Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Sunday 9th August

Headlines…
- People of China: “SOH scares CCP”
- Protests over secretive trial of Huang Qi
- Wang Yonghang’s lawyer in solitary for ‘state secrets’

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Human rights advocate Tan Zuoren was formally accused and charged by the local Chengdu Government for inciting subversion of state power. The prosecution claimed Mr Tan’s articles about the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and a recent interview he gave with SOH were attempts at subverting state power. Tan Zuoren is under scrutiny for his reports into the shoddy construction of Wenchuan school buildings which were hit by the Sichuan Earthquake 2008.

Many people in Mainland China have been infuriated by Tan’s arrest.

A Mr. Li from Mainland China says, SOH has lots of audience members and readers. According to him, the points making CCP fear the factual, prompt reports about China:

Mr. Li said:
“Being accused of accepting an interview by SOH has happened before. One previous example is that pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin from Anhui Province was put into prison for five years. SOH’s biggest advantage is that it can give people facts with high accuracy and timing. Their commentary quality is also very high. They can tell the truth to the world. In order to block SOH, CCP must make people have fear by stating in public that SOH is hostile. They then use this reason for an indictment”

Mr. Li said, as far as he knows, the real reason that Tan Zuoren has been thrown into prison is he was investigating the engineering quality of the school buildings in 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Mr. Li:
“In my opinion, Tan Zuoren has been put into prison due to his investigation of the real number of the student deaths and truth behind the collapses. So being very devious, the CCP has used other reasons to arrest him.”

Mr. Chen from Mainland China says the CCP suppresses dissidents, such as Tan Zuoren, reminding people of the Cultural Revolution where the CCP would use labelling tactics and claimed certain dissidents were colluding with hostile forces outside of China.

Mr. Chen:
“To know the truth, all of us want to listen to SOH radio with quick and objective reports. The CCP is afraid of the truth being exposed to 1.3 billion people, which would be a threat to them. So the CCP tries to desperately suppress and block the Internet for no reason. If telling the truth is sinful, then there is no justice in this world.”

The indictment against Tan stated that after Sichuan earthquake last year, Tan gave phone interviews to hostile overseas media SOH many times, making many comments humiliating the CCP and the government.

By SOH reporter Wen Hong and Yu Ning

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Protests over secretive trial of Huang Qi

The court in Wuhou District of Chengdu City held a court session secretly at 10:30 on August the 5th. The case was on Huang Qi, chief of the June 4th website. Many earth-quake victims, farmers who’ve lost land, workers, and ex-rightist intellectuals gathered in front of the court to voice their support. Huang Qi’s family members including his seriously ill father were not even allowed to see him during his detention. The court has tried Huang Qi on the charge of “illegally possessing state secrets.” Huang Qi’s lawyer defends him as “not guilty.” The court declared it will pronounce judgment some day soon.

On hearing the news, many people from different walks of life who had been helped by Huang Qi rushed to the court early in the morning. Some came from far away. They requested to attend the hearing, but were refused. A police car stopped only one-meter away from the court gate and on both sides of the gate there was a “wall” of policemen. Then the supporters saw Huang Qi appear, they shouted,”Huang Qi, your mother calls for you to be back home for dinner!” “You are upholding justice! The court is dark and corrupt!” Huang Qi responded to the supporters with the victory sign hand-gesture with handcuffed hands.

A witness said:
”Everyone present was crying and they were all shouting, scolding and talking! People who saw him were all very excited and it’s very hard to describe their expressions at that moment. Everybody was shouting: Your mother is calling you to be back home for dinner! You are brave! You’re upholding justice! You must persevere! We are all very concerned about you! We have a lot to say to you!”

Huang Qi’s seriously ill elderly father also came, wishing to take a glance at his son for a moment. Huang Qi’s mother said, before the trial the family members had applied to the court for a meeting with Huang Qi, but had been refused by the authorities.

The witness continued:
“His father had wished to take a good look at him, but it was impossible. He was completely blocked by a line of police. And then Huang Qi was pushed inside in a blink of an eye. We thought we might see him by sitting down and peering through the police, or looking through the window of the police car when he came, but we couldn’t. The car was covered in tinted windows and we could see nothing.”

