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CHN 200606.2 ESCR
Follow up to Case CHN 200606 ESCR and CHN 200606.1 ESCR
Forced resettlement and ill-treatment of villagers in China / Assault / Recovery / Impunity
Geneva, 9 October 2006
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the People’s Republic of China.
New Information:
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source[1] about the transfer of Three Gorges Dam resettlement activist Mr. Fu Xiancai to Beijing’s China Rehabilitation Research Centre, one of China’s best rehabilitation hospitals.
According to the information received, as Mr. Fu Xiancai’s family members were concerned that the Yichang No. 1 People’s Hospital, where Fu Xiancai was hospitalized after being struck from behind in the back of the neck by an unknown assailant (See brief reminder of the facts), was not providing adequate care, it has been decided, under the pressure of Germany in particular, that Mr. Fu Xiancai would be transferred to Beijing’s China Rehabilitation Research Centre, to which Germany, along with Japan, Canada and Hong Kong, provided significant financial support for the construction.
Regarding the investigation into Mr. Fu’s assault, Mr. Fu Bing, acting on behalf of Mr. Fu Xiancai, requested in early July to the relevant authorities for Zigui County Public Security Bureau (PSB) head Mr. Jia Li and other individual officials to be removed from the official investigation into the attack on Mr. Fu Xiancai. However, Mr. Jia Li refused to withdraw from the case, and in late July 2006 local Party and Zigui County PSB officials informed Mr. Fu Xiancai and his family that the Zigui County PSB investigation had concluded that Mr. Fu Xiancai’s injuries were self-inflicted. Moreover, the Party committees of Yangguidian Village and Jiuli Village held urgent meetings and instructed all Party members to adhere to the findings of the investigation, and to answer any media inquiries with the statement that Mr. Fu Xiancai’s injuries were self-inflicted. Officials have also repeatedly approached and harassed any of Mr. Fu Xiancai’s friends or relatives who maintain that he was deliberately attacked.
Beside all that, villagers have been prevented to show any support to Mr. Fu Xiancai, which means, for example, to try to collect funds to pay Mr. Fu Xiancai’s medical expenses. In the same time, journalists have been shadowed in the meaning that journalists have been prevented to question Mr. Fu Xiancai or to approach his family and friends.
Brief reminder of the facts:
Dozens of villagers who have been petitioning and protesting against the conditions imposed on those who were resettled following the Three Gorges Dam project in Hubei Province, have been harassed, injured or detained over the past 10 years. Among them is Mr. Fu Xiancai.
Numerous villagers were forcibly resettled since the 1990’s following the Three Gorges Dam project. In many cases, villagers have not only been resettled on land greatly inferior to that of their original homes, but they have also been deprived of the compensation promised to them by corrupt local officials. These cases are allegedly so common and well documented that they constitute a systemic abuse that should be addressed by the central authorities. However, it is reported that the central government continues to turn a blind eye to abuses against Three Gorges villagers and victims of land grabs throughout China, with the result that rural discontent is increasingly becoming a destabilizing factor nationwide.
On 8 June 2006, Three Gorges Dam resettlement activist Mr. Fu Xiancai was struck from behind in the back of the neck by an unknown assailant. Following this attack, Mr. Fu Xiancai was paralysed from the shoulders down and lost control of all bodily functions, except his ability to speak.
Despite the seriousness of his injuries, the surgery he needed was postponed numerous times. It finally held on 18 June 2006, but immediately after it Mr. Fu Xiancai suffered from fever and a pulmonary infection during several days. The risk that injuries to the vertebrae of Mr. Fu Xiancai will result in his permanent inability to walk or stand remains. As a result, he will probably remain confined to a wheelchair.
Because of his fight against forced resettlement of villagers, Mr. Fu Xiancai and his family were subjected to a pattern of harassment and threats during more than a year in which he has come under constant surveillance, and he and his family have been subjected to chilling harassment, threats, assaults and injuries. However, the Zigui County Public Security Bureau, under the direction of Mr. Jai Li, have failed to apprehend the culprits, to provide any protection, and to take any action. Moreover, it is reported that in some instances of harassment officers of Zigui County PSB were involved. However, the attack of Mr. Fu Xiancai directly followed an interview broadcasted on 20 May 2006 in the German public television station ‘Das Erste’, in the frame of the program ‘A Celebration of the Construction of the Three Gorges Dam’; in fact, the attack occurred just after local police questioned him over the interview for the German television.
Despite the incapacity or unwillingness of the Zigui County PSB to prevent Mr. Fu Xiancai attack, this organ has been assigned to investigate the assault on Mr. Fu Xiancai. However, Mr. Fu Xiancai and his family members had serious doubts over the ability of the Zigui County PSB to carry out an independent and objective investigation into the case.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China urging them to:
i. ensure that Mr. Fu Xiancai is provided with all required medical assistance, relating to the attack, at present and in the future and to fulfill the promise of China’s Foreign Affairs Office to take responsibility for Mr. Fu Xiancai’s medical treatment;
ii. order a thorough, impartial, and independent investigation into these events, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the civil penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. guarantee that adequate reparation is awarded to Mr. Fu Xiancai and to all other Three Gorges Dam activists who became victim;
iv. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all villagers who were forcibly resettled and ensure that they receive adequate compensation;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
・ President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, Case postale 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Geneve, Suisse, Fax: +4122 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int
・ Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Fusen Buzhang, Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 65 292345
・ Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Li Zhaoxing Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn
・ The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Mr. Guan Chenjyyuan, Av. De Terveuren, 463, 1160 Audergheim, Tel: +32 (0) 2 663 30 10 / 663 30 17 / 711 14 97; Fax: + 32 (0) 2 762 99 66 /779 28 95; E-mail: chinaemb.be@mfa.gov.cn
Please also write to the embassies of the People’s Republic of China in your respective country.
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Geneva, 9 October 2006.
[1] Human Rights In China (HRIC); not a member of the SOS-Torture network.
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