PRC HUMAN RIGHTS--YAO FUXIN UPDATE: HEALTH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 000095 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/17 TAGS: PHUM PINR PINS SOCI CH SUBJECT: PRC HUMAN RIGHTS--YAO FUXIN UPDATE: HEALTH DETERIORATING Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS: 1.4(B),1.4 (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The health of Yao Fuxin, the imprisoned Liaoning labor leader whose case gained international and high-level USG attention in 2003, has declined considerably since 2005, according to his family. Yao's daughter is surveilled by PRC security services, some authorities refuse to accept the family's petition letters, and Yao's lawyer remains unable to negotiate a medical parole. Liaoning officials appear unwilling to intervene. Officials at the site of the initial unrest claimed Yao had no health problems and that Yao's coworkers were now satisfied. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Poloff in late April met with YAO Dan, daughter of YAO Fuxin, who was sentenced in 2003 to seven years in prison on charges of subversion for leading*-together with XIAO Yunliang*-a series of major labor protests in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province in 2002. Xiao and Yao,s cases attracted worldwide attention, including from the USG, as well as from prominent U.S. human rights and labor rights groups. Xiao finished his sentenced in 2006; Yao,s term is set to conclude in 2009. ¶3. (C) Yao Dan reports that her father,s health has declined considerably while in prison (e.g., a heart attack in 2005, continuing problems with high blood pressure),although he has been somewhat more stable recently. Over the past several years, Yao Dan says she and her mother have used the proper channels to try to petition for medical parole in Liaoyang (their hometown and the site of the factory targeted by the protesters),Shenyang, and Beijing, but that officials in many cases refused to accept their petitions. Yao Dan claims she is under constant surveillance and occasionally harassed by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers, who insist on &escorting8 her when she leaves Liaoyang. Yao,s Beijing-based pro-bono attorney, MO Shaoping, has been unable to negotiate a medical parole, Yao Dan said. ¶4. (C) CG on April 30 raised Yao,s case with Liaoning Foreign Affairs Office Director CUI Desheng, using observations gleaned during a trip to Lioayang a few days earlier to argue that improved labor conditions -- both in the city and at Yao,s old factory -- warranted a review of Yao,s case. Although Cui seemed aware of the matter, he offered only his assurance that procedures were in place for granting a medical parole should Yao,s health reach &a certain level.8 ¶5. (C) Liaoyang Party Secretary Sun Yuanliang ) who was mayor during the period of the unrest ) told the CG during his visit to the city that the owner of Yao,s factory had been jailed for five years for fraud related to the bankruptcy and sale of Yao,s old factory. He said that &many8 of Yao,s colleagues had been rehired by the factory,s new owner, a state-owned enterprise in Jilin, and now understood that they had been manipulated by Yao and an &illegal8 political group having offshore connections. The Deputy Director of the official labor union separately told the CG he had personally visited Yao in jail and that his health seemed fine. WICKMAN