RSSChristian organizations in Hong Kong have joined with other groups in demanding the release of a Chinese dissident whom mainland authorities have charged with inciting subversion and detained for a year.
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On Dec. 8 morning, Hong Kong Catholic Diocese’s Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), the Protestant Hong Kong Christian Institute, and other local and foreign groups petitioned the Chinese government’s Liaison Office here to immediately release Liu Xiaobo.
Liu and other human rights activists in mainland China published “Charter 08” on Dec. 10 last year, the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The charter called for an end to one-party rule in China, greater democracy and respect for human rights.
Police detained Liu two days before its release on the Internet, but formally arrested him only in June.
During the Dec. 8 protest in Hong Kong, participants read aloud a statement, asking Beijing to comply with its constitution and implement freedom of speech guaranteed by international conventions on human rights. They demanded the release of Liu and other dissidents.
The JPC, the Protestant institute and 13 groups based in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States signed the statement.
It asserted that the content and demands of “Charter 08” fully comply with the “National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2010” that Beijing published in April. China´s first such plan identifies various aspects of human rights that need to be improved.
Later on Dec. 8, Liu’s lawyer, Shang Baojun, received a notice from authorities that his client’s case had been transferred to the Beijing Municipal Procuratorate. This means the “investigation period” of the case is over and prosecution can begin, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based concern group.
Liu, a writer, could face up to 15 years’ imprisonment if he is found guilty, Shang told media in Beijing.
Or Yan-yan, a JPC official, told UCA News on Dec. 9 that she was angry that the Chinese government ignored the concern showed by many countries for Liu by going ahead with legal proceedings.
She said Liu´s treatment is a human rights violation in that he has been in detention for so long and his wife has not been allowed to visit him.
The JPC will monitor the development of the case and continue to express concern, she added.
“Charter 08” made 19 demands. These included calling for a revision of China’s constitution; an independent judiciary; democracy in the legislature; protection of human rights; freedom of assembly, speech and religion; abolition of political education in schools; and the creation of a federal republic.
More than 10,000 people from within and outside China have signed the charter.
Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organizing the charter, although at least 70 of the mainland signatories have been questioned or temporarily detained by the government.
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