15 January 2008

CHINA: Dissident writer Wang Dejia released on bail.

Update #1 to RAN 51/07


The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN welcomes the release of dissident writer Wang Dejia (aka Jing Chu), who was freed on bail on 12 January 2008, but remains concerned that he still faces charges. Wang, who was arrested on 14 December 2007 on suspicion of ‘inciting subversion of state power’, could stand trial within a year for his critical writings posted online. His release is said to be conditional on him not writing anything critical of the authorities or ‘subversive’. 

According to PEN’s information, Guangxi-based dissident writer Wang Dejia was arrested from his home in Guilin, in China’s southern Guangxi Province, on 13 December 2007 and taken to the Quanzhou Chengbei police Station, where he was detained on suspicion of ‘inciting subversion of state power’. His family believe his detention is directly related to his articles published on-line on the Minzhu Luntan website (Democracy Forum, http://asiademo.org), including ‘Illegal Possession of State Secrets – an important Chinese Communist Party Invention that Persecutes Prisoners of Conscience’, ‘Handcuffed Olympics Will Bring Only Disasters to the People’, and ‘Yi Yuanlong Jailed for Two Years for Four Articles; How Many Will I be Jailed For?’ His wife also reports that in October 2007 he met with U.S. Embassy officials to discuss human rights in China, which may have been a cause for his arrest. 

Please send appeals: 

Welcoming the release of dissident writer Wang Dejia, but expressing serious concerns he still faces trial, and calling for all charges against him to be dropped in accordacne with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China became a signatory in 1998. 
Government addresses: 

His Excellency Hu Jintao 

President of the People’s Republic of China

State Council 

Beijing 100032 

P.R.China. 

Procurator General Mr. Jia Chunwang 

Supreme People's Procuratorate 

Beiheyan Street 147 

100726 Beijing P.R.China 

Please note that there are no fax numbers for the Chinese authorities. WiPC recommends that you copy your appeal to the Chinese embassy in your country asking them to forward it and welcoming any comments. 

**Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 28 February 2008**

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@internationalpen.org.uk

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