Many people who came to voice their support offered to donate money to Huang Qi’s parents to show their concern. But his parents declined the offers.

Huang Qi’s mother said:
“We didn’t accept any money from anyone. Why? Because these people were all helped by Huang Qi before. They are all very poor and it’s not easy for them to make a living. We thank them for their concern.”

The people who support Huang Qi speak very highly of him.

Recording: “We feel that he is more concerned about others than himself. If you went to him for help and had no money for a meal, he would treat you .If you had no money to go home, he would give you the travel expense. He would give others money even if he had no money for food. Today, many people tell me a lot about him. He’s done lots of good things to help out after the earthquake. He helped some victims get compensation for their lost land. When helping falsely charged victims or those who were wronged, he thought of ways to report to higher levels.”

Huang Qi is the chief of the routine centre of a human rights website. He was taken away on June 10, 2008 and detained on July 18. His lawyer has requested to read his legal documents several times, but was refused with all kinds of excuses from procuratorate. The lawyer was allowed to read some of the documents only the day before the trial.

Reported by Tian Xi and Chris Thomas of the SOH Radio Network

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Wang Yonghang’s lawyer in solitary for ‘state secrets’

Human rights lawyer, Wang Yonghang has appeared in court many times to defend the innocence of Falun Gong practitioners. On July 4, he was secretly arrested by the Dalian 610 office and is now held in Dalian City Detention Center.

Wang’s lawyer, Han Zhiguang, has also been illegally detained for one month. On August 4th, Han’s wife, agreed to an interview with a SOH reporter. She said that the administrative region’s police station originally promised to inform her of the outcome of Han’s case, but then revealed to her that Han’s physical condition is deteriorating. The police also told her that the case involves state secrets, so her requests to see her husband have been denied. She is worried about her husband’s safety.

Han’s wife told SOH reporter, Zhao Ziyun that on July 23rd, Zhang Keli a director of Jinxiu Police Station, admitted that Han has cranial fractures.
She said:
“He told me to wait! It is indeed a fracture. I will give you an answer on August 4th; you just wait for the notice of criminal arrest.”

On August 4th, Han’s wife went to the police station as she was directed, however, Li Zhaoqin, a police squadron leader, and Zhang Keli’s director told her there are many wounds on Han’s body and that his physical condition is deteriorating. Li did not mention the notice once.
She said:
“Li Zhaoqin said that Wang Yonghang does not cooperate, does not eat, does not take medicine， so they injected him with antibiotics; there are other wounds on his body. She told Li that his wounds are infected, but he is still in the detention center. Each time they send him to the hospital for treatment。They told me he fell down the stairs when they arrested him.”

Han’s wife believes the police deliberately concealed Wang’s true physical condition, She is worried that his life is in danger.
She said: “They disclosed information to me bit by bit. On July 6, Li Zhaoqin said his situation is very good. On July 23, he told me that he has cranial fractures, and that he is now saying that his wounds are infected. Will he tell me one day that his life is in danger? So, I think, they have been trying to conceal something.”

Lan Zhixue, a Beijing lawyer that is acting for Wang’s case, told a reporter that on July 14, after getting involved in the case, he immediately applied to see Han. The National Security first said that he needs authorization from higher ranking personnel. After 48 hours, Lan was required to sign a confidentiality agreement; however, nothing happened after that. Until July 24, the National Security issued a notice stating that Han’s case involves state secrets, and refused to allow anyone to see him.

Lan said:
“Isn’t it only a case of religious freedom of belief? They made up a case that involved so-called state secrets, and Han did not know that he was in possession of a state secret. Presently there are many Falun Gong cases in China, only Han’s case is involved in state secrets, I have not heard of a second one. But, in any event, during the prosecution’s examination stage, a lawyer can be seen. I also heard that Han has been interrogated using torture to extort a confession, and I personally want to see Han.”

The last time that Han appeared in court was on June 16th. Wang appeared with him at Ganjingzi Court in Dalian, to defend Falun Gong practitioner Cong Rixu’s innocence.

Reported by Li Yifei, Zhao Ziyun and Keith Ware of the SOH Radio Network.

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