{"id":5603,"date":"2015-09-06T00:02:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T04:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=5603"},"modified":"2015-09-04T00:09:24","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T04:09:24","slug":"relatives-of-recently-disappeared-lawyers-and-activists-write-a-letter-to-chinas-minister-of-public-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/relatives-of-recently-disappeared-lawyers-and-activists-write-a-letter-to-chinas-minister-of-public-security","title":{"rendered":"Relatives of Recently Disappeared Lawyers and Activists Write a Letter to China\u2019s Minister of Public Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"e5be8be5b888e5aeb6e4baba_e59bbde99985e5bcbae8bfabe5a4b1e8b8aae697a51\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Relatives of Recently Disappeared Lawyers and Activists Write a Letter to China\u2019s Minister of Public Security<\/p>\n

On the eve of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced<\/p>\n

Disappearances (August 30)<\/p>\n

Published: August 29, 2015<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch fear and panic do not beset these lawyers and their families only; they beset the entire Chinese society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honorable Mr. Guo Shengkun (\u90ed\u58f0\u7428),<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know if you will be able to read this letter, but we are writing it regardless in the hope that you may. We do not want to let slip the slightest hope.<\/p>\n

Since July 9th, our loved ones have been disappeared, and they include 17 lawyers, their assistants, and law firm staffers, as well as 6 rights defenders. Their disappearances all followed the same pattern: the people who took them away, either in Beijing or Tianjin, claimed that they were \u201cTianjin police.\u201d They were taken away for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances\u201d or merely for \u201ccommitting a crime\u201d without any specifics; and following their forced disappearance we have had a hard time to get them lawyers. Lawyers who expressed desire to represent them were visited by security police who threatened them against any involvement.<\/p>\n

Those of us who have been able to hire lawyers for our loved ones have seen that when the lawyers attempted to meet their clients according to procedures, the Tianjin police denied that they had taken away our loved one.<\/p>\n

When a terrorist attack is perpetrated, a terrorist group will come out and claim responsibility for it. When the police system of the People\u2019s Republic of China disappears its citizens, shouldn\u2019t it make a statement and say something?<\/p>\n

On July 18, our loved ones appeared on CCTV\u2019s morning news. We were flabbergasted to find that, while we still hadn\u2019t received any written notice about them, they were already found guilty on TV without a trial. Is this a demonstration of \u201cgoverning the country according to the law\u201d emphasized by our General Secretary Xi?
\nFinally, as we searched tirelessly for our loved ones, there were words that a task force was in charge of our loved ones and that Tianjin police don\u2019t know much about it. We managed to find out their alleged crime (or the vagueness of it), and we were told that an official notice would be delivered to us.<\/p>\n

But 50 days have passed since the disappearance of our loved ones. So far, only relatives of 5 lawyers, their assistants and 2 rights activists have received notices from the police, and relatives of the rest of the 16 have received nothing. Where have the notices been sent? Even if they were sent to the hometown addresses on their ID cards, they should have long arrived. Those who received detention notice still don\u2019t know where their loved ones are detained, and there is no knowing when they will have access to lawyers. Only one has met with a lawyer once and no more since then.<\/p>\n

In short, 23 PRC citizens have been disappeared, some for as long as 50 days by now, and the public security apparatus you head have had no intention to honor our lawful rights to information.<\/p>\n

Why? Since China has been flaunting \u201cgoverning the country according to the law,\u201d we wonder: Is the law the government acts on the same as the promulgated law? Words fail to express our anxiety and helplessness.<\/p>\n

We wonder: whether it\u2019s the high ranking public security officials or the rank and file police officers, don\u2019t you have parents, a wife or husband, and children? You don\u2019t know what it is like until the same thing happens to you? Forgive me for making such a connection, but it indeed has happened to members of your system.<\/p>\n

Families and friends keep asking for news about our loved ones. And the only thing we can tell them is that we have received nothing from the public security.<\/p>\n

