Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
Australian-Chinese Writer Arrested in China Refuses to Plead Guilty to False Charges, Vows to “Fight to the End”
Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun has been allowed a meeting with his lawyer at a detention facility for the first time since being arrested in Guangzhou last January and charged with espionage. Yang told his family that he would fight to the end, refusing to admit a crime he did not commit. He believed his case would soon be brought to the court.
Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney and a friend of Yang, said Yang’s lawyer was allowed to meet him at a detention facility in Beijing on Thursday. Yang told his family that he is “innocent” and “will fight to the end.” “I will never confess to anything I didn’t do,” Yang said. “I will never plead guilty to any of the accusations. This is political persecution.” The Chinese authorities claimed that he had pleaded guilty, but Yang categorically denied having done so. He also hopes to appear in court to publicly respond to the charges against him while worrying that Beijing is spreading rumours that he has already confessed to the crime.
55-year-old Yang Hengjun was arrested at Guangzhou airport last January and formally charged with suspected espionage in March. Australia has since raised strong objections. His family has appointed Mo Shaoping, the Chinese human rights lawyer who defended Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, to handle Yang’s case. Feng said that under the Chinese judicial system, there were six weeks left to bring Yang’s case to the court, adding that Yang had been questioned for a long time in detention. Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch Australia, said, ”The Chinese system is really geared around forced confession. This is a system where acquittals are very rare. It is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party with very few checks to stop the abuse of evidence.”
Source: Apple Daily #Sep04
#Australia #China #YangHengjun #Espionage #Law #Diplomacy
https://bit.ly/3iJTsTu
Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun has been allowed a meeting with his lawyer at a detention facility for the first time since being arrested in Guangzhou last January and charged with espionage. Yang told his family that he would fight to the end, refusing to admit a crime he did not commit. He believed his case would soon be brought to the court.
Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney and a friend of Yang, said Yang’s lawyer was allowed to meet him at a detention facility in Beijing on Thursday. Yang told his family that he is “innocent” and “will fight to the end.” “I will never confess to anything I didn’t do,” Yang said. “I will never plead guilty to any of the accusations. This is political persecution.” The Chinese authorities claimed that he had pleaded guilty, but Yang categorically denied having done so. He also hopes to appear in court to publicly respond to the charges against him while worrying that Beijing is spreading rumours that he has already confessed to the crime.
55-year-old Yang Hengjun was arrested at Guangzhou airport last January and formally charged with suspected espionage in March. Australia has since raised strong objections. His family has appointed Mo Shaoping, the Chinese human rights lawyer who defended Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, to handle Yang’s case. Feng said that under the Chinese judicial system, there were six weeks left to bring Yang’s case to the court, adding that Yang had been questioned for a long time in detention. Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch Australia, said, ”The Chinese system is really geared around forced confession. This is a system where acquittals are very rare. It is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party with very few checks to stop the abuse of evidence.”
Source: Apple Daily #Sep04
#Australia #China #YangHengjun #Espionage #Law #Diplomacy
https://bit.ly/3iJTsTu
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law; any individual who fails to cooperate with the countermeasures will be held accountable
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China closed today (10th June) in Beijing, according to the CCTV, the decision and proposal of Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has passed during the meeting. Now, the proposal of Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law still has not published. European and American countries have been countered by Chinese government due to the issues of Xinjiang human rights, Hong Kong’s situation, and annunciation to sanction the Chinese and Hong Kong officials. According to the interview of Director Tian Feilong which podcasted by Now News, he described that proposal will be a “legal weapon” to counter external interference. And he said Hong Kong is necessarily to cooperate with the law, stated that after the law has been passed, it might be included in Annex III of Hong Kong’s basic law, or Hong Kong government may revise and formulate relevant local laws on its own.
The Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law also sets out, the relevant departments of the State Council can take measures, including not issuing visas, not allowing the entry, log-outing visas or even deporting; sealing up, seizing, and freezing movable, immovable, and other various properties in China; and prohibit or restrict organisations and individuals in China from conducting transactions and cooperation with them, etc.
Tian indicated, in the past, China faced sanctions mainly through the administrative measures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, which were limited to the economic and foreign trade areas of the original Ministry of Commerce and blocked them. The individual countermeasures announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are only administrative in nature. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the relevant legal system. He described the "Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law" as a "legal toolbox" to counter external interference, and to make countermeasures act in accordance with the law, forming a stronger law enforcement force.
Source: Stand News #Jun10
https://bit.ly/3izXfp6
#China #ForeignAffairs #Beijing #CCTV #Sanctions #HongKong #HumanRights #Xinjiang #Law #Visa #Deport
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China closed today (10th June) in Beijing, according to the CCTV, the decision and proposal of Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has passed during the meeting. Now, the proposal of Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law still has not published. European and American countries have been countered by Chinese government due to the issues of Xinjiang human rights, Hong Kong’s situation, and annunciation to sanction the Chinese and Hong Kong officials. According to the interview of Director Tian Feilong which podcasted by Now News, he described that proposal will be a “legal weapon” to counter external interference. And he said Hong Kong is necessarily to cooperate with the law, stated that after the law has been passed, it might be included in Annex III of Hong Kong’s basic law, or Hong Kong government may revise and formulate relevant local laws on its own.
The Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law also sets out, the relevant departments of the State Council can take measures, including not issuing visas, not allowing the entry, log-outing visas or even deporting; sealing up, seizing, and freezing movable, immovable, and other various properties in China; and prohibit or restrict organisations and individuals in China from conducting transactions and cooperation with them, etc.
Tian indicated, in the past, China faced sanctions mainly through the administrative measures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, which were limited to the economic and foreign trade areas of the original Ministry of Commerce and blocked them. The individual countermeasures announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are only administrative in nature. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the relevant legal system. He described the "Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law" as a "legal toolbox" to counter external interference, and to make countermeasures act in accordance with the law, forming a stronger law enforcement force.
Source: Stand News #Jun10
https://bit.ly/3izXfp6
#China #ForeignAffairs #Beijing #CCTV #Sanctions #HongKong #HumanRights #Xinjiang #Law #Visa #Deport
立場新聞 Stand News
人大常委通過《反外國制裁法》 任何個人不配合反制將被追究 | 立場新聞
中國全國人大常委會今（10 日）午在北京閉幕，央視報道，會上表決通過《反外國制裁法》等草案和決定。《反外國制裁...
Forwarded from 國際文宣組 IFC
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
China is becoming more assertive in international legal disputes
IN EARLY JANUARY the Communist Party published a five-year plan for the development of “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics”. Most of the document is domestically focused, but one section is devoted to foreign matters. It calls on China to help shape international law, to turn itself into the first choice of jurisdiction when resolving cross-border disputes and to promote the use of Chinese law abroad.
Source: The Economist #Sep12
https://t.co/AzW7lB1Pz4
#China #CCP #Law #XiJinping
IN EARLY JANUARY the Communist Party published a five-year plan for the development of “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics”. Most of the document is domestically focused, but one section is devoted to foreign matters. It calls on China to help shape international law, to turn itself into the first choice of jurisdiction when resolving cross-border disputes and to promote the use of Chinese law abroad.
Source: The Economist #Sep12
https://t.co/AzW7lB1Pz4
#China #CCP #Law #XiJinping