March 12th 2001
Many countries have improved substantially their records on human rights in the previous year but unfortunately, some countries continued to worsen their records. Three countries reserve special attention, FRY, Russia and China. All 3 substantially worsened their human rights records in 2000. That is the reason we have to act and focus world attentions on them. Before we start couple of things to say first. Although Clinton's administration has provided all reports from 1993 until today on the Internet, writers of those reports continue to write them extremely poorly. Their reports look more like a collection of various news and rumors rather than professionally created government documents that are supposed to be used as a reference. Documents are written in ASCII format without proper formatting, without any pictures, references or links. Same topics are often mentioned several times, forcing readers to jump to various sections several times, reading them over and over again. All reports come without TOC (Table of Contents), HTML version doesn't include anchors, sections are labeled poorly (1. A), PDF format is not used at all. It is the 21st century and we all need to improve ourselves including U.S. government. Less taxes and more efficiency is what we need. It is time to publish these reports in Adobe Acrobat PDF format so that everyone can easily read them and print them. TOC is a must, pictures are desired as well as references used in creation of these reports. It is too much to expect sound and vision (FS Net excellence is a bit too high standard for U.S. government) but video material should be considered in the future. If someone writes 20 pages about Tiananmenh massacre then what is the reason not to include video or pictures? Many credible reports of human rights violations are still not present in these reports and often subject to what current administration likes it and what is hiding from us. New administration is set and we expect much more from them next year. Before we start examining these reports one note. We will not examine all issues and all topics. Many of those were discussed here previously and there is no need to go through them again. Only issues not previously covered here, hot issues and issues relevant but not mentioned in reports will be discussed. Reports are huge, there are more than 300 pages combined. It would take forever to comment on everything written there. This analysis is among most comprehensive ones and together with our extensive archives is one of the best sources on the Internet regarding human rights issues in FRY, Russia and China.
FRY
Report for 2000 is almost the same in size as the report for 1999, the worst FRY report ever. The problem is that report covers only period until October uprising when Milosevic was removed from power. There are only couple of references to Kostunica and his new government mostly irrelevant, unreferenced and meaningless. Everything bad goes to Milosevic, he is ousted, nothing bad or good on Kostunica. It is more like a distant past than ongoing story. Nevertheless, there are various issues mentioned worthy of our attention.
Vojislav Kostunica was elected President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on September 24, and took office on October 7, after mass demonstrations by citizens protesting Slobodan Milosevic's attempts to manipulate the Federal Election Commission and force a second election round led Milosevic to concede defeat.
Kostunica is not elected president of FRY, he declared himself a president after he thought (the same case with Al Gore) that he has won elections. Mercenaries. kickboxers, paramilitary units and paratroopers helped him to achieve this but this report never mentioned anything about it. Check more our links on this issue: Boycott 2000, Collapse and Milosevic's Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle. Until this day no one mentioned a single legal fact why the second round of elections has been prevented by the U.S. government. There were many instances of various allegations but not a single one has been proven and there is no legal decision that legitimized Kostunica's presidency. Milosevic had to concede at gunpoint. So much about laws and rule of the law. Truth is that both candidates cheated big time but all evidence was suppressed by Moscow and Washington.
President Milosevic until his electoral defeat effectively controlled the Serbian police, a heavily armed force of some 80,000 officers that is responsible for internal security.
In 1996 he had 100,000 strong police force that almost doubled in 1999. Why this false number then?
Under the Milosevic regime, there were many cases of political detainees and political prisoners. However, under Kostunica, the new Government released two prominent political prisoners--journalist Miroslav Filipovic in October and human rights activist Dr. Flora Brovina in November. In December Kostunica also pardoned opposition activist Bogoljub Arsenijevic, known as "Maki." Under the Milosevic regime, the authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
According to Clinton's administration this is supposed to be great improvement!? Take a note here that all reports were written by Clinton administration for 2000.
There was some child labor.
This is new.
While the media climate greatly improved after Kostunica's election victory, media independence remained a problem. Observers noted that after the DOS took control of state-owned Radio-Television Serbia, coverage leading up to the December 23 parliamentary elections strongly favored DOS candidates. Other media outlets also lack professionalism.
This is the worst about Kostunica and DOS. Not much as you see.
A government law requiring universal military service is enforced only sporadically; it was not enforced vigorously during the year. The informal practice of the military has been not to call up ethnic Albanians. However, in Montenegro VJ troops forcibly conscripted youths during the year. Of approximately 100,000 draft evaders living abroad at the start of the year to avoid punishment, 40 percent were estimated to be ethnic Albanian. This number in part reflects the large number of conscription-age men in Yugoslavia's Albanian community. Leaders of Kosovo's Albanian and Sandzak's Muslim communities maintained that when forced compliance of these groups with universal military service did occur, it was an attempt to induce young men to flee the country. According to an amnesty bill passed in 1996, up to 12,000 young men for whom criminal prosecution for draft evasion already had started were granted amnesty. Others who did not fall into this category were told that if they returned to Yugoslavia their cases would be reviewed on a "case-by-case" basis, a policy that has not inspired confidence among offenders. A law passed in October 1998 stated that draft dodgers who did not report for military service would forfeit their right to inheritance. In many cases Yugoslav officials have refused to issue proper travel documents to children born to asylum seekers (see Section 2.d.). A new amnesty bill was pending at year's end. The proposed law would grant amnesty to draft evaders, deserters, those who refused to bear arms, and to most political prisoners convicted under Article 136 of the Penal Code (association to conduct enemy activity), but not to political prisoners convicted under Article 125 (terrorism). Many ethnic Albanian political prisoners were reportedly convicted under Article 125, but the exact number is unknown.
