Antécédents de l'affaire: Guo Feixiong
Le défenseur des droits humains M. Guo Feixiong souffre d'une grave détérioration de sa santé depuis qu'il a entamé une grève de la faim le 9 mai 2016 et aurait perdu un tiers de son poids.
Guo a entamé une grève de la faim pour appeler le président Xi Jinping à mettre en place des réformes démocratiques, à mettre un terme aux chocs électriques en prison, à améliorer le traitement des prisonniers politiques et à ratifier le Pacte de l'ONU sur les droits civils et politiques.
Plus de 400 DDH font des relais de grèves de la faim pour soutenir Guo, car il refuse la nourriture et l'eau. Sa grève de la faim dure depuis plus de 100 jours.
Il ne reçoit pas les soins médicaux appropriés, malgré sa santé qui se détériore rapidement, et il fait l'objet de traitement dégradants infligés par les autorités de la prison de Yangchung, dans la province de Guangdong. Guo Feixiong, lauréat du Prix Front Line Defenders 2015 pour les défenseur-ses des droits humains en danger, purge actuellement une peine de 6 ans de prison pour avoir "rassemblé une foule dans le but de troubler l'ordre social" et d'avoir 'provoqué une querelle et des troubles".
Guo Feixiong avait déjà été placé en détention le 8 août 2013 pour avoir participé à une manifestation contre la censure devant les bureaux d'un journal en janvier 2013 à Guangzhou. En avril 2013, il a participé à une campagne qui appelait les autorités chinoises à ratifier la Convention internationale sur les droits civils et politiques (CIDCP). Après son arrestation, il avait été placé en détention préventive pendant plus d'un an.
Guo Feixiong est une personnalité connue en Chine dans le milieu des droits humains. Il a déjà passé cinq ans en prison à cause de ses activités en faveur des droits humains. En 2005, le défenseur des droits humains avait apporté une aide juridique et un soutien organisationnel aux habitants du village de Taishi dans la province de Guangdong, qui cherchaient à exclure le chef du village qu'ils accusaient de corruption. À cause de son implication dans cette affaire, il a été détenu par la police pendant trois mois sans charge. Pendant cette période, il a mené une grève de la faim pour protester contre son traitement.
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- À propos de
- 13 Juin 2016 : Grave détérioration de la santé de Guo Feixiong après plus de 40 jours de grève de la faim
- 26 Avril 2016 : La santé de Guo Feixiong se détériore rapidement en prison
- 1 Décembre 2015 : Human Rights Defender Guo Feixiong responds to his 6 year sentence
- 27 Novembre 2015 : 2015 Front Line Defenders Award Winner Guo Feixiong sentenced to six years in prison
- 16 Septembre 2014 : Lawyers for human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong denounce unfair trial
- 25 Juin 2014 : Indictment of human rights defender Mr Yang Maodong
- 19 Août 2013 : Detention of human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong
Le défenseur des droits humains M. Guo Feixiong souffre d'une grave détérioration de sa santé depuis qu'il a entamé une grève de la faim le 9 mai 2016 et aurait perdu un tiers de son poids.
Le 10 juin 2016, Guo Feixiong ne pesait plus que 52 kg, une forte perte de poids en 40 jours alors qu'il pesait 75kg avant sa grève de la faim. Il a entamé cette grève pour protester contre son traitement en prison car il ne reçoit pas de soins médicaux appropriés et il est victime de traitements dégradants infligés par les autorités de la prison de Yangchung, dans la province de Guangdong.
Les autorités ont menacé la famille du défenseur que si elle s'exprimait publiquement à propos de l'état de Guo Feixiong, elle risquait de ne plus pouvoir rendre visite au défenseur. Ces informations à propos de la santé de Guo Feixiong ont été révélées par d'autres sources. Sept défenseur-ses des droits humains qui soutiennent Guo Feixiong et qui appelaient à sa libération ont été libérés à Pékin le 31 mai 2016. La coordinatrice du rassemblement et de la grève de la faim "Sauvez Guo Feixiong", Mme Ai Wu, a également indiqué que les participants au rassemblement à Chongqing ont été la cible de diverses formes de harcèlement de la part des autorités.
