- Amnesty International Reports:
-
- Gong Shengliang (m), aged 46 Li Ying (f), aged 36 Xu
Fuming (m) Hu Yong (m) Gong Bangkun (m)
-
- Zhang Hongjuan (f), aged 20 Li Tongjin (also known as
"Immanuel") (f) Yang Tongni (also known as
"Ni")(f)
-
- The first five people listed above have been sentenced
to death by the Jingmen City Intermediate People's Court in the central
province of Hubei, China.
-
- All five were condemned to death on 29 December 2001
in connection with their membership of an unofficial Christian
organisation,
the "Huanan (South China) Church". They were tried with 12 others
who were sentenced to between two years and life imprisonment.
-
- All 17 were arrested in April 2001 and accused of leading
or being members of a 'heretical religious organisation' called the
"Huanan
Church" ("South China Church").
-
- Their trial began on 18 December 2001. Gong Shengliang
and and his niece, Li Ying were convicted of "using a heretical
organisation
to undermine the implementation of the law" and "intentional
assault".
-
- This latter charge referred to allegations that since
1991 the group had caused serious injuries to four persons and slight
injuries
to 10 others while "putting the church in order".
-
- Gong and Li, as leaders of the church, were held
responsible
for the alleged injuries. Gong Shengliang was also charged with
"rape",
a charge often brought by the Chinese authorities against detained leaders
of banned religious groups.
-
- The defendants have all reportedly denied their guilt
and have appealed against the sentences to the Hubei Provincial High
People's
Court. Successful appeals are rare in China and execution can take place
hours after the rejection of an appeal.
-
- Gong Bangkun's sentence is suspended for two years. This
means that he will only be executed if he "intentionally commits
crimes"
during that period.
-
- According to official Chinese sources, such prisoners
generally have their sentences commuted at the end of the suspension
period,
usually to life imprisonment. Amnesty International is concerned that the
five men sentenced to death may have been tortured to force them to
confess.
-
- The authorities have banned the "Huanan Church"
as a "heretical organisation". Since May 2001, dozens of alleged
members of the church have been arrested in Hubei province, and some have
allegedly been tortured in police custody.
-
- Among those who claim they were tortured by police are
three young women, identified as Zhang Hongjuan, Li Tongjin and Yang
Tongni,
who were reportedly detained on separate occasions between August and
October
2001.
-
- In letters to their families, which have recently been
made public, they claim that they were tortured during interrogation in
an apparent attempt to make them confess to having had sexual relations
with Gong Shengliang. Gong Shengliang was sentenced to death on charges
reportedly including "rape".
-
- In her letter, Zhang Hongjuan states that police officers
at the Public Security Bureau detention centre in Zhongxiang City, Hubei
Province, shackled her hands and feet, ripped open her shirt and beat her
on the chest with an electric baton.
-
- Li Tongjin wrote to her family that police officers at
the same detention centre shackled her feet and tried to pull off her
shirt,
before beating her on her chest and legs with an electric baton.
-
- Yang Tongni described how police officers at Jingmen
Police School and Jingmen No.1 Detention Centre kicked and beat her,
whipped
her with a leather belt, cuffed her hands behind her back and wedged books
between the handcuffs and her back, and tied her up with rope.
-
- All three claim that others detained with them received
similar or harsher treatment.
-
- Yang Tongni and Li Tongjin are reported to be serving
three-year terms at Shayang Labour Camp in Hubei Province. The current
whereabouts of Zhang Hongjuan are not known.
-
- Twenty-eight relatives of Li Ying and Xu Fuming have
publicly appealed to the Chinese authorities to review the case, pointing
out that the secrecy which surrounded all the judicial proceedings was
a violation of both Chinese law and international human rights
standards.
-
- The relatives complain that the authorities did not tell
them about the prosecution and trial. The appeal continues: "Even
at this very moment we still don't know the whereabouts of our loved ones,
how their life is, whether they are still healthy, even whether they are
still alive or what awaits them eventually".
-
- BACKGROUND INFORMATION
-
- China maintains the death penalty for a large number
of offences, including non-violent crimes and economic crimes such as tax,
financial fraud and counterfeiting.
-
- Execution is by shooting or lethal injection. The death
penalty is used extensively, arbitrarily, and frequently as a result of
political interference. It is particularly used during periodic
"Strike
Hard" anti-crime campaigns, when defendants may be sentenced to death
for crimes which at other times are punished by imprisonment.
-
- There is currently a "Strike Hard" anti-crime
campaign, which initially targeted violent organised crime, but this has
been expanded to include a wide range of other crimes.
-
- Amnesty International is concerned that this campaign,
which stresses "quick arrest, quick trial and quick results",
may influence the proceedings and outcome of criminal trials. Amnesty
International
has recorded at least 2,960 death sentences and 1,781 executions in China
in the 3 months following the start of the campaign from April to June
2001.
-
- These figures, taken from a limited number of sources,
show that more people were executed in China between April and June 2001
than in the rest of the world for the last three years.
-
- It is reported that the "Huanan Church" has
over 50,000 members and was classified by the authorities as a
"heretical
organisation" (or "cult") in April 2001. The authorities
have also classified many other Christian church groups and Qi Gong groups
as 'heretical organisations', which are banned under the Chinese Criminal
Law.
-
- The government is currently waging a fierce and
unprecedented
crackdown on the 'Falungong' movement which was also classified as a
"heretical
organisation" in 1999. Amnesty International has monitored scores
of cases of torture and death in custody of Falungong followers.
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