Arbitrary detention

Arbitrary detention is a frequent fate of petitioners (see Appendix III: Cases of petitioners arbitrarily detained).  The various forms of arbitrary detention are outlined below. 

• Re-education through Labor (RTL).

RTL is an administrative measure, meaning that it occurs outside of any judicial process and is “administered” directly and arbitrarily by law enforcement officials.  It is clearly in contravention of international human rights laws on free and fair trials and is one of the human rights abuses for which China is most often criticized (see Arbitrary detention), Without access to legal counsel or judicial trial, individuals can be detained for a maximum of four years. Sending petitioners to RTL is one of the most common means of preventing them from petitioning. Of the surveyed petitioners, 35.2% had been formally detained or sent to RTL. There is evidence that local governments actively encourage sending petitioners to RTL. A leaked document from Jiangyong County government in Hunan Province, dated May 16, 2007, says that the county government gives a RMB 6,000 (US$844) reward to the county PSB for every petitioner sent to RTL camp.¹⁹ (For more cases of petitioners sent to RTL camps, see Appendix IV) 

• Psychiatric facilities.

In our survey, 3.1% of petitioners had been imprisoned in psychiatric institutions.  Many had suffered this fate more than once. The mental health of the petitioners is generally not evaluated. There is no evidence to suggest that the petitioners are mentally ill or pose any threat to society. In the psychiatric institutions, they are often forced to take unknown medication that could be harmful to them. (see Appendix II: Cases of petitioners sent to psychiatric institutions) 

Detaining political dissidents, including petitioners, in psychiatric institutions is a long-standing practice in China, according to the 2003 report, Dangerous Minds, by Human Rights Watch: 

“the most important categories of alleged mentally ill people listed above as being targets for Ankang-style²⁰ custody and treatment are, first, ‘political maniacs,’ namely those displaying ‘dangerously’ political dissident-like behavior, including ‘expressing opinions on important domestic and international affairs’; and second, those accused of disrupting ‘the normal work of Party and government offices,’ since in practice this category is often taken to include the kinds of persistent petitioners and complainants whom the police regard as suffering from ‘litigious mania’.”²¹  

The report asserts that such detention is in violation of international ethical standards for psychiatry:  

“Most of these people should not have been arrested or brought for forensic psychiatric evaluation (formal or otherwise) in the first place, since in the overwhelming majority of recorded cases their only ‘offense’ was to have expressed views or beliefs which served to offend the political sensitivities of the Chinese Communist Party…The Chinese authorities' frequent imposition of this extreme measure on individuals (mentally normal or otherwise) whom they regard as posing only a ‘political threat’ to society stands in clear and direct violation both of the World Psychiatric Association's 1996 Declaration of Madrid and of the U.N.'s 1991 Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care.”²² 

• “Black jails”.

“Black jails” are illegal and secret detention facilities set up by local governments in Beijing and in local areas to detain petitioners for an undefined period of time without charge or trial. 

A recent CHRD report²³ identified a number of “black jails” in Beijing established by local governments; for example, the two-story building behind the Jingyuan Inn in Fengtai District (run by Nanyang City, Henan Province government Beijing Liaison Office, see Case Study 2), the Yihua Inn (run by Zhejiang Province), and the basement of the Mongolian Inn at the back of the Beijing Arts Museum (run by Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province authorities). Other black jails can be found in Beijing as well as in other areas. 

Case Study 2: "Black jail" managed by the Nanyang City, Henan Province Beijing Liaison Office

The detention facility managed by the Nanyang City, Henan Province government Beijing Liaison Office is located behind the Jingyuan Inn in Wulidian, Fengtai District, Beijing. The jail is in a two-storey building with 19 bunks (38 beds) and 25 single beds. The building is guarded by seven to eight guards at all times, and its doors, corridors and windows are fitted with iron gates and bars.  

Detainees were caught by interceptors from Henan Province or from the Beijing Liaison Office of Henan Province at the following locations: Majia Reception and Management Station (the Supervision Office for the Reception of Petitioners by the State Council’s Letters and Visits Office), Beijing PSB, Beijing South Station, Beijing City PSB Xi City Sub-division Fuyou Street Police Station, areas surrounding the State Council Office of Letters and Visits, and the National People’s Congress Office of Letters and Visits, as well as at restaurants and inns regularly frequented by petitioners.

Upon arrival at the facility, detainees’ mobile phones and identification cards are confiscated. The petitioners do not go through any process of documentation or registration. They are threatened: “Unless someone comes to pick you up, don’t think you can get out of here.  You have to bear the consequences yourself.” According to a doctor who examines patients at this black jail, in 2006 there was one person who was detained for more than two months.

Many are elderly and some have children, while significant numbers have medical conditions or are disabled.  Medical treatment can be sought at a local clinic after sick petitioners obtain permission from those detaining them.

The guards tell detainees that the facility is operated by the government and assure them that issuing no detention warrants and leaving no registration records are actually in their best interests since their incarceration will therefore not appear on their official records.  
 

A recent CHRD report²⁴ identified a number of “black jails” in Beijing established by local governments; for example, the two-story building behind the Jingyuan Inn in Fengtai District (run by Nanyang City, Henan Province government Beijing Liaison Office, see Case Study 2), the Yihua Inn (run by Zhejiang Province), and the basement of the Mongolian Inn at the back of the Beijing Arts Museum (run by Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province authorities). Other black jails can be found in Beijing as well as in other areas. 

Petitioners are also sent to black jails in their hometowns. For example, in Yunxi County, Hubei Province, the Sigou Tobacco purchasing station has been used as a “black jail” to detain petitioners on the orders of the Yunxi Party Secretary, Lu Fuchang (卢富昌). The jail is managed by Lei Xianchao (雷显朝), Vice-Secretary of the Yunxi Committee on Politics and Law. The jail’s 4-meter-high walls are topped by barbed wire and shards of glass and bear the inscription, “Yunxi County Education in Respect of the Law Class for Unusual Petitioners.” Petitioners are secretly detained and held incommunicado. Detainees eat the guards’ leftover food, mosquitoes are plentiful and petitioners are often subjected to beatings by the guards.  

• “Law education classes”

There are many reported cases of illegal detention in local “law education classes” (xuefaban or xuexiban). According to our sources, such “education classes” are found nationwide.²⁵ On CHRD’s website alone, thirteen such classes have been documented by petitioners who were forced to attend (see Figure 3).  

The classes are similar to “black jails” in that petitioners are detained in secret and well-guarded locations. They are usually held incommunicado and their families have no knowledge of their whereabouts.²⁶   

There are some differences between black jails and education classes. Detainees in the classes often have to guarantee in writing that they will never petition again and they are often detained until they sign such a document. Detainees are often required to pay fees for the classes²⁷ and to learn the relevant regulations that they have “broken” or simply listen to lectures stating that petitioning in Beijing is illegal and wrongful behavior.²⁸    

It is unclear how long petitioners are usually held in the classes, but one 7-year-old detainee was held in a class for 65 days. Reports of the size of these classes vary from one to 500.²⁹ Detainees are often mistreated and beaten.³⁰   

There is evidence to suggest that, as the Olympics approaches, more such classes have been set up to keep petitioners out of the international community’s spotlight.³¹  

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