COMMUNICATION ALLEGING ARBITRARY ARREST AND DETENTION OF CHEN GUANGCHENG, A HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND CITIZEN OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

(Original submission: March 9, 2006. Most recently updated on June 27, 2006)

I. IDENTITY

1. Family name:  Chen 

2. Given name: Guangcheng (Chinese name: 陈光诚)

3. Sex:  Male

4. Birth date or age (at the time of detention):  born 1971

5. Nationality/Nationalities:  People’s Republic of China

6. (a) Identity document (if any):   Personal ID Card

 (b) Issued by: Zibo City Public Security Bureau, Shandong Province (山东省淄博市公安局)

 (c) On (date):

 (d) No.: 370328711112261
 

7. Profession and/or activity (if believed to be relevant to the arrest/detention):

human rights activist, “barefoot lawyer”
 

8. Address of usual residence:

 East Shigu Village, Shuanghou Township, Yinan County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, PRC 276312
 

II. Arrest

First arrest:

1. Date of arrest: Sept. 6, 2005

2. Place of arrest (as detailed as possible):

Detained in Beijing and taken under guard to home village in Linyi, Shandong Province.

In the afternoon of Sept. 6, Chen Guangcheng was detained at the home of a friend in Beijing by six men who said they were public security officers from Shandong. The men shoved Chen into a car.  He was held overnight in a hotel, where he said the head of the Linyi Public Security Bureau and the city’s deputy mayor came to see him in the morning. “The main purpose was to threaten me. [The PSB head] said, ‘You have revealed news information to foreign media and have been suspected of violating Article 111 of Chinese criminal law: illegally providing intelligence to foreign countries, for which the maximum sentence is life in prison. The minimum you can get is 5-10 years.’” Chen was held overnight at a hotel on the way from Beijing to Shandong, and began a hunger strike when he was detained.

3. Forces who carried out the arrest or are believed to have carried it out:

Public security officials from Shandong Province

4. Did they show a warrant or other decision by a public authority?

No

5. Authority who issued the warrant or decision:

NA
 

6. Relevant legislation applied (if known):

NA

Second arrest:

1. Date of arrest: Sept. 23, 2005, 2:50pm, released the following morning into house arrest

2. Place of arrest (as detailed as possible):

Arrested at home. Home was searched until 10pm that night.

3. Forces who carried out the arrest or are believed to have carried it out:

Public security officials

4. Did they show a warrant or other decision by a public authority?  No.

5. Authority who issued the warrant or decision: NA
 

6. Relevant legislation applied (if known): NA

Third arrest:

1.      Date of arrest: March 11, 2006

2.      Place of arrest:  at his home village, Yinan County, Linyi City, Guangdong Province

3.      Force carried out the arrest: Public security officials

4.      Did they show a warrant: No

5.      Relevant legislation applied: 

Formal arrest, with official notification:

1.      Date: June 21, 2006,

2.      Place:  Yinan County Detention Center

3.      Force carried out the arrest: Yinan Public Security Bureau, Linyi City, Shandong Province

4.      Did they show a warrant:  They issued a warrant - No. 193 [2006], stating that the Yinan County People’s Procuratorate approved that the county PSB carry out the arrest of Chen Guangcheng on suspicion of “intentional destruction of property” and “gathering a crowd and disturbing traffic order.”

5.      Relevant legislation applied:  PRC Criminal Code, PRC Procedural Law