Inside China Today

EU parliamentarian meets Chinese human rights lawyer

Member of the European Parliament Helga Truepel successfully met with renowned human rights lawyer Zhen En-chong, 58, on Thursday in Shanghai. The pair exchanged their views on various issues concerning China, and Zhen believes that the breakthrough by a foreign politician to meet with him is of great significance.

Zhen says that the EU Parliament is very concerned about the issue of human rights in China, and has done their own investigations into the matter. He says they want to let the Chinese people know human rights does exist around the world, otherwise they have to rely only on the definition and explanation of human rights under the Chinese Communist Party culture. Zhen says they feel the progress of China’s human rights relies primarily on Chinese people themselves, as well as assistance from the international community.

In the 2 hour meeting, the pair exchanged their views on china’s human rights, Tibet, Falun Gong and internet freedom. Truepel was especially concerned about the wellbeing of Zhen’s family. Zhen has been under constant house arrest since being released from prison on June 5, 2006, and at one point had 70 uniformed public security officers keeping watch on him around his neighbourhood. There are now 12 police keeping an eye on him, with a team of 4 rotating throughout the day.

Zhen says they then discussed his withdrawal from the Chiense Communist Party, and then moved on to his life experience and why he has so much sympathy for the farmers. He said he used to be very trusting of the CCP, but stressed to Truepel that he withdrew from the regime using his real name.

Zhen says the meeting was very successful. The plain-clothed policemen who were guarding him left all of a sudden at 8 am and did not reappear until noon, after the EU MP left. He says he felt great surprise, and that the Communist regime’s lack of surveillance on him was not an act of kindness towards him, but rather its fear of comments and opinions from around the world. Zhen believes the CCP is scared of the pressure exerted by western countries like the US, France and Germany about the human rights situation in China, something it had to take into consideration.

Helgal Truepel tried to meet with Zhen Jing-Yen, wife of incarcerated human rights activist Hu Jia, on Tuesday, but the meeting did not occur because of interference by the Communist regime.

Zhen En-chong is a renowned human rights lawyer in China and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment by the Communist regime on the charge of leaking State Secrets out of the country. He won the German Association of Judges Human Rights Award on December 9, 2005 and since his release from prison in 2006,been under close surveillance by the Chinese Communist regime. On November 20 this year, he announced his withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party using his own name and called upon others to join the movement.

The above news is brought to you by Liang Zhen and narrated Caden Pearson for Inside China Today on the SOH Radio Network

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