Outside the gate of the Preliminary Investigation Squad of Tianjin Hexi Detention Center, the two-year-old son of lawyer Wang Quanzhang (\u738b\u5168\u748b) asked his mother: \u201cWhere is Daddy?\u201d Bao Mengmeng (\u5305\u8499\u8499), teenager son of lawyer Wang Yu (\u738b\u5b87) texted her mother\u2019s colleagues who have not been disappeared: \u201cWhen can I see my parents?\u201d The five-year-old daughter of lawyer Li Heping (\u674e\u548c\u5e73) asked, \u201cWhy is daddy still not home?\u201d<\/p>\n

Faced with these questions from children, we hope you understand how we feel: \u201cWe don\u2019t even know where they are, let alone when they will come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, Chinese police are known to the world for extracting confessions through torture in the investigation stage. Even though China has long ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, we have little faith that the law will protect the safety of our loved ones when the authorities would not even acknowledge their whereabouts.<\/p>\n

We grew up watching TV programming extolling the New China. Now we think about it and we cringe: What is this? To tell you the truth: At home we fear even knocks on the door. People at the door who claim to be checking our water meter, delivering a package, fixing water pipes are least likely robbers (if they are we can at least call 110), and most likely someone who is a disguised secret police of the People\u2019s Republic of China, and a 110 call wouldn\u2019t get you help.<\/p>\n

Such fear and panic do not beset these lawyers and their families only; they beset the entire Chinese society.<\/p>\n

We look forward to the public security system observing the law when handling cases.<\/p>\n

Relatives\uff1a<\/p>\n

1. Wang Qiaoling (\u738b\u5ced\u5cad), wife of Li Heping (\u674e\u548c\u5e73)
\n2. Zhao Fengxia (\u8d75\u51e4\u4fa0), mother of Bao Longjun (\u5305\u9f99\u519b)
\n3. Wang Quanxiu (\u738b\u5168\u79c0), older sister of Wang Quanzhang (\u738b\u5168\u748b)
\n4. Li Wenzu (\u674e\u6587\u8db3), wife of Wang Quanzhang (\u738b\u5168\u748b)
\n5. Liu Shengxian (\u5218\u5723\u8d24), father of Liu Sixin (\u5218\u56db\u65b0)
\n6. Bi Liping (\u6bd5\u5229\u840d), wife of Li Chunfu (\u674e\u6625\u5bcc)
\n7. Xie Yuanfeng (\u8c22\u8fdc\u51e4), younger sister of Xie Yuandong (\u8c22\u8fdc\u4e1c)
\n8. You Minglei (\u6e38\u660e\u78ca), husband of Zhao Wei (\u8d75\u5a01)
\n9. Gao Liang (\u9ad8\u4eae), younger brother of Gao Yue (\u9ad8\u6708)
\n10. Fan Lili (\u6a0a\u4e3d\u4e3d), wife of Ge Ping (\u6208\u5e73)
\n11. Ai Huixin (\u827e\u56de\u65b0), mother of Wang Fang (\u738b\u82b3)
\n12. Liu Yinchai (\u5218\u94f6\u9497), mother of Monk Wangyun (\u671b\u4e91\u548c\u5c1a\u6797\u658c\uff09
\n13. Tong Yanchun (\u4f5f\u5f66\u6625), mother of Wang Yu (\u738b\u5b87)<\/p>\n

August 29, 2015, on the eve of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (August 30).<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

List of Lawyers, law staffers, and rights activists who have been disappeared since July 9:<\/p>\n

