Please join our appeal and send online letters [2] on behalf of the Liaoyang Four. Now that a trial date has been set for Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, your support is urgently needed.

Due to the urgent nature of this appeal, it is important that these letters also reach the Court directly. Since the Court has no email, we ask you to copy, paste and print out the sample letter below and fax it to the Liaoyang Court (don’t forget your name and date at the bottom of the letter). Thank you for your extra effort.

President

Liaoyang City Intermediate People’s Court

152 Zhonghuadajie Liaoyangshi

Liaoningsheng

People’s Republic of China

Fax: (86) 419-3222163

Dear Mr. President

I am writing concerning the impending trial of Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang on charges of subversion on January 15. Yao and Xiao participated in protests in the city of Liaoyang in March 2002. During these protests thousands of angry workers from over 20 factories took to the streets of Liaoyang, demanding basic living allowance, pension, and back pay, as well as protesting the corruption of local officials who forced the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory into bankruptcy.

According to local Liaoyang City officials however, the protests were not violent and no property was damaged. Yao, Xiao and their fellow workers representatives, Pang Qingxiang and Wang Zhaoming were merely exercising their internationally recognized rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. I urge you to drop all charges against these four workers and to immediately release those still detained.

Yours sincerely,








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