1 courtroom of the Beijing People's Intermediate Court, according to court documents posted outside. He was charged with sedition; the trial lasted three and one-half hours. During the 3 proceedings, Liu spoke for one hour in his own defense. He did not admit to sedition charges, asserting that what he had admitted to under prison interrogation when he had been threatened with death was invalid. Rather, he said, it was his court statement that was to be counted. Liu, who graduated from Beijing University in 1987 with a degree in physics, was No.3 on the government's list of "most wanted" students. In addition to his pro-democracy activities in the spring of 1989, which included organizing student leaders from all major Beijing colleges, Liu had been active in student protests in the mid- 80's and after graduation had established campus "democracy salons" to discuss controversial political ideas. He was associated with the think tank headed by Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming. He was arrested on June 1989 in Baoding, Hebei Province and has been in solitary confinement since May 1990, two months of which were spent in leg irons. The New York Times (February 7, 1991) reported that as a punishment, for an offense which is not clear, Liu spent several days with his arms lashed behind him in a painful position. Liu's mother was not permitted a prison visit before her death from cancer. His father, a cadre in the Liaoning Province Public Security Bureau's "complaint" department (Shijie Ribao, February 2, 1991), was finally allowed to meet with his son. The visit took place a week before Liu's trial when his father learned of the indictment. He was given permission to attend the trial (New York Times, February 7, 1991). ### LI HaitaoHaitao, 34, was sentenced to a four-year-prison term by the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court on August 29, 1990 for counterrevolutionary agitation and propaganda and for disrupting transportation by organizing a May 16, 1989 sit-in on the Yangzi River Bridge by students from six area colleges. The agitation and propaganda charges refer to speaking out publicly against the suppression of pro-democracy students in Beijing and to organizing a memorial service on June 6, 1989 at Wuhan University for those killed in Beijing. Li also was charged with helping Chai Ling, on June 8, 1989, to record her secret tape denouncing the June 4 massacre. On the following day, he allegedly assisted in copying the tape and disseminating it at Wuhan University and at the Zhongnan Shopping Mall.