Front Line Defenders est profondément préoccupée par la santé de Guo Feixiong et par sa rapide perte de poids, ainsi que par les menaces proférées contre sa famille de mettre en place des restrictions de visites.
Dans la matinée du 26 avril 2016, la sœur du défenseur des droits humains emprisonné M. Guo Feixiong lui a rendu visite dans la prison de Yangchun, province de Guangdong, et a fait part de ses profondes inquiétudes quant à sa santé. Guo Feixiong, lauréat du Prix Front Line Defenders 2015 pour les défenseur-ses des droits humains en danger, purge actuellement une peine de 6 ans de prison pour avoir "rassemblé une foule dans le but de troubler l'ordre social" et d'avoir 'provoqué une querelle et des troubles".
Download the Urgent Appeal (PDF)
Guo Feixiong, pseudonyme de Yang Maodong, est une personnalité connue du mouvement des droits humains en Chine. Il a déjà été emprisonné plusieurs fois à cause de ses activités en faveur des droits humains. Le 27 novembre 2015, il a été condamné à six ans de prison pour avoir participé à des manifestations pacifiques en faveur de la liberté de la presse et pour son implication dans une campagne appelant le gouvernement chinois à ratifier le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques. En septembre 2015, Guo Feixiong a reçu le Prix Front Line Defenders pour les défenseur-ses des droits humains en danger.
Le 26 avril à 10h, Yang Maoping, la sœur de Guo Feixiong, a rendu visite à son frère dans la prison de Yangchun et a indiqué qu'il était plus pâle et plus maigre que lors de sa visite de 29 février 2016. Guo Feixiong lui a dit que le 7 avril 2016, il avait été admis à l'hôpital et que depuis près d'un an, il a parfois du sang dans les selles, et il souffre de saignements de la bouche et de la gorge. Il lui a également dit que le 19 avril 2016, il avait perdu beaucoup de sang et qu'il ne pouvait pas marcher de façon stable, et, le 25 avril, il était à peine capable de se mettre debout. À l'hôpital, il a été placé pendant 23 heures dans une pièce de 7,5 mètres carrés sans fenêtre, avec quatre autres personnes. Guo Feixiong a demandé un examen médical complet, mais on lui a répondu que le gardien de prison ne le permettrait pas.
Lorsqu'elle a vu Guo Feixiong le 29 février dernier, Yang Maoping avait demandé aux autorités de la prison que son frère passe un examen médical complet, y compris un IRM des lombaires, car il avait vraiment l'air malade. Après sa visite du 26 avril 2016, elle a de nouveau demandé que Guo Feixiong soit transféré dans un hôpital mieux équipé pour passer une série de tests, notamment une tomodensitométrie, une endoscopie, une coloscopie, un examen sanguin, qu'il y ait un diagnostique et un traitement. Le garde de la prison a répondu que Guo Feixiong ne lui avait pas fait une telle requête, mais que si le défenseur perdait connaissance, il serait immédiatement envoyé à l'hôpital. Yang Maoping a insisté sur le fait que cela risque d'être trop tard d'attendre et que si le garde n'avait pas l'autorité pour approuver les examens, alors il devrait demander à ses supérieurs d'approuver le transfert.
En 2005, le défenseur des droits humains avait apporté une aide juridique et un soutien organisationnel aux habitants du village de Taishi dans la province de Guangdong, qui cherchaient à exclure le chef du village qu'ils accusaient de corruption. À cause de son implication dans cette affaire, il a été détenu par la police pendant trois mois sans charge. Pendant cette période, il a mené une grève de la faim pour protester contre son traitement. Lorsqu'il a été libéré en décembre 2005, il a régulièrement été victime de surveillance, de harcèlement et au moins d'un violent passage à tabac avant d'être de nouveau arrêté en septembre 2006. En novembre 2007, il a été condamné à cinq ans de prison, antidatée au jour de son arrestation l'année précédente, pour "entreprise illégale", après avoir publié un livre au sujet d'un scandale politique dans la province de Liaoning, dans le nord-est de la Chine. À sa libération en septembre 2011, Guo Feixiong a déclaré que les traitements qui lui ont été infligés lorsqu'il était en détention préventive puis en prison, étaient "au-delà de ce que l'on peut imaginer". Il aurait été enchaîné à un lit en bois pendant 42 jours, puis pendu nu au plafond par les bras pendant que la police utilisait une matraque électrique pour l'électrocuter.
