Amnesty International April 1988
Amnesty International April 1988
Page
six
CAMPAIGN FOR PRISONERS OF THE MONTH
Each of the people whose story is told below
is a prisoner of conscience. Each has been arrested because of his or her
religious or political beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin or language. None has
used or advocated violence. Their continuing detention is a violation of the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International appeals can
help to secure the release of these prisoners or to improve their detention
conditions. In the interest of the prisoners, letters to the authorities should
be worded carefully and courteously. You should stress that your concern for
human rights is not in any way politically partisan. In no circumstances should
communications be sent to the prisoner.
CHINA
Liu Shanqing: a 35-year-old electronic sales
engineer from Hong Kong, he is serving a 10-year sentence for "counter-revolutionary
offences", imposed in February 1983.
Liu Shanqing was arrested after leaving Hong
Kong on 25 December 1981 for a trip to Guangzhou (Canton). He was a supporter
of the "democracy movement of the late 1970 s, and had planned to visit
the relatives of prominent activist Wang Xizhe, detained in Guangzhou since
April 1981.
Liu Shanqing's family received no official
confirmation of his detention until his father went to Guangzhou in March 1982
to inquire about his son's "disappearance”. He was told by the municipal
public security bureau that Liu Shanqing his son was under arrest, but was not
informed of the charges against him or his whereabouts and was denied
permission to visit him. Only in March 1983 did officials of Guangzhou
Intermediate People's Court tell him that Liu Shanqing had already been tried
and sentenced. The PRC authorities consider ethnic Chinese resident in Hong
Kong to be citizens of China and therefore subject to its laws.
On 10 August 1983, the Guangzhou Intermediate
People's Court wrote to the Students' Union of the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, which had campaigned for Liu Shanqing's release, claiming that he had
been publicly tried and convicted of collaboration with other
counter-revolutionary elements "to "attack the socialist system and
the people's democratic dictatorship", and of counter revolutionary
propaganda and agitation "
On appeal, the municipal Higher People's Court
had upheld his sentence of 10 years imprisonment with three years' deprivation
of political rights. However, in 1987, court officials told Liu Shanqing supporters
that he could apply for a retrial and have his sentence reduced if he pleaded
guilty ", and that representation by a Hong Kong lawyer "would be
discussed"
Liu Shanqing is imprisoned in Meizhou city in
Guangdong province.
Reports in late 1987 indicated that he had
been recently moved to solitary confinement and was undergoing a program of
"re-education ".
Please send courteous letters appealing for
his immediate and unconditional release to :His Excellency Li Peng /Acting
Prime Minister /Guowuyuan /Beijingshi /People's Republic of China.
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