HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST HUANG QI: ATTORNEY PROVIDES MORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000012

SIPDIS

FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/15/2020
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CH
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST HUANG QI: ATTORNEY PROVIDES MORE
DETAILS ON COURT CASE; HOW COMMUNIST PARTY ARRANGES CONVICTIONS

REF: CHENGDU 006

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CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b)

1. (C) Summary. The attorney of imprisoned Chinese dissident
Huang Qi told Consul General January 8 that there were
significant irregularities in Huang's court case, including
fabricated evidence and procedural inconsistencies. Huang's
appeal documents are expected to be reviewed by judges in
February or March. Huang's friend explained that Huang was
convicted not for revealing state secrets, but rather because
Party officials were angry at his private efforts to distribute
relief aid following the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and his
web article revealing the anger -- and subsequent inhumane
treatment by officials -- of parents of children who perished in
the earthquake.




2. (C) The attorney and friend also made assertions about
China's court system: formally, special judiciary committees can
intervene to take over court case of special interest;
informally, the Communist Party's Political and Legal Affairs
can also decide a case's outcome on its own, with special
working groups further assisting, if needed, with fabricated
evidence. End Summary.



Defense Attorney: Fabricated Evidence About "Secret" Documents

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3. (C) Consul General and ConOff met January 8 with imprisoned
Chinese dissident Huang Qi's attorney, Ding Xikui, to learn
further details of Huang's case (reftel). Also present were
Huang's mother, Pu Wenqing, and friend and fellow activist, Liu
Zhengyou. (Note: Ding works for the Beijing-based Mo Shaoping
law firm, which is well known for handling human rights cases.
End Note.) With the permission of Huang's mother, Ding provided
CG with a copy of the Defense Counsel Statement from Huang's
August 5th trial in Chengdu, and drew on it to explain the two
main lines of his client's defense:



-- First, the Public Security Bureau (PSB) planted three
"secret" documents on a thumb drive belonging to Huang, which
was then used as "evidence" against him.



-- Secondly, these documents were not actually "secret" since
they were either already publicly available, or had essentially
the same substance as documents publicly available in other
provinces.




4. (C) Ding explained that he had requested that a witness
appear who could testify that the files could not have been
placed on the thumb drive by Huang because their date of
creation preceded Huang's date of purchase of the thumb drive.
Despite the fact that Chinese courts commonly grant requests for
defense witnesses, Ding's request was refused without
explanation. (Note: Consulate will provide a complete
translation of Ding's defense statement to Embassy and EAP/CM.
End Note.)



Appeals Process: Closed Trial Expected

--------------




5. (C) Recalling that Huang had been convicted on November 23,
2009, Ding outlined next steps in Huang's appeal. In theory,
Ding explained, a judge must consider Huang's appeal within one
month and 15 days after December 22, 2009 (which may in itself
be 30 days after the date of conviction). However, the judge
may choose to extend this deadline by another month. The appeal
process may or may not involve a second public trial (kaiting),
which is up to the court to decide. Ding stated that, according
to Chinese law, most appeals should be public trials but, in
practice, most are closed. Ding expects Huang's appeal to be a
closed, which means that three judges will simply review
documents related to the case including the initial defense
document, a prepared document outlining the reasons for appeal
(ershenbanci),and court transcripts of the original trial.

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After this, the judges will announce their verdict.




6. (C) Ding explained that a judiciary committee might also step
in and intervene in the case. According to Ding, should the
judiciary committee decide to intervene, the court must accept
the committee's judgments. The makeup of the committee varies
by case and is composed of judges from the intermediate court
(zhongji renmin fayuan),including the head judge (yuanzhang),
deputy head judge (fuyuanzhang),and other judges (tingzhang,
zishen faguan). (Comment: One purpose of this committee in the
PRC's authoritarian system appears to be to make sure political
trials such as Huang's end quickly with the desired conviction.
End Comment.)



Huang's Advocacy for Parents Who Lost Children

in Quake Angered Party Officials

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7. (C) Liu explained that one reason Huang had run afoul of
Sichuan authorities was for having independently gathered and
distributed aid to victims of the Province's May 2008
earthquake. The Communist Party wanted to control the
distribution of as much aid as possible, in order to maximize
public credit for itself, Liu explained. Moreover, Huang had
assisted parents of the students who died in the collapse of
Juyuan Secondary School (Juyuan Zhongxue) in Dujiangyan to
inquire into the corruption and poor construction that
ultimately led to their children's deaths.




8. (C) In a particularly disturbing anecdote, Liu explained that
Huang had been in Dujiangyan to witness how local authorities
responded to disgruntled parents. Dujiangyan authorities
detained 50-60 of the parents involved. Of those, two groups of
7-8 parents were placed on the flatbeds of two trucks with their
hands bound behind their backs, and then paraded through the
streets of the city -- a brutal message to other parents not to
inquire or protest further. Huang, astonished by these illegal
and inhumane actions, featured the parents' story on his
website, 64tianwang.com, Liu stated.



Political Trial: How Communist Party Arranges for Convictions

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9. (C) Liu also provided assertions about the politicization
of the Chinese legal system. Claiming to have many friends
working within the judicial system, Liu said while China tries
to present a pretense of the rule of law, delving beneath the
surface reveals a different reality. In sensitive cases such as
Huang's, he explained, the outcome is pre-decided (neiding) by
Communist Party officials. In support of the Party's objective
to suppress a dissident, work groups can create any document
(niezao). The Party's Political and Legal Affairs Committee
(zhengfa weiyuanhui) at each court ensures this outcome, he
explained. (Comment: If necessary, the Party's Committee
probably instructs the judicial committee noted above to
intervene in a given court case to ensure the desired outcome.
End Comment.)



Huang's Friend and Fellow Activist Shows

Tiananmen Photos, Claims to Be Charter 08 Signer

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10. (C) Liu also outlined his participation in the Chinese human
rights movement and cooperation with Huang. They initially met
when Liu's girlfriend and Huang worked together on a human
rights case in 2007. Liu became a dissident through his
participation in the 1989 student movement; he witnessed its
violent suppression on June 4th around Tiananmen Square. He
showed Consul General a number of gruesome images of students

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crushed by tanks, including a photo of a young man with a large
section of flesh gorged from his back. Liu compared June 4th to
the level of cruelty to Hitler's Germany. Liu mentioned that
while he had been detained and questioned three times for his
human rights activism, he had never been imprisoned. Liu also
claimed to be a signer of Charter 08 (a human rights declaration
drafted by Liu Xiaobo, who on December 25, 2009 was convicted of
incitement for to overthrow state power, largely for his work on
Charter 08).



Desire for Huang's Son to Study in United States

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11. (C) At the conclusion of the meeting, Pu reiterated the
family's desire to send Huang's son to the U.S. for university
study and requested the Consulate's assistance in realizing this
wish. She said that, as elderly woman with many medical
ailments, she did not have the means to pay for her grandson's
education. She emphasized that her grandson could not go to
university in China, particularly since he was constantly
harassed in school. CG confirmed to Pu that he had arranged for
her grandson to meet with PAO to discuss study in the United
States.
BROWN