Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SHENYANG95
2007-05-22 09:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Shenyang
Cable title:
PRC HUMAN RIGHTS--YAO FUXIN UPDATE: HEALTH
how-tonull C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 00095 SIPDIS CXSNY: ACTION: CG INFO: POL ECON RF DISSEMINATION: CG /1 CHARGE: PROG APPROVED: EXEC:SWICKMAN DRAFTED: POL:AHANTMAN CLEARED: BPOL:SGOLDRUP, BLEVINE VZCZCSHI374 RR RUEHC RUEHOO RUEHGV RHEHAAA DE RUEHSH #0095 1420937 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 220937Z MAY 07 FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8066 INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0505 RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
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)
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
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