Schlagwort: Amnesty International

The Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng must not be subjected to intimidation or surveillance after enduring years of injustice and mistreatment in prison, Amnesty International said ahead of his scheduled release this week.

Yu’s four-year sentence for “subverting state power” is due to end on Tuesday 1 March, but the Chinese government has a record of targeting human rights defenders even after their release from prison.

“Yu Wensheng should never have been jailed in the first place, but now that his unjust prison sentence has ended, he must be granted true freedom,” said Gwen Lee, Amnesty International’s China Campaigner.

“That means he must be allowed to return home to his family in Beijing on 1 March, without facing the kind of intimidation, surveillance and restrictions on movement that the Chinese government has inflicted on other human rights defenders on release from prison.”

Yu Wensheng is a prominent human rights lawyer who has been detained since January 2018 – apparently being targeted after he criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping. He was sentenced in June 2020 following a secret trial and says he was tortured while in prison. He was also sentenced to a three-year “deprivation of political rights”, which are due to begin after he is released from jail.

The court judgement said Yu Wensheng had distorted and fabricated facts and intervened in sensitive domestic issues by accepting interviews with foreign media. The sensitive issues included cases related to Falun Gong religious practitioners, the authorities’ crackdown on lawyers in 2015 and an “Open Letter on Proposed Amendments to the Constitution” that Yu wrote in 2018, just before he was detained. 

When Yu was granted a first meeting with his lawyer in August 2020, after more than two and a half years in detention, he said he had been pepper sprayed during detention and was sometimes required to sit on a metal chair for extended periods until he partially lost consciousness.

He also said he was often not given enough food, and that he suffered heatstroke in the summer due to his poor detention conditions.

Yu Wensheng’s wife Xu Yan has fought tirelessly for the release of her husband and made numerous failed attempts to visit him in prison.

Her first successful visit was three years after Yu’s arrest. She discovered he had been secretly transferred to Nanjing prison and immediately travelled across the country to see him on 5 February 2021.   

She has been under constant surveillance and repeatedly faced harassment by the Chinese authorities – having been summoned, detained and occasionally banned from leaving her house.  The Chinese government continues to crack down on human rights lawyers through administrative measures, intimidation and even prosecution.

In the past, Chinese authorities have released human rights defenders from prison only to continue targeting them. For example, human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was released from prison in 2019 after serving a sentence for “incitement to subvert state power”, but he is effectively still under house arrest in his parents’ home and unable to travel abroad to see his wife and children, who live overseas.

“Yu Wensheng is a victim of China’s relentless crackdown on freedom of expression who has suffered greatly in prison despite never committing any crime,” Gwen Lee said.

“Any further restrictions on him now would only compound the injustice of his politically motivated jailing. Now that his jail sentence has ended, the Chinese government must let him live his life and resume his work as a human rights lawyer.”

Yu Wensheng is the winner of the 2021 Martin Ennals Award, an annual prize for human rights defenders selected by a jury of 10 of the world’s leading human rights NGOs.

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•         Amnesty International research verifies violations in international humanitarian law

•         Russian attacks could constitute war crimes

•         Russian claims to use precision guided weapons are patently false

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been marked by indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and strikes on protected objects such as hospitals, Amnesty International said today, after documenting three incidents that it believes to have killed at least six civilians and injured at least 12 more. Indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law (the laws of war) and can constitute war crimes. 

“The Russian military has shown a blatant disregard for civilian lives by using ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas. Some of these attacks may be war crimes. The Russian government, which falsely claims to use only precision-guided weapons, should take responsibility for these acts,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

The Russian military has shown a blatant disregard for civilian lives by using ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“The Russian troops should immediately stop carrying out indiscriminate attacks in violation of the laws of war. The continuation of the use of ballistic missiles and other inaccurate explosive weapons causing civilian deaths and injuries is inexcusable.”

Indiscriminate attacks

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab analyzed digital evidence—including photos, videos and satellite imagery— of three such attacks carried out in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. The attacks occurred in Vuhledar, Kharkiv and Uman.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab analyzed digital evidence—including photos, videos and satellite imagery— of three such attacks carried out in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February

In the deadliest strike documented by Amnesty International, at approximately 10.30 am local time, a ballistic missile struck near a hospital building in Vuhledar, in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, killing four civilians and wounding ten more. According to a local source who spoke to Amnesty International researchers, two women and two men were killed, and six healthcare workers were among the injured. Analyzing photos of the weapon scrap linked to the incident, Amnesty International’s weapons investigator determined that a 9M79 Tochka ballistic missile was used in the attack. These weapons are extremely inaccurate, regularly missing their targets by half a kilometre or more and should never be used in populated areas.

