CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update of Illegally Printing Bibles and Other Christian Literature Without Government Permission
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China Human Rights and March 2006 Rule of Law Update Subscribe United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China Senator Chuck Hagel, Chairman | Representative Jim Leach, Co-Chairman Announcements Roundtable: China's Response to Avian Flu The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled China's Response to Avian Flu: Steps Taken, Challenges Remaining, on Friday, February 24, 2006, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The panelists were Dr. John R. Clifford, Deputy Administrator for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services' Veterinary Services program, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Ms. Erika Elvander, Office of Asia and the Pacific, Office of Global Health Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Dr. Bates Gill, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies. Their statements are available on the CECC Web site: www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/2006/20060224/index.php Translation: Court Judgment in the "New Youth Study Group" Subversion Trial The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared a translation of the Beijing Intermediate Court Judgment in the Xu Wei, Yang Zili, Jin Haike, and Zhang Honghai Subversion Trial. Xu Wei and Jin Haike will become eligible for parole on March 12. Yang Zili and Zhang Honghai, two other prisoners sentenced for their participation in the group, became eligible for parole on March 12 of last year. For more on this case, see "New Youth Study Group Members To Become Eligible For Parole" below. Translation: SPC Circular on Court Hearings in Second Instance Death Penalty Cases The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared a translation of the Supreme People's Court Circular Regarding Further Improving Open Court Session Work in Second Instance Death Penalty Cases. For more information on this circular, see "Provincial High Courts Implement SPC Circular on Death Penalty Hearings" below. Update on Rights and Law in China Human Rights Updates Rule of Law Updates All Updates Dalai Lama's Envoys Arrive in China for Fifth Round of Talks The Tibetan government-in-exile announced in a press release on February 15 that the Dalai Lama's envoys, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, arrived in China the same day for the fifth round of talks with Chinese officials on the Tibetan issue. They were accompanied by senior aides. The press release provided no information about the envoys' itinerary or the planned duration of the visit. Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, customarily makes a detailed public statement only after the envoys have departed from China and briefed the Dalai Lama in person. Previous rounds of talks took place in September 2002, May-June 2003, September 2004, and June-July 2005. All of the talks took place in China except the 2005 round, which were in Bern, Switzerland. According to a February 10 article in the Times of India, the Dalai Lama advocated autonomy under China's constitutional framework and said that talks with Chinese authorities were heading in the right direction. See Section VI - "Tibet," The Status of Discussion Between China and the Dalai Lama, of the CECC 2005 Annual Report for more information. Imprisoned Protestant House Church Leader Up for Parole on March 11, 2006 Cai Zhuohua, a Protestant house church leader, will be eligible for parole on March 11, 2006, after having served half of his three-year prison sentence. On November 8, 2005, the Beijing Haidian District People's Court convicted Cai Zhuohua under Article 225 of China's Criminal Law. According to its November 8 opinion, the court found Cai and his family members guilty of causing disruption by printing and giving away books without a government permit. The court sentenced Cai, Xiao Yunfei, his wife, and Xiao Gaowen, his brother-in-law, to three years, two years, and one and a half years imprisonment, respectively, and fined them 150,000, 120,000, and 100,000 yuan (approximately $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000), respectively. Public security officials detained Cai on September 11, 2004 and seized 233,776 editions of 51 different religious titles in a Beijing storeroom that Cai used. Officials accused Cai, his wife Xiao Yunfei, her brother Xiao Gaowen, and his wife Hu Jinyun CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update of illegally printing Bibles and other Christian literature without government permission. In an August 2005 report, a religious freedom NGO in Norway noted that Cai's case "highlights the severe restrictions Christian publishing is forced to operate within in China." The Beijing Haidian District People's Procuratorate formally arrested Cai in October 2004 and indicted him in December 2004. His trial was held on July 7, 2005, and he decided not to appeal the conviction, allegedly due to threats by court officials. He is being held at the Qinghe