Front Line Defenders est profondément préoccupée par la santé du défenseur des droits humains Guo Feixiong ainsi que par l'absence de soins médicaux.
Front Line Defenders exhorte les autorités de Chine à:
1. Garantir immédiatement des soins médicaux appropriés à Guo Feixiong et que son traitement en prison corresponde à toutes les conditions établies dans les « Principes fondamentaux relatifs à la Protection de Toute Personne contre Toute Forme de Détention ou Emprisonnement » adoptés par l'Assemblée Générale dans sa résolution 43/173 du 9 décembre 1988 ;
2. Infirmer la peine prononcée contre Guo Feixiong et le libérer, car Front Line Defenders pense que sa condamnation est uniquement motivée par son travail légitime et pacifique en faveur des droits humains;
3. Garantir qu’en toutes circonstances, tous-tes les défenseur-ses des droits humains en Chine, puissent mener à bien leurs actions légitimes en faveur des droits humains, sans craindre ni restrictions ni représailles.
On 27 November 2015, the Tianhe District People's Court in Guangzhou sentenced human rights defender Guo Feixiong to six years in prison on charges of “gathering crowds to disturb social order” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The latter charge was reportedly added by the judge at the sentencing and therefore one that Guo Feixiong's lawyers had no opportunity to defend him against, and which resulted in two years being added to his sentence.
Guo Feixiong: Final Response at Sentencing
Translated from the Chinese by Xiaohua
This judgment is anti-justice and anti-law. It is a despicable political persecution against me and Sun Desheng conducted by the dark anti-democratic forces in China. We are completely innocent.
What flows deep inside law is the voice of subject and dignity. “ What’s more important in law are righteousness, mercy and faithfulness.” However, this judgment of yours tramples on righteousness, violates humanity, and undermines the most basic procedural justice. This case of political injustice that you have done to us who had just uprightly fulfilled our civil and political rights means that you have misused the legal organization which should have been used to hphold justice and protect human rights to frame false evidence against innocent citizens and trample on the core interest of the Chinese nation ——the constitutional democratic cause. The criminal intent of your behavior is very obvious, and the details are so serious as to constitute the most profound evil.
Your action has severely violated criminal law. The future court of the democratic legal system will judge your crime in a just way, and will use the humanitarian light to illuminate your human nature that has been submerged for so long by unruliness, greed, fear and hatred. Without justice and atonement, there will be no dignified benevolence and forgiveness.
All you tyrants, oppressors and anti-democratic evil persons in China, I will use the indignant prophecy of an indomitable idealist who has been made the target of fabricated political charges and suffered savage torture to punish that soul of yours that has been poisoned by totalitarian ideology and refuses to repent up to this day. Having experienced the extremely brutal historical tragedy caused by totalitarianism, you still act perversely by holding its mantle and take all measures to safeguard private ownership of power and carry out full dictatorship. I believe that human beings of future generations will condemn you for your stubborness and conscience decay and denounce the jungle wild nature political barbarity for which you don’t feel ashamed but instead self-beautify.
“History is our religion.” History is our nation’s court of natural law. The judges Zheng Xin, Luo Cheng, Lu Xiao and the prosecutors Wang Yu and Liu Lijun involved in this case, and all the officials of the stability-maintaining group behind you who regard modern democracy as the abyss, you should know that you are acting against conscience and God knows everything you do, and you can never escape the punishment of the court of history for your grave sinfulness.
Let me honestly tell you: it is impossible for this shameful political persecution of yours to realise the political goal of suppressing the mighty democratic wave of China, on the contrary, it just helps people all over the world to get a clearer understanding of your anti- democratic character. More citizens will, out of anger or awakening, stand up like mountain peaks and join us. Our liberal democratic movement will grow more powerful amid your continuous suppression and hardening, until one day this generation of citizens will erect with their own hands the plural and balanced democratic edifice on this land of calamities. There is no exception in the world that the future belongs to sovereign citizens and sovereign people.