Another of the attacks was carried out at approximately 8 am local time, in the Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine. The likely target was the nearby Chuhuiv Air Base, but instead Russian weapon struck a residential block, causing extensive fire damage and apparently killing at least one male civilian and injuring at least two civilian women. A single large crater in the ground between apartment buildings indicates the weapon was most likely a single large missile or rocket.

In another attack occurring at 7 am on the 24 February in Uman, Cherkasy region, a civilian man appears to have been killed by a strike that also damaged a nearby restaurant.

UN General Assembly must hold an emergency meeting

If the Security Council is paralyzed through veto, it is up to the entire membership to step up

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Amnesty International’s verification of the use of indiscriminate attacks by the Russian forces in their military operations in Ukraine, provides irrefutable evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is scheduled to meet later today to discuss the situation and Russia will most likely veto any resolution put forward by other member states. Therefore, Amnesty International is calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. 

“If the Security Council is paralyzed through veto, it is up to the entire membership to step up,” said Agnès Callamard.

“We call on the UN General Assembly to meet in an emergency session and adopt a resolution denouncing Russia unlawful attack and calling for an end to all violations of humanitarian law and human rights. The lives, safety and well-being of millions of civilians is at stake.”

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Olympic champion Nils van der Poel has set an example to world leaders by giving away his Beijing 2022 gold medal in protest at human rights violations in China.

The Swedish athlete handed the men’s 10,000m speed skating medal he won at this month’s Games to Angela Gui, whose father Gui Minhai is a bookseller imprisoned in China on unsubstantiated “spying” charges.

“Nils van der Poel was a sporting champion at the Olympics, and today he is a champion of human rights. His brave decision to take a stand against China’s crackdown on freedom of expression should spur governments into action on this urgent issue,” said Alkan Akad, Amnesty International’s China Researcher.

“While China uses the Olympic and Paralympic Games to burnish its global image, millions suffer from its human rights violations: the Uyghurs held in internment camps; the sexual abuse survivors targeted for speaking up; or those like Gui Minhai who have been jailed simply for advocating views the government does not like.”

Gui Minhai is one of five Hong Kong–based publishers and booksellers who disappeared in late 2015 after publishing books critical of the Chinese government. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison after a secretive, unfair trial.

He is among hundreds of writers, lawyers, activists and academics who have been targeted as part of the Chinese government’s long-running campaign to crush all forms of dissent.

Van der Poel’s donation of the gold medal – one of two he won at the Winter Olympics – comes five days after the Games’ closing ceremony, and ahead of the Beijing 2022 Paralympics which begin on 4 March.

“I am not the voice of all Olympians, but me and my friends dedicated our lives to strive for excellence within sports, and the Chinese government chose to use our dreams as a political weapon to legitimize their regime. To me that was personal, and I felt exploited,” van der Poel told Amnesty International.

“I wish for the human rights issues in China to improve and for Gui Minhai to be set free. It’s a lot to ask but it is the only reasonable thing to ask.”

Angela Gui was born in Sweden after Gui Minhai left China for Scandinavia following the Tiananmen crackdown in June 1989, later becoming a Swedish citizen.

She has campaigned tirelessly for her father’s release and says she has faced intimidation from Chinese state agents in an attempt to silence her.

“I would of course have preferred a situation in which doing this wasn’t necessary in the first place. But it feels important to me that this medal represents solidarity with political prisoners like my father, and the countless other victims of Beijing’s human rights violations,” Angela Gui told Amnesty International.

Who is Gui Minhai?

Gui Minhai’s Causeway Bay Bookstore was known for its books on Chinese leaders and political scandals which are banned in mainland China but popular with mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong.

Having gone missing in Thailand in October 2015, he reappeared on Chinese state media in 2016 giving an apparently forced confession to a hit-and-run several years earlier.

“Governments across the world should follow Nils’ lead by stepping up efforts to hold the Chinese government to account – not just over the unjust prosecution of Gui Minhai, but over its treatment of the many others jailed solely for peacefully exercising their rights.”

Alkan Akad, Amnesty International

He was released in 2017 but appears to have been under tight police surveillance, with his freedom of movement curtailed. He was seized by plainclothes police while travelling from Shanghai to Beijing for medical reasons with two Swedish diplomats in January 2018. 

In February 2020, he was jailed for 10 years on trumped-up charges of “illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities”.

“China’s system of censorship and punishment may have stifled human rights debate during the Games, but this powerful gesture sends a galvanizing message that the Chinese government’s shameful persecution of its peaceful critics will not be tolerated,” Alkan Akad said.

“Governments across the world should follow Nils’ lead by stepping up efforts to hold the Chinese government to account – not just over the unjust prosecution of Gui Minhai, but over its treatment of the many others jailed solely for peacefully exercising their rights.”

Background

In China, dissidents including writers, academics and journalists are systematically subjected to monitoring, harassment, intimidation, unlawful arrest and detention. Those targeted include five individuals featured in Amnesty International’s Beijing Olympics ‘Free the Five’ campaign:

Prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been missing since 13 August 2017 after publishing a memoir detailing the torture and other ill-treatment he experienced while in detention from 2009 to 2014.

