[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 88 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. CON. RES. 88
Urging the Government of China to reinstate all licenses of Gao
Zhisheng and his law firm, remove all legal and political obstacles for
lawyers attempting to defend criminal cases in China, including
politically sensitive cases, and revise law and practice in China so
that it conforms to international standards.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 7, 2006
Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. Brownback) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Urging the Government of China to reinstate all licenses of Gao
Zhisheng and his law firm, remove all legal and political obstacles for
lawyers attempting to defend criminal cases in China, including
politically sensitive cases, and revise law and practice in China so
that it conforms to international standards.
Whereas, since November 2005, the Beijing Judicial Bureau has shut down the law
firm and suspended the license of Mr. Gao Zhisheng, one of China's best
known lawyers and legal rights defenders;
Whereas Mr. Gao has represented citizens of China in lawsuits against various
local and administrative governmental bodies of the People's Republic of
China over corruption, land seizures, police abuse, and violations of
religious freedom;
Whereas Mr. Gao wrote 3 open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao condemning the methods employed by the Government of China in
implementing its ban on ``evil cults'', such as the Falun Gong and an
additional letter documenting severe persecution of Christians in
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region;
Whereas Mr. Gao's law practice filed a petition to appeal the verdict against
Cai Zhuohua, who was found guilty of ``illegal business practices''
based upon his distribution of Bibles and religious material;
Whereas Mr. Gao's home has been constantly monitored by agents from the Ministry
of State Security and Mr. Gao was prevented by the Public Security
Ministry from meeting with the representatives of the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Torture during his November 2005 visit to Beijing;
Whereas agents of the Public Security Bureau of China, numbering between 10 and
20, have consistently monitored the activities and whereabouts of Mr.
Gao, his wife, and his daughter since late November 2005;
Whereas, on November 10, 2005, an open letter, signed by 138 organizations
worldwide, was submitted to President Bush calling on him to voice
support of Mr. Gao and his legal practice during the President's
November 2005 visit to China;
Whereas other human rights lawyers, collectively known as ``rights defenders'',
or Wei Quan, have also faced harassment, arrest, and detention for their
consistent and vigorous activities to defend the fundamental rights of
the people of China, contrary to measures within the law of China
protecting human rights and rights of lawyers;
Whereas Mr. Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights lawyer who has exposed cases
of violence against women, including forced abortion and forced
sterilization perpetrated by authorities of China under the 1-child
policy, was beaten on October 10, 2005, and currently remains under
house arrest;
Whereas law professor and People's Political Consultative Congress Delegate, Xu
Zhiyong, who advocates on behalf of petitioners filing grievances with
the Central government in Beijing, was also beaten on October 10, 2005,
when meeting with Chen Guangcheng;
Whereas Mr. Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), a lawyer representing
villagers in Taishi village who attempted to oust their village head in
peaceful elections, has been arbitrarily detained repeatedly and remains
under consistent surveillance by security agents;
Whereas Mr. Tang Jingling, a Guangdong based lawyer also working on the Taishi
village elections case, has been fired from his law firm and was beaten
on February 2, 2006, after attempting to meet with Yang Maodong;
Whereas, according to the Department of State 2005 Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices, lawyers who aggressively tried to defend their clients
continued to face serious intimidation and abuse by police and
prosecutors, and some of these lawyers were detained;
Whereas the Constitution of China states that the courts shall, in accordance
with the law, exercise judicial power independently, without
interference from administrative organs, social organizations, and
individuals, but in practice, the judiciary is not independent and it
receives policy guidance from both the Government of China and the
Communist Party, whose leaders use a variety of means to direct courts
on verdicts and sentences, particularly in politically sensitive cases;
Whereas the Criminal Procedure Law of China gives suspects the right to seek
legal counsel, but defendants in politically sensitive cases frequently
find it difficult to find an attorney;
Whereas the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China states that a lawyer
may ``accept engagement by a criminal suspect in a criminal case to
provide him with legal advice and represent him in filing a petition or
charge or obtaining a guarantor pending trial'';
Whereas according to Article 306 of the Criminal Law of China, defense attorneys
can be held responsible if their clients commit perjury, and prosecutors
and judges in such cases have wide discretion in determining what
constitutes perjury;
Whereas according to the All-China Lawyers Association, since 1997 more than 500
defense attorneys have been detained on similar charges, and such cases
continued during the last year despite promises made by the Government
of China to amend Article 306;
Whereas the State Department's 2005 Annual Report on Human Rights states that
China's human rights record ``remained poor'', that authorities of China
quickly moved to suppress those who openly expressed dissenting
political views, and that writers, religious activists, dissidents,
lawyers, and petitioners to the Central Government were particularly
targeted;
Whereas directly following their August 2005 visit to China, the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom found that--