Public Security Bureau Detention Center in the Haidian district of Beijing. Under Article 81 of China's Criminal Law officials have discretion to grant parole to a prisoner after he has served half of a fixed-term imprisonment sentence. A prisoner has a strong case for parole if he has observed prison regulations, accepted education and reform through labor, showed repentance, and will no longer cause harm to society. Under Article 44 of the Criminal Law, this term is calculated from the date of detention if the prisoner has been held in detention before the court judgment takes effect. As a result, Cai becomes eligible for parole on March 11, 2006 and Xiao Yunfei became eligible for parole on September 27, 2005. Xiao Gaowen's sentence will expire on March 26, 2006. On January 1, Beijing put into effect six prohibitions restraining prison police abuses, as well as "Temporary Provisions on Investigating Responsibility for Mistakes in Law Enforcement by People's Prison Police" (Beijing Provisions). According to a December 15, 2005 Beijing Daily article (via Xinhua, in Chinese), the Beijing Provisions subject Beijing prison police to either warnings or dismissal, depending on the degree of the violation, for intentionally failing to declare a sentence reduction or parole for inmates who meet the criteria. New Youth Study Group Members To Become Eligible for Parole Xu Wei and Jin Haike will become eligible for parole on March 13, after having served half of their prison terms. Xu and Jin were sentenced to 10-year prison terms for participating in occasional meetings of the New Youth Study Group, a discussion group of young intellectuals, and for disseminating articles over the Internet. Yang Zili and Zhang Honghai, two other prisoners sentenced for their participation in the group, became eligible for parole on March 13, 2005. The New Youth Study Group met at several Beijing universities, but had no source of funding, never agreed on a common political platform, and after their first meeting never held another with all members present, according to a April 23, 2004, Washington Post article. On May 28, 2003, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu Wei, a reporter and editor, and Jin Haike, a geophysicist, to 10 years imprisonment for their participation in the discussion group, according to the court's criminal judgment, the Dui Hua Foundation, and a June 3, 2003, Reporters Without Borders report. The court sentenced computer engineer Yang Zili and writer Zhang Honghai to eight years imprisonment. State security officials detained the four on March 13, 2001. The local procuratorate indicted the four on August 29, 2001, according to a Human Rights in China translation of the indictment. Their trial opened on September 28, 2001. The court postponed the trial, however, and over 18 months passed before the intermediate court convicted them on May 28, 2003. The court found all four guilty of "establishing an organization, proposing to change China's system of government, distributing proposals over the Internet that call for social change, criticizing the existing system, and denying the leadership of the Communist Party." The court also convicted them of "subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105 (1) of the Criminal Law. They are being held at the Beijing No. 2 Prison. Sentences for Xu and Jin expire March 12, 2011, those for Yang and Zhang expire on March 12, 2009. Under Article 81 of the Criminal Law, officials have discretion to grant parole to a prisoner after he or she has served half of a fixed-term imprisonment sentence. A prisoner's chances for parole improve if he or she has observed prison regulations, accepted education and reform through labor, showed repentance, and will no longer cause harm to society. Under Article 44 of the Criminal Law, this term is calculated from the date of detention if the prisoner has been held in detention before the court judgment takes effect. As a result, Xu and Jin will become eligible for parole on March 13, 2006. (Yang and Zhang became eligible for parole on March 13, 2005.) On January 1, the Beijing municipal government put into effect six prohibitions restraining prison police abuses, as well as "Temporary Provisions on Investigating Responsibility for Mistakes in Law Enforcement by People's Prison Police" (Beijing Provisions). According to a December 15, 2005, Beijing Daily article (via Xinhua, in Chinese), the Beijing Provisions subject Beijing prison police to such sanctions as warnings or dismissal for intentionally failing to declare a sentence reduction or parole for inmates who meet the criteria. Full Analysis >> http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/newsletterListing.phpd?NLdate=20060303&show=ALL#id40378 MII to Monitor Online Content, Sanction Web Sites That Fail to Register Su Jinsheng, director of the Telecommunications Office of China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) told a reporter that the MII would coordinate with "relevant content regulating agencies" to "monitor online content" according to an interview (in Chinese) posted on the Ministry's Web site dated January 13.