17 lawyers, assistants and law firm staffers:<\/p>\n

1. Wang Yu (\u738b\u5b87), Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Taken away at 4:00 am on July 9, 2015. Held incommunicado for over 50 days already. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances\u201d and \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d
\n2. Bao Longjun (\u5305\u9f99\u519b), husband of Wang Yu, Beijing. Unreachable since 3:00 am, July 9. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cinciting subversion of state power\u201d and \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d Police denied lawyers of meeting with Bao on August 28 and was told that Bao is \u201csuspected of the crime of harm the national security.\u201d
\n3. Wang Quanzhang (\u738b\u5168\u748b), Beijing, Fengrui Law Firm. Unreachable since 13:00, July 10, 2015. Criminally detained for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances\u201d and \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d Home in Beijing searched by Beijing police on August 5.
\n4. Liu Sixin (\u5218\u56db\u65b0), administrative assistant at Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Unreachable since 8:45 am, July 10, 2015. Held in Tianjin Hexi Detention Center for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d
\n5. Xie Yuandong (\u8c22\u8fdc\u4e1c), intern lawyer at Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Taken away from home on July 10, 2015, and placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d on the same day.
\n6. Li Heping (\u674e\u548c\u5e73), Beijing. Taken away at 14:00, July 10. Coersive measures used against him.
\n7. Xie Yanyi (\u8c22\u71d5\u76ca), Beijing. Summoned for a talk in the afternoon of July 10, 2015. Taken away in the morning of July 12. Home raided on the same day around noon. Coersive measures used against him.
\n8. Zhou Shifeng (\u5468\u4e16\u950b), Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Taken away at 7:30 am, July 10. Criminally detained.
\n9. Huang Liqun (\u9ec4\u529b\u7fa4), Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Taken away at 8:30 am, July 10. Criminally detained.
\n10. Sui Muqing (\u968b\u7267\u9752), Guangzhou, Guangdong. Taken away at 23:40, July 10, 2015. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d
\n11. Xie Yang (\u8c22\u9633), Hunan province. Taken away at 5:40 am, July 11. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cdisrupting the court\u201d and \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d
\n12. Professor Chen Taihe (\u9648\u6cf0\u548c), Guangxi Autonomous Zone. Criminally detained on July 13, 2015, at Guilin Third Detention Center for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d Lawyer Tan Yongpei (\u8983\u6c38\u6c9b) met with him once on July 16 but has been denied of meeting since.
\n13. Zhao Wei (\u8d75\u5a01), a.k.a. Kaola, Beijing, assistant to lawyer Li Heping. Taken away at 17:00 on July 10, 2015. Criminally detained in Tianjin Hexi Detention Center for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d
\n14. Gao Yue (\u9ad8\u6708), Beijing. Assistant to lawyer Li Heping. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances\u201d and \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d
\n15. Li Shuyun (\u674e\u59dd\u4e91), Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Taken away by police at 11:30 on July 10, 2015.
\n16. Li Chunfu (\u674e\u6625\u5bcc), Beijing, younger brother of Li Heping. Taken away by Tianjin police around 22:00 on August 1, 2015 and home raided.
\n17. Wang Fang (\u738b\u82b3), accountant at Beijing Fengrui Law Firm. Unreachable since 8:30, July 10, 2015.<\/p>\n

5 Rights Activists:<\/p>\n

1. Gou Hongguo (\u52fe\u6d2a\u56fd), a.k.a. Ge Ping (\u6208\u5e73), Tianjin resident, taken away in Beijing in the morning of July 10, 2015, by Tianjin police. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d On August 24, the authorities changed allegation against him to \u201cinciting subversion of state power.\u201d
\n2. Liu Yongping (\u5218\u6c38\u5e73), a.k.a. Lao Mu (\u8001\u6728), Beijing. Detained on July 10, 2015. Placed under \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place\u201d for allegedly \u201cprovoking disturbances.\u201d
\n3. Hu Shigen (\u80e1\u77f3\u6839), Beijing. Disappeared on July 10, 2015.
\n4. Lin Bin (\u6797\u658c), a.k.a. Monk Wangyun, Fujian. Taken away around noon on July 10 in Chengdu airport. His temple Jiuxian Zen Temple in Fujian was raided on July 9, and on August 16, his mother was evicted from the temple.
\n5. Jiang Jianjun (\u59dc\u5efa\u519b), Dalian, Liaoning. Criminally detained on July 12 for \u201cprovoking disturbances\u201d and released after 37 days in custody.
\nFor detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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