First the police crippled Chinese rights attorney Ni Yulan’s (倪玉蘭) legs. Then the authorities took away her license to practice law. Later, while serving time in jail, demolition crews tore down the courtyard house that had been in her family for two generations.
Freed from prison in 2010, but unable to walk, she ended up living in a Beijing park with her husband for nearly two months, until unflattering publicity led local officials to move them into a cheap hotel.
Their predicament will most likely take a turn for the worse in the coming weeks, when a court in the capital’s Xicheng district is expected to sentence the couple on charges that include “picking quarrels” and disturbing public order.
“I’m afraid the sentence this time will be especially heavy,” their lawyer, Cheng Hai (程海), said after their hearing on Dec. 28.
The trial of Ni and her husband, Dong Jiqin (董繼勤), capped a particularly grim year for Chinese dissidents and human rights advocates. In recent weeks, two veteran activists, Chen Wei (陳衛) and Chen Xi (陳西), have been given long sentences for essays criticizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Late last month, the authorities announced that Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), a prominent rights lawyer, would have to spend an additional three years in prison for allegedly violating the terms of his probation.
Unaddressed in the terse official statement was how Gao, who had spent the previous 20 months in the custody of public security agents, had broken the law.
Although the government has long restricted the work and words of opponents, its tolerance has diminished further since February last year, when unrest in the Arab world unnerved senior leaders. Dozens of rights lawyers and intellectuals have been detained, countless others have been subjected to heightened police surveillance and propaganda officials have sought to tighten controls on the Internet.
The artist and critic Ai Weiwei (艾未未), who disappeared for more than two months, is still battling tax-evasion charges, an accusation he says is designed to silence him.
“The government seems to be going in only one direction, which is more control and harsher punishment against political dissidents,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Nicholas Bequelin said. “This is a reflection of the broader atmosphere in China, which is more conservative and hard-line.”
Bequelin and other analysts say they suspect the space for dissent will only narrow this year. There is the coming change in leadership, a transition that takes place once every decade, as well as the specter of an economic slowdown that party leaders worry could exacerbate social tensions.
Prognosticating in China is always a risky endeavor, but there are signs that the CCP is girding itself for battle.
In the most recent edition of the party publication Seeking Truth, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) warned the nation about those hoping to bring China down, notably “hostile international powers,” a term often used to describe human rights advocates and their foreign sympathizers.
“We must be aware of the seriousness and complexity of the struggles and take powerful measures to prevent and deal with them,” he said.
Officials are already preparing a new legal bludgeon against perceived troublemakers: a pending revision of the criminal code that would allow the police to secretly detain for six months those accused of “endangering national security,” a catchall designation often wielded against political offenders.
New York University law professor Jerome Cohen, an expert on Chinese law, called the revision “sinister” and said it would unduly strengthen the hand of the police.
“It legalizes repressive and abusive state tactics,” Cohen said.
The case of Ni and Dong highlights the ways officials can leverage the legal system against those they deem to be nuisances. Ni, 51, who received a law degree from China University of Political Science and Law, drew the attention of the authorities in 2002, when she used her expertise to help neighbors in Xicheng fighting eviction, part of the government’s sweeping effort to remake the capital ahead of the Olympics.
Detained after she tried to photograph demolition crews, she said she was kicked and pummeled over the course of 15 hours, leaving her incontinent and unable to walk. She was released after 75 days, but continued her legal work while also seeking redress for the beating. Over the next few years, she was arrested twice more and convicted of “obstructing public business.”
During her three years in prison, she said, she endured frequent indignities: An officer once urinated on her face, she said, and prison officials often took away her crutches, forcing her to crawl from her cell to the prison workshop. One of her tasks included cleaning toilets.
Her daughter, too, said she was subjected to government surveillance.
“The police followed me to school and watched me all day so I would experience the fear,” said the daughter, Dong Xuan (董璇), now 27.
Ni gained her freedom in April 2010, but found herself homeless after the police made it difficult for her to rent an apartment or a hotel room, she said. Supporters donated a tent, which she and her husband pitched in a park in central Beijing. However, when petitioners and reporters began showing up in large numbers, the authorities moved the couple into a dingy hotel room.
Their latest arrest, in April last year, appears to have been prompted by Ni’s continued work dispensing legal help to people who flocked to the couple’s tiny room at the Xin Royal Palace Hotel. Indeed, one of the charges she faces is fraud — prosecutors say her disbarment meant she was not allowed to engage in legal work.
The couple are also accused of failing to pay their hotel bill.
The police tried to dislodge them last winter by cutting off water and electricity to the room, she said. Their plight caught the attention of former US ambassador Jon Huntsman, who visited them in February. After photographs of Ni working by candlelight began to spread on the Internet, the authorities took the couple into custody.
During their trial last week, Ni, thin and weak, was propped up on a makeshift bed, an oxygen mask tethered to her face. Outside, a heavy police presence prevented family members, supporters and foreign diplomats from entering the courtroom. Cheng claims the proceedings were illegal because nine of his 10 witnesses were barred from testifying.
Reached by phone, a spokesman for the Xicheng District People’s Court declined to answer questions about the case.
The only witness was Ni’s daughter, who spoke briefly about her mother’s health problems.
“I don’t expect her to get a fair trial,” Dong said afterward. “My mother can’t walk, and she can barely breathe. I can’t understand why they just won’t let her be.”
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