Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Tuesday 3rd November

Jia Kuo appealing to the New Zealand Prime Minister to help release his father Jia Jia from detention.

- Detention of Jia Jia unlawful say Chinese lawyers
- Police beat female staff at retail shop

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Detention of Jia Jia unlawful say Chinese lawyers
(0:16)

On October 21st of this year, Jia Jia, the Former General Secretary of the Shanxi Association of Scientists and Technology Experts was arrested when he arrived in the Beijing Airport from New Zealand. He is a permanent resident of New Zealand, and used his Chinese passport to enter the country on a self-proclaimed mission to bring democracy to the Chinese people.

Jia’s arrest attracted international attention from the legal community. Many local and international legal experts have expressed that the authority’s actions of limiting Mr. Jia’s freedoms are clearly unlawful.

Zhang Lihang from the Han Ding Law firm in Zhejiang province expressed that, although China has signed The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant never passed through to legislation. This means that the Covenant has very limited legal binding force. Mr. Zhang says that in the case of Jia, local authorities will most likely only apply China’s punishment and immigration laws. Even so, the secretive way in which Jia is being detained appears to be unlawful, he said.

Zhang said,

“Looking at this case from the perspective of the law, even if he has already entered Chinese territory and is no longer in the international border control area, to receive such restrictions on his personal freedom… Mr. Jia expressing his political stance or opinion does not equate to a criminal offence, thus the treatment he has received is clearly unnecessary. To put it more clearly, it is most likely a violation of the law.”

Yang Zaixin, a lawyer from Guangxi province also offered his legal opinion on the matter. He stated that, according to Chinese law, a person who is charged with a crime, detained or even just arrested must be allowed to contact their family within 24 hours. The secretive detention of Mr. Jia therefore is clearly unlawful.

Yang said,

“It is extremely clear that there is no legal basis for the treatment [Mr. Jia has received]. In fact not just Mr. Jia, but many brave and righteous people have been detained in China. The family members of these arrested persons have not been contacted for a long time and they are not given any legal protection. For example, persecuted lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s family still does not know what has become of him and no authorities will tell them. Generally speaking, there is no rule of law. Political cases are always kept secret and the person charged will have their rights restricted or even completely removed.”

One Beijing Lawyer who wished to remain anonymous expressed that Mr. Jia is a UN Refugee and thus should have all the rights of a UN Refugee, including freedom of speech. Regardless of what Jia has said or done overseas, under the 1933 Convention Relating to the International Status of Refugees, he should not be subject to criminal punishment in China.

The Beijing Lawyer said,

“Within mainland China, only a lawyer who is a Chinese citizen can practice law and defend a client in a lawsuit. So if his son wanted to find a lawyer, we could recommend one. According to the Convention relating to the International Status of Refugees, he cannot be prosecuted because of his actions overseas. Therefore if the court truly follows international conventions, he cannot be prosecuted. It all depends on how the government chooses to handle it.”

Caden Pearson; Li Yifei; and Wu Tong of the SOH Radio Network.

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Police beat female staff at retail shop
(4:16)

Image of injured can be found here.

Reports have surfaced of a violent incident involving police and patrons of a clothing store that occurred ahead of China’s National Day on October 1st. A staff member at Lan-Tian Clothing Store said the Weishi County Government in Jining City mobilised 400 police to trash the store. According to the staff member, it was to make way for a so called “Accomplishment Exhibition” – to showcase for the 60th anniversary of the Communist regime’s takeover of China. Victims say police looted the clothing store, and two female staff was badly injured.

The clothing store is situated at the Shi-qun Art Gallery. It holds a lease and a license to operate. Staff Zhang Mei-lian told SOH that when asked by the government to move, they requested assistance with finding a suitable location.

Zhang Mei-lian said, “When they asked as to go, our CEO said as long as you arrange somewhere for us to go it’s fine, because we have more people and our staff need to fill their stomaches and survive…They didn’t agree to anything, and didn’t look for any locations for us, they didn’t take care of anything, there was no compensation or anything like that, and now within one night, they took everything we had.”

From the night of August 25th to the next morning, over 400 public security officers, military police, and other administrative officials, broke through the wall of the store and its anti-theft gate. Staff was beaten and 22 truckloads of merchandise were taken.

Zhang Mei-lian said, “It was too wicked, too despicable, at that time a young girl was in front of the door, and when the door broke, she sat down and cut her rear end. Then one of the officials, surnamed Wang, kicked her in the stomach when she tried to get up, and the glass stabbed through her abdomen, and she fainted right there. The worst is, after she fainted we begged them to help her and not waste any time, but they said she’s already too far gone. They were beating us and just ignored our requests.”

Several official documents issued in September revealed that the violent trashing on August 26 was at the direction of the Shiwei Government. Despite this, the Jining Government and the local court later detained store staffs and tortured them to make them admit that they had broken the law.

Zhang Mei-lian said, “All of the girls were locked up in 12 police stations, and they tried to extract confessions on us, some were cuffed to a bench, and we were tortured so that we would confess we had broken the law.”

The CEO of Lan-Tian Clothing Store has been forced to flee to another province. The Jining City Court has issued a notice that he would be compensated. However, the Bureau of Public Security has issued a summons for him for “suspected involvement in disrupting public order.”

As far as the store staff are concerned, they do not trust the court process, and do not believe that anyone will be brought to justice.

Zhang Mei-lian said, “The court is also governed by the City Government, even if we sue there would be no use. Our CEO cannot go home, we really have be wronged, we’re innocent.”

Many of the staff who work at the store are girls from the countryside. Now many of them have to return home. In the end, there were no so called “Accomplishment Exhibition” held, and the store space is sitting empty – and the staff do not want to return.
Zhang Mei-lian said, “After they trashed us, we can’t face that place anymore, if we go, it’ll remind us what a sad place it was, it’s very upsetting.”

Caden Pearson; Wu Jiaqi; and Wang Zhen of the SOH Radio Network.

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