I will take this chance to express my sincere thankfulness to the lawyers Cheng Guangwu, Zhang Xuezhong and Zhang Lei who in the past two years overcame all kinds of risks and obstructions and dauntlessly provided me legal defence. No words can describe their great help to me. I would like to thank the lawyers Sui Muqing and Lin Qilei, Xiaoshu, Guo Chunping, Zhao Hongwei, the Pastor Fu Xiqiu and Zhang Min for your tenacious and selfless efforts to rescue me and support me. My thanks also go to my elder sister Yang Maoping and my elder brother Yang Maoquan who have suffered deeply and have become all the stronger. I would like to give my thanks to countless other people whose names I cannot possibly list one by one, yet you have joined in different ways the activities of appealing , rescuing and watching. Thanks heartily all those virtuous compatriots and international friends who in different ways spread information, express support and issue protests. Support and help from brothers and sisters all over the world make me feel as if I am living in a warm ocean of humanity and benevolence, and I often forget the coldness of the prison bars and the distress of the thick walls.
I would like to give special thankfulness to my wife Zhang Qing. At a dinner party with the senior soldiers of the democratic movement in late July 2012, my answer to the question concerning my family situation was: ” My feeling for my wife is sacred, for she has done her utmost to appeal for my rescue when I am in calamity and she refuses to step backward when faced with every threat.” My dear wife, now I openly express my deep thankfulness to you, with the intention of expressing and spreading my great respect to you for your resistance, adherence and loyalty shown under special test in the past tenyears. I would forever keep in mind and thank you for what you did for me during September 2006 and December 2008. “The eternal female leads humanity to rise. “My beloved wife, I deeply understand the hardships that you as a mother experience in raising our daughter and son in the new continent. While I am constantly imprisoned in the Chinese mainland for my dedication to democracy, the education of our daughter and son, the family affair that I most highly consider, is dependent on you.
My friends, it is time for an end and I will embrace a new beginning. Infinite wonders and opportunities, ideal brightness and brilliance, are all just ahead, waiting for us.
Yang Maodong (Guo Feixiong)
On sentencing day
On 27 November 2015, human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong was sentenced to six years in prison by the Tianhe District People's Court in Guangzhou.
Two other human rights defenders, Messrs Liu Yuandong and Sun Desheng, received three and two and a half year sentences respectively.
In September 2015, Guo Feixiong was awarded the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, which was accepted on his behalf by his wife, Zhang Qing and daughter, Yang Tianjiao. All three human rights defenders had taken part in peaceful demonstrations calling for freedom of the press in Guangzhou in January 2013, which led to their arrests.
On the morning of 27 November 2015, Tianhe District People's Court in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, sentenced Guo Feixiong (penname of Yang Maodong) to six years in prison on charges of “gathering crowds to disturb social order” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The latter charge was reportedly added by the judge at the sentencing and therefore one that Guo Feixiong's lawyers had no opportunity to defend him against, and which resulted in two years being added to his sentence. Liu Yuandong was sentenced to three years, while Sun Desheng was sentenced to two and a half years, both on charges of “gathering crowds to disrupt public order”.
Guo Feixiong was initially detained on 8 August 2013 in connection with an anti-censorship demonstration he had participated in outside the offices of a newspaper in January that year in Guangzhou. In April 2013 he was involved in a campaign to urge the Chinese authorities to ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Following his arrest, he was held in pre-trial detention for over a year.
The first hearing of the trial against him and Sun Desheng took place on 12 September 2014 and was boycotted by their lawyers in protest at unfair treatment. The trial resumed on 22 November 2014 when the court sat for 18 hours without interruption. Liu Yuandong was tried in January 2014 and had been awaiting sentencing since then.
Since his detention in 2013, Guo Feixiong has reportedly been held in a 30 sq metre cell with 30 other detainees. Furthermore, he has been denied permission to go outside or exercise in the prison yard since his initial detention and has alleged ill-treatment by the prison guards. According to his lawyer, Mr Zhang Lei, Guo Feixiong's health has suffered greatly as a result. It has also been reported that Sun Desheng had had his hands cuffed and legs shackled for long periods after his detention.
