September 16, 2020 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi
Re: The Immediate Release of and Justice for Dr Wang Bingzhang
Dear Minister Wang Yi,
We write to bring to your attention the dire situation of Dr Wang Bingzhang, a Chinese national with a strong Canadian connection languishing in solitary confinement in Shaoguan Prison.
In 1979, the Chinese Government sponsored Dr Wang’s studies at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine. In 1982, Dr Wang became the first Chinese national to be awarded a PhD in North America. Newspapers in China and around the world praised his monumental accomplishments.
Dr Wang then decided to forego his promising career in medicine to dedicate his life to human rights, firmly believing that self-sacrifice for his country was the most noble value. He identified as a Chinese patriot, and should have returned home a hero.
Instead, in 2002, he was kidnapped in Vietnam and forcibly brought to China. It was only after five months of incommunicado detention that he was notified of the charges brought against him. Not once was he permitted to contact his family or a lawyer.
At trial, Dr Wang was denied the opportunity to speak or present evidence, and no credible evidence or live witness testimony was presented against him. Moreover, the trial was closed to the public and lasted only half a day. The Shenzhen People’s Intermediate Court sentenced Dr Wang to life in solitary confinement. Dr Wang appealed the decision, but the sentence was upheld a month later, where he was again barred from speaking. Dr Wang has been denied any opportunity to appeal his final conviction and continues to be denied visits from lawyers.
Dr Wang’s unjust imprisonment is in standing violation not only of international laws and norms – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, and the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers – but also China’s Criminal Procedural Law and Constitution.1
Moreover, there is now powerful evidence that the case against Dr. Wang was falsified. At the very least, this mass of compelling exonerating evidence calls for a new trial.2
• Annex A is a true copy of a declaration signed under penalty of perjury by one of the key witnesses cited in the verdict against Dr. Wang, Ni Jinbin, asserting that he never gave such testimony in person or in writing, and that the testimony attributed to him is pure fabrication.
1 See Wallenberg Advocacy Group at McGill University Faculty of Law & Jonah Diamond, “White Paper on the case of: Dr Wang Bingzhang” (4 September 2020), online (pdf): Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
• Annex B is a true copy of a signed statement by the senior member of the Royal Thai Police in charge of investigating the terrorism allegation against Dr. Wang, concluding, after a thorough investigation, that the allegation was “baseless.”
• Annex C is an official statement by the Taiwanese Government, which Dr Wang was a vocal critic of, which affirms that Dr Wang was never a spy, thereby undercutting another major plank of the verdict against him.
In 2003, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention confirmed that Dr. Wang’s detention was arbitrary. It requested that your Government remedy Dr. Wang’s situation in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ standards and principles. Your Government has refused to do so.
Dr. Wang is now in his 70s, after languishing in solitary confinement for 18 years, where he has suffered three debilitating strokes. He continues to suffer from other chronic diseases, including high blood pressure and deep vein thrombosis, putting his life at extreme risk, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, he has been consistently denied access to Canadian family members, most of whom have been barred from entering China. Given the state of his health, we fear that his family will not have another opportunity to see him if he is not released immediately.
If your Government “attaches great importance to the promotion and protection of human rights” as it claims it does before the UN,3 and respects its Constitution and Criminal Procedural Law, then it is in your Government’s interest to:
1. Immediately release Dr. Wang so that his needless and wrongful suffering may end and that he may live out his remaining days with his family in Canada; 2. Immediately release Dr. Wang from solitary confinement; 3. Provide Dr. Wang’s family with his medical records, as they have requested, so that an independent assessment of the adequacy of his medical care, a fundamental need and right, can be made; 4. Lift the restrictions preventing Dr. Wang’s family members from entering China so that he may receive regular family visits and experience affection, a cornerstone of mental and physical health.
Signed,
[Signatory list follows on the next page]
Copy Cong Peiwu, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Canada to: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canada
Dominic Barton, Ambassador of Canada to the People’s Republic of China Embassy of Canada in the People’s Republic of China
3 National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21, UNHRCOR, 31st Sess, UN Doc A/HRC/WG.6/31/CHN/1 (2018) at paras 4, 11.
[Former Ministers of Justice and Attorney Generals of Canada, and Canadian Ministers of Foreign Affairs] The Hon. André Ouellet, PC The Hon. Allan Rock, PC, OOnt, QC The Hon. Anne McLellan, PC, OC, AOE The Hon. Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ The Hon. Lawrence Cannon, PC The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, PC, CC, OM
[Active Commissioners on the United States’ Congressional-Executive Committee on China] Congressman Jim McGovern [Co-Chair] Congressman Thomas R. Suozzi