27 June 2003

China Labour Bulletin today strongly condemns the dismissal of the appeals by Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang against the sentences handed down to them on 9 May 2003 on charges of subversion.


The decision to dismiss the appeals and uphold the original sentences of seven and four years imprisonment respectively was taken today, 27 June, at a secret hearing lasting less than 30 minutes at the Liaoyang City Detention Centre where both men are being held. Both families were denied access to the hearing and neither of the two men’s lawyers was present.


The family of Yao Fuxin were only told of today’s hearing late yesterday when a friend of the family happened to see a notice announcing the hearing outside the municipal court and immediately informed Yao’s wife. The family then contacted Mo Shaoping, Yao Fuxin’s lawyer, who had also not been informed of the hearing date. He had originally been planning to go to the Provincial High Court next week to press for information on the appeal as he had received no news from the authorities.

The families of both Xiao Yunliang and Yao Fuxin went to the detention centre at around 8.00 am but were refused entry. They were then told that the hearing would be postponed to 10.30 am from the stated time of 9.00 am. However, they remained at the centre and at 9.15, several official cars left the centre - it is believed that they held provincial or municipal officials attending the hearing. An official at the detention centre later confirmed that the appeal did indeed begin at 9am and was over within 30 minutes. Some 200 retired and retrenched workers from the Ferro-Alloy Factory had also gathered at the centre in a show of solidarity despite the presence of some 100 armed police who guarded the centre’s entrance.

China Labour Bulletin also learned that Xiao Yunliang’s family was informed by officials that Xiao’s health has further deteriorated. Su Anhua, Xiao’s wife again appealed for the release of her husband and asked that he be given immediate medical treatment. She added that the authorities did not seem to care if her husband lived or died but that they simply wanted to “see the family broken down”.

Zhang Fusheng, Xiao Yunliang's lawyer, was himself only notified of the judgment that morning by telephone after the hearing took place. When asked about his views on the judgment, Zhang Fusheng informed CLB that he was disappointed that the decision ignored the many detailed points highlighting Xiao Yunliang’s innocence in relation to the subversion charges. In particular he stressed that the proceedings were flawed and should be reviewed by a higher court.

The abrupt rejection of the appeal comes as a heavy blow to the families of Yao and Xiao and to the thousands of workers in Liaoyang who have continued their fight against corruption in Liaoyang and their campaign to free both men despite extensive harassment. The continuing disregard for legal procedures throughout the lengthy detention of the two men, the lack of information given to the families and their legal representatives, coupled with the use of the blatantly flimsy charges of subversion which were added to the original charges of “holding illegal demonstrations”, reveal the extent to which the Chinese government is willing to subvert justice in order to suppress what is possibly the most important workers struggle in recent years.

China Labour Bulletin remains appalled at the lengthy sentences handed down to two men who are guilty of nothing else but attempting to protect and promote the legitimate rights of Liaoyang workers. We urge the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release both men and to end its use of politically motivated criminal charges against labour activists in China. In particular we call upon the Supreme People’s Court to rescind the sentences passed against Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang and ask that Xiao Yunliang be immediately released on medical grounds to ensure he is given proper and timely medical treatment.

Background

On 9 May 2003, Yao Fuxin was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Xiao Yunliang to four years’ imprisonment after they were tried on 15 January 2003 on charges of subversion. They were first detained in March 2002 after taking part in peaceful mass worker demonstrations in Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province in the northeast of China.

Both men were denied full and proper legal defence – only able to meet their lawyers occasionally. They were only allowed a minimum of family visits despite the increasingly poor health of Xiao Yunliang who is now blinded in one eye.

In March 2003, the International Labour Organization (ILO), of which China is a member, upheld a composite complaint against the Chinese government concerning its detention and prosecution of the Ferro-Alloy workers’ leaders and also its repressive handling of various other labour disputes. The ILO’s Governing Body formally endorsed recommendations from its Committee on Freedom of Association calling upon the Chinese authorities to release all Ferro-Alloy workers still in detention and to drop any charges against them.

China Labour Bulletin has joined forces with LabourStart in launching a global signature campaign calling for the release of the two men. We have now received well over 3,000 signatures.

Please add your name to this urgent campaign – click here or visit http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=14