Chinese Regime Considers Legalizing Illegal Detentions

By Helena Zhu
August 28, 2011

For years the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been abducting troublesome lawyers, dissidents, and activists, and detaining them in secret locations without notifying a soul. It is an extralegal process, decried by international observers and carried out secretly inside China. A new change to the criminal law might make the process legal.

The proposed amendments to residential surveillance laws would permit police to hold suspects in undisclosed locations for up to six months in cases involving terrorism, major corruption, or “national security.” The latter term is often interpreted in unconventional ways by Chinese security forces, and can include holding and expressing political or religious beliefs that the Party deems dangerous.

Suspects could be held without notifying their families or lawyers to better "facilitate the investigation," the state-owned Legal Daily reported.

As it is, Beijing has become accustomed to secretly holding dissidents in an apparent attempt to silence them. Prominent Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who was jailed for nearly three months, was the highest profile example. He vanished before any official charges had been concocted and filed.

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was convicted in December 2006 of subversion, with the sentence reduced to 5 years probation. Since then he has been subjected to repeated abductions by state security, with the most recent occurring in April 2010. He has twice discussed the torture that he was subjected to while detained, once in an article in 2007 and in April 2010 with an AP reporter. On Aug. 14, the date his 5-yearlong period of probation ended, his wife held a press conference calling for the return of Gao to his family. His whereabouts remain unknown.

While the regime claims that the amendments are part of positive legal reforms, rights groups fear that authorities will be endorsing an illegal practice already in use by police, Radio Free Asia reported.

Currently, Chinese laws already allow suspects to be held under house arrest, but the proposed changes would allow them to be moved to locations other than a "regular detention center or police station."

Liu Xiaoyuan, a legal activist and Ai’s lawyer, wrote a microblog post on Saturday saying that even if the changes were to be made, at least family members should be notified.

"Otherwise, a provision like this is basically legalizing forced disappearances," Liu said, adding that any law lacking requirements for families to be notified could result in torture and abuse.

The proposed changes to the criminal procedure law will be reviewed in March by the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the highest state body and only legislative house in communist China. The result of that review, however, may have been decided by Party officials ahead of time.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/chinese-regime-considers-legalizing-illegal-detentions-60890.html.