Lawyer-turned-journalist Zhang Zhang is currently in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” after reporting on Covid-19 in Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.

Tibetan Monk Rinchen Tsultrim was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for expressing views critical of government policies.

Uyghur academic Ilham Tothi was sentenced to life imprisonment for suggesting constructive approaches to overcome unequal treatment of ethnic groups in China.

Feminist activist Li Qiaochu has been detained for reporting torture allegedly committed by the Chinese authorities.

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An event reconstruction by SITU Research and Amnesty International details how Colombian security forces assaulted peaceful protesters in the Siloé neighbourhood of the city of Cali on 3 May. In the midst of this violence, three young people were shot and killed.

“Our meticulous digital reconstruction of the events in Siloé reveals how the Colombian security forces intentionally attacked people who were demonstrating peacefully in order to punish, injure and kill them. Crucially, through the large volume of data that we synthesized, we were able to show that the police did not face an imminent threat of violence, and that their use of lethal weapons was unjustified. The toll of their excessive use of force was the lives of Kevin Agudelo and two other young men,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab and SITU Research analysed more than 200 pieces of audiovisual material and interviewed multiple witnesses to verify details about “Operation Siloé”. This joint incursion by members of the National Police, the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) and the Special Operations Group of the Colombian National Police (GOES) targeted people taking part in a vigil at the La Glorieta roundabout in the Siloé neighbourhood. That night, several people were arbitrarily detained and hundreds were injured, with three people dying of gunshot wounds, including Kevin Agudelo, a promising 22-year-old football player.

“Each video and witness testimony recounts a unique perspective of the night. Some describe communal moments of remembrance, others show chaotic scenes of weapons deployed from seemingly all directions, yet others capture the bloody injuries of protesters carried away to receive treatment. When aggregated in time and space, these experiences build a synthesized picture of what unfolded on May 3: a carefully orchestrated assault on a peaceful vigil,” said Bora Erden, Senior Researcher at SITU Research.

Amnesty International found evidence indicating that live ammunition was used against protesters, such as photos of shell casings, bullet holes and the sound of gunfire. The organization verified videos taken prior to the attack and was able to determine that there were police officers present close to where Kevin died and that they were firing 5.56mm Tavor rifles. The evidence shows that there was no imminent threat of violence that could not reasonably have been addressed by the security forces with more proportionate measures.

Our meticulous digital reconstruction of the events in Siloé reveals how the Colombian security forces intentionally attacked people who were demonstrating peacefully in order to punish, injure and kill them

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

“We didn’t have any kind of protection and we couldn’t get away before the gunshots and tear gas started streaming out from different directions… it was excessive, we were not armed nor did we have any way to respond to that arsenal… they used rifles that are used in war, the only thing we could do was run for our lives, Kevin was with us,” a witness told Amnesty International.

Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps confirmed the presence of two helicopters in the area, while witnesses described the unlawful and excessive deployment of tear gas using Venom, a weapons system whose prescribed use is to disperse a violent crowd. Since the security forces used it at night, from above, and on peaceful protesters who did not know where to disperse, its use was unjustified and inappropriate. Rather than a legitimate attempt to restore public order, using tear gas in this way indicates the intention to facilitate a military attack.

“The security forces were aware of the deadly capability of their weapons and yet they fired at will in a place where there were young people, children and adults who had to run for their lives. The launch of an operation of this magnitude, as if it were a confrontation with armed actors and not a peaceful protest, is indicative of the warlike nature of the response to the protests related to the national strike in Cali”, said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

“We hope that the Attorney General’s Office will make advances in the investigation into the death of Kevin Agudelo and the other serious human rights violations committed during Operation Siloé and, if there is sufficient and admissible evidence against those suspected of criminal responsibility, bring them to justice in a fair trial before ordinary civilian courts. This is the first step towards building a Colombia where human rights are respected; it is imperative that impunity does not prevail for these serious crimes.”

Additional information:

Amnesty International has documented extensively the repressive actions of the National Police in the context of the 2021 National Strike, including excessive use of force, disappearances and sexual violence against protesters, and attacks against Indigenous peoples.

In the report Cali: In the Epicenter of Repression published last July, Amnesty International documented unlawful repression, urban paramilitarism, unlawful detention and torture of peaceful protesters and pointed to the real goals behind this repression: to instil fear, discourage peaceful protest and ultimately punish those demanding change in the country.

In November, together with the local organizations Temblores and PAIIS, Amnesty International published another report, Shoot on sight, which documented the cases of 13 victims of eye trauma and analysed more than 300 pieces of audiovisual material on the disproportionate and repressive actions of ESMAD between 28 April and 20 October.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Duncan Tucker: duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

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