PRC HUMAN RIGHTS: YAO FUXIN ABUSE ALLEGATIONS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000003

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2028
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS SOCI CH
SUBJECT: PRC HUMAN RIGHTS: YAO FUXIN ABUSE ALLEGATIONS,
HEALTH CONCERNS

REF: 07 SHENYANG 95 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS:
1.4(b)/(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Health problems continue to beset
imprisoned Liaoning labor activist Yao Fuxin, whose case
has triggered high-level USG attention since his initial
arrest in 2002. In a letter to his daughter he recently
managed to have smuggled out of prison, Yao for the first
time described severe abuse he claims to have sustained, at
the apparent direction of security officials, during his
pre-trial detention in late 2002. Yao's family remains
under surveillance by police, and PRC authorities continue
to refuse to accept the family's petitions for humanitarian
medical parole. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Poloff met on January 3 with YAO Dan (STRICTLY
PROTECT),the daughter of imprisoned labor activist YAO
Fuxin, whom PRC authorities in 2003 sentenced to seven
years in prison on charges of subversion following a number
of major labor protests he led in Liaoyang, Liaoning
Province, in 2002 with XIAO Yunliang. Both cases attracted
substantial worldwide interest, particularly from prominent
human rights and labor groups, as well as high-level USG
officials. Xiao was released in 2006; Yao's term is slated
to end in March 2009.

HEALTH PROBLEMS, ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
--------------

3. (C) Health problems continue to beset Yao Fuxin, now in
his late 50s, in part because of abuse directed against him
in the past by Liaoyang Public Security Bureau (PSB)
officials, according to his daughter, who now visits him
once per month at Lingyuan Prison, in a remote area of
western Liaoning Province. A heart attack in 2005 and
ongoing high blood pressure have taken a heavy toll on
Yao's health and well-being, one reason why authorities at
Lingyuan Prison have exempted him from the compulsory work
regime (i.e., manufacturing spare auto parts for the First
Auto Works Lingyuan Automobile Manufacturing Company) in
which other prisoners are required to "participate,"
according to Yao Dan. Another persistent health problem--
numbness in his left leg--stems from abuse Yao Fuxin claims
to have sustained in 2002, which he described for the first
time in a recent letter he managed to have delivered to his
daughter via a prisoner-friend who recently concluded his
sentence.


4. (C) During his pre-trial detention in late 2002,
authorities at the Liaoyang Detention Center placed two or
three non-political criminals in Yao's cell as de facto
minders who restricted his interaction with others and, at
the apparent instruction of at least some officials,
severely abused him, according to the letter, described to
Poloff by Yao Dan. Yao Fuxin's cellmates allegedly beat
him a number of times, tied him with steel chains and kept
him awake for extended periods of time. During bitterly
cold months in a poorly-insulated cell, his cellmates also
repeatedly poured icy water on his legs while restraining
him, inducing severe aching--the genesis of Yao's lower-
extremity numbness and the slow deterioration in his health
that continues today. One of the perpetrators apparently
acknowledged (or suggested) to Yao Fuxin that the abuse was
being directed by a Liaoyang PSB official surnamed Lang;
the inmate explained that he and his cellmates had no
choice but to comply with the official's orders.

PAROLE PETITIONS DENIED, FAMILY SURVEILED
--------------

5. (C) Yao Fuxin maintains his innocence and, according to
his daughter, plans to protest his mistreatment through the
official petition system once he is released in 2009. In
the meantime, Yao Dan is slated to meet next month with
(and pass her father's letter to) MO Shaoping, the family's
pro-bono, Beijing-based attorney, whose attempts thus far
to finesse a humanitarian medical parole have run aground.
So, too, have the Yao family's attempts to petition at the
local, provincial and national levels; in some cases, Yao
Dan reports, petition-office officials have simply refused
to accept her paperwork, pointing to instructions to do so
from "higher levels."


6. (C) Yao Dan and her mother remain under some
surveillance by Liaoyang PSB officers, who "accompany" them
at times in their hometown of Liaoyang and as far afield as
Beijing. During major local and national political events,

SHENYANG 00000003 002 OF 002


scrutiny increases substantially, with police closely
watching her around the clock, Yao noted.
WICKMAN