(1) the Government of China actively seeks to control and suppress the
activities of unregistered religious organizations;
(2) China has outlawed unregistered religious organizations and
provides severe penalties for engaging in unregistered religious
activities;
(3) leaders of unregistered Protestant organizations have come under
increased pressure to register their churches and affiliate with one of the
government approved organizations, and those who refuse, for theological or
other reasons, are subject to harassment, detention, arrest, and closing of
their religious facilities;
(4) groups determined by the Government of China to be ``evil cults'',
such as Falun Gong, are brutally suppressed; and
(5) practitioners of Falun Gong have experienced severe persecution,
including arrests, numerous detentions, torture, irregular trials,
imprisonment, and subjection to the reeducation through labor system,
whereby accused criminals are subject to up to 3 years detention;
Whereas despite questions raised by the Government of the United States and
others about the charges made against Pastor Cai Zhuohua, the Government
of China sentenced Pastor Cai and other members of his family to 3 years
in prison for ``illegal business practices'' for their printing and
distribution of religious materials;
Whereas, according to China's Regulations on Religious Affairs, promulgated in
March 2005, any religious organization that carries out activities
without registering with the government is subject to civil punishment
and to criminal prosecution;
Whereas since the promulgation of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the
Government of China has stepped up its efforts to eliminate unregistered
religious activity, with raids on ``house church'' Christian groups in
several provinces, resulting in detention of hundreds of leaders of the
house church, dozens of whom remain in custody; and
Whereas the Government of China has, on several occasions, stated a commitment
to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but
has delayed ratification since signing the document in 1998: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That--
(1) Congress--
(A) commends ``rights defense'' lawyers and
activists of China for their courage and integrity, and
expresses moral support for this grass-roots ``rights
defense'' movement in China;
(B) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China, at all levels, to cease its harassment of Mr.
Gao Zhisheng, overturn the suspension of his license to
practice law, and restore his legal right to represent
the clients of his choosing as protected by China's own
Constitution, its Criminal Procedure Law, and its
Lawyers Law;
(C) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to repeal Article 306 of the Criminal Code of
China, which provides penalties for lawyers whose
clients are accused of perjury and has been used to
curtail the active legal defense of individuals accused
of political crimes;
(D) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to undertake measures to further amend the
Lawyers Law to ensure lawyers' rights to investigate
charges brought against their clients, to provide a
vigorous defense of their clients, and to remain free
of harassment and intimidation throughout the course of
representing clients, including clients who are charged
with offenses related to political or religious
activities;
(E) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to respect fully the universality of the right
to freedom of religion or belief and other human
rights;
(F) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to ratify and implement in law the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
and to adopt such legislative or other measures as may
be necessary to give effect to the rights recognized in
the Covenant;
(G) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to amend or repeal Article 300 of the Criminal
Code of China so it is consistent with international
law, and to halt its crackdown on spiritual movements;
(H) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to halt arrests, harassment, and intimidation
of leaders of unregistered religious organizations on
the basis that their organizations violated the law by
not registering with the Government of China;
(I) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to Amend the Regulations on Religious Affairs
to conform more closely with the internationally
recognized freedom of thought, conscience, religion or
belief and allow all religious believers in China to
practice their religion without interference from the
government or from government sponsored ``patriotic
religious associations'';
(J) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to release Pastor Cai Zhuohua, his wife, and
others imprisoned with him, and to allow Pastor Cai to
resume religious activities and to resume leadership of
his congregation in Beijing; and
(K) urges the Government of the People's Republic
of China to invite the Special Rapporteur of the
Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or
belief to China as promised according to an agreement
between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and
the Department of State of China in March 2005; and
(2) it is the sense of Congress that--
(A) the Government of the United States should
support democracy and human rights programs that
strengthen protection of basic rights and freedoms, and
should initiate programs to train lawyers, judges,
academics, and students in China about international
human rights law, to inform citizens of China about
international human rights norms, and to build
organizations and associations to promote these
priorities;
(B) the Government of the United States should
support programs to promote legal protections and
cultural awareness of the right to the freedom of
religion or belief in China; and
(C) the President should raise the issue of the
Government of China's harassment, arrest, detention,
and persecution of rights defense lawyers and activists
and the need for the Government of China to respect the
basic human rights of its citizens and the rule of law
with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
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