On 12 September 2014, the trial of human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong was postponed following a hearing in Guang Zhou Tianhe court.
The day before, his lawyers released a statement denouncing violations of his right to a defence as they were not allowed to access the case file, and refused to attend the hearing.
On 11 September 2014, Guo Feixiong's lawyers released a statement explaining that the court had unlawfully deprived their client of a proper defence. His lawyers stated that they would not attend the court proceedings since they had been prevented from acquiring copies of court files that were crucial to the case, as well as video and photo evidence related to the alleged offences. Guo Feixiong remained silent in court in the absence of his lawyer and the court took the decision to postpone the trial. The date of the next hearing is unknown.
The human rights defender's arrest is reportedly linked to his appearance at a public protest in early January 2013 in support of a Guangzhou newspaper ('Southern Weekend') that had been challenging government censorship. Guo Feixiong joined other human rights defenders who had gathered at the newspaper's offices to speak in support of freedom of speech and to show solidarity with 'Southern Weekend' reporters who were resisting censorship efforts. The human rights defender's arrest may also be connected to his involvement in a campaign to urge the Chinese authorities to ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
On 24 June 2014, human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong was formally charged with "gathering crowds to disrupt public order" by authorities in Guangzhou. The human rights defender has spent over ten months in custody since being detained on 8 August 2013.
The human rights defender was detained in Guangzhou by police and not permitted access to a lawyer until 14 November 2013. Previous to this, his lawyers had been denied permission to visit him at least eight times. His current lawyer, Mr Zhang Xuezhong, reported that the human rights defender will most likely stand trial in the coming months.
The human rights defender's arrest is reportedly linked to his appearance at a public protest in early January 2013 in support of a Guangzhou newspaper ('Southern Weekend') that had been challenging government censorship. Guo Feixiong joined other human rights defenders who had gathered at the newspaper's offices to speak in support of freedom of speech and to show solidarity with 'Southern Weekend' reporters who were resisting censorship efforts. The human rights defender's arrest may also be connected to his involvement in a campaign to urge the Chinese authorities to ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
On 17 August 2013, it emerged that Guangzhou-based human rights defender Mr Guo Feixiong, the pen name Yang Maodong, had been detained on charges of “assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place”. Although in detention since 8 August 2013, Guo Feixiong's family were only notified by the police of his arrest on 17 August.
According to his lawyer, Mr Sui Muqing, the reason for Yang Maodong's arrest is likely connected to his appearance at a public protest in January 2013 in support of a Guangzhou newspaper which was battling government censorship. At that time, Guo Feixiong joined other human rights defenders in gathering at the offices of Southern Weekend to speak in support of freedom of speech and show solidarity with reporters working for the newspaper who were resisting censorship efforts.
Guo Feixiong's detention is the latest in a series of arrests targeting human rights defenders in China who have been calling for political reform and engaging in a campaign for Chinese Communist Party officials to disclose their assets.
Guo Feixiong is a legal activist and writer who was jailed for five years in 2007 for “illegal business activity” following his publication of a book documenting a political scandal in China's north eastern Liaoning province.
In 2005 he provided legal assistance and organisational support to residents in Taishi village in Guangdong province who were seeking to remove their village chief whom they accused of corruption. As a result of his involvement in this case, Guo Feixiong was held by the police for three months without charge, during which time he went on hunger strike to protest his treatment.
When he was released in December 2005 he was subjected to regular surveillance, harassment and at least one brutal beating before being detained again in September 2006. In November 2007 he was sentenced to five years in prison, back dated to his arrest the previous year.
On his release in September 2011, Guo Feixiong said that the treatment he received while in police custody and later in prison was 'beyond people's imagination'. He was reportedly shackled to a wooden bed for 42 days and hung from a ceiling by his arms while police used an electric baton to electrocute his genitals. Since his release he has been active once again in the rights defence movement in China and has been subjected to regular surveillance, questioning by the police and periods of house arrest.
