Print

Mail

wiki links

Lawyer tortured for confession in PRC prison, wife alleges

The wife of a prominent civil rights lawyer said yesterday that police in southern China have repeatedly tortured her husband over the past three months, seeking a confession on trumped-up fraud charges.

Guo Feixiong (郭飛雄), who has tried to help villagers in numerous land confiscation cases in China's southern Guangdong Province, was arrested in October after a series of protests by angry villagers.

He was chained to a bed and tortured on about 40 occasions, Guo's wife Zhang Qing (張青) said by phone.

"They have not treated him humanely, they have cursed him, beat him and chained him up, this is too frightening," she said.

fraud charge

Police have charged Guo with fraud in a publishing deal he was involved in years ago, Zhang said.

Zhang said she learned of her husband's ordeal from his lawyer Hu Xiao (胡嘯), who met with Guo in custody on Thursday.

Zhang accompanied Hu to the No 1 Detention Center in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, but was not allowed to see her husband.

Guo's case was handed over to the prosecution on Dec. 26 but it could take months to set a trial date, she said.

During his ordeal, Guo has gone on hunger strikes totalling 40 days to protest his treatment, she added.

"He is refusing to go along with the police, he is claiming innocence and refusing to admit any guilt," Zhang said.

Guo's meeting with his lawyer was only the second time the two have met since his arrest.

Guo became known for helping residents in a land dispute in Guangdong's Taishi Village that started in 2004.

Appeal rejected

Meanwhile, a Chinese court yesterday rejected the final appeal of a blind activist jailed on charges of disrupting traffic but whose supporters say was targeted for documenting villagers' complaints of forced abortions.

Chen Guangcheng's (陳光誠) lawyer, Li Jingsong (李勁松), said that the Intermediate Court in central Shandong Province's Linyi City had reviewed the documents from Chen's retrial in November and decided to uphold the verdict and sentence of four years and three months for damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic."

The decision is a blow to Chen's case, which has garnered attention from human rights activists who say it is an example of official retaliation and unjust imprisonment of dissidents based on phony charges.

The Linyi Intermediate Court rejected the verdict from Chen's first trial last August in the Yinan County court because of insufficient evidence and ordered a retrial, held on Nov. 27.

The faxed judgment Friday from the Linyi Intermediate court said "the facts were clear and the evidence was sufficient" at the retrial, Li said.

"We expected this might happen but justice will prevail finally," Li said in a telephone interview. "We still have confidence in justice."

State media reported Friday that the 34-year-old blind activist instigated an attack on government offices in his home village of Dongshigu in Yinan county because he was upset with workers sent to carry out poverty-relief programs.
This story has been viewed 1740 times.