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
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.