This is the issue we reported to U.S. administration and this is their response to our inquiry. In the previous four reports, this was mentioned without any explanation. Since everyone know that the number of Serbs who refused to commit war crimes and various another atrocities is much bigger than this number and since Albanians do not serve military service since 1991 then something must be wrong here. Similar to Clinton's awkward excuses about his last pardons this issue now draws even more questions and raises even more issues.
1. If there is any Albanian who is wanted on these charges then he must have been charged in 1991 because ever since that they do not serve military service in FRY. Reports for 1993, 1994 and 1995 do not mention this at all.
2. Quoting the same number for the past five years is obviously false especially because of partial Law on Amnesty and conflict in Kosovo. During war in Bosnia, only in Czech Republic there were 100,000 Serb men who left FRY permanently. At one time total number, in all countries, was up to 300,000. This is important figure and issue because it shows that thousands of Serbs opposed Milosevic's criminal policy and war crimes committed in his name. If we lower this figure to ten thousand then collective guilt can be easily imposed on Serbs because in many countries around the world that number is not unusual for those who refuse to serve military service in general. FS Net stands firm that this figure is false and based on Milosevic's propaganda lies, not on facts.
3. We all hope that there was not a moron in Clinton's administration who believed that Albanians served in VJ (FRY's military) during conflict in Kosovo. Members of KLA are not VJ deserters.
4. Statement that military service is enforced sporadically is pure lie. Militarty service in FRY was always enforced vigorously especially to those who opposed Milosevic. Although these reports mention many opposition political leaders who were called for military service they on the other hand continue to deny this with this lie. All those who supported Milosevic and his family were sparred of military service permanently. If someone in Clinton's administration thought that this should be called sporadically then we must disagree. This is pure and simply said persecution. Military service is either compulsory for all or none.
5. After our complaints Clinton's administration confirms that Albanians were not called up but then again claims that Albanians are draft dodgers!? Further, Clinton's administration doesn't make a difference between Albanians and Sandzak Muslims. Although both groups are Muslims, leaders of Sandzak Musiems pledged allegiance to Milosevic and call their men to serve in FRY military. If there is a large number of Sandzak Muslims avoiding military service then that can be true but certainly not 40,000. Albanians and their leaders openly pledged independence of Kosovo and refused to recognize FRY.
6. Amnesty law from 1996 was not in general but based on case by case basis. Many men were not granted amnesty including author of this commentary not to mention indicting all who refused to participate in Kosovo conflict in 1999. Author of this commentary is facing 5 to 20 years in prison, yet to be determined by military court although I'm not citizen of FRY or that I have ever evaded military service. All who live in exile abroad are called without any reason and then sentenced to prison in secret trials although their relatives and friends mention that they have left FRY permanently. We are all guilty because we left FRY and abandoned our "beloved" dictator" and refused to help him ethnically cleanse Balkan peninsula of non-Serbs. Clinton's administration was hiding this issue all along
7. We still do not have the full text of the new amnesty because it was passed in late February. Again, it is based on case-by-case basis rather than general. Yes you guessed it, I still face 5-20 and do not have any confirmation from military office that charges brought against me are dismissed.
On November 27, two policemen beat Hungarian journalist Peter Aradi and threatened to kill him. Otpor reported that Aradi was taken to the police station in Senta, a town near the Hungarian border, where he was interrogated, beaten, and threatened before being released the following day (see Section 5). Also in November, three plainclothes police officers from the Serbian Interior Ministry detained Milos Antic, assistant editor of the Nedeljni Telegraf, and interrogated him for 2 hours at the police station in Belgrade. They pressured him to reveal his sources for an article he had written about Milosevic's alleged attempts to crack down on prodemocracy protesters during the October 5 demonstrations; the officers said they were acting under orders of a prosecutor preparing a case against Milosevic.
This was under Kostunica's regime but he is not blamed for this.
Although the DOS claimed victory for Kostunica, the Yugoslav Federal Election Commission claimed that neither candidate had won an outright majority and called for a second ballot.
Al Gore claimed victory as well but that was not the reason to award him a victory and even less a reason to violently overthrow government. But if we know that this report was created by Clinton's personnel and Clinton himself said that Gore won 2000 elections then you understand the whole story.
Kostunica declared himself President of Yugoslavia that night and 2 days later Milosevic conceded electoral defeat.
Bush didn't become the new American president because Gore conceded but because he has won elections and was certified by electoral commission and U.S. Congress. This was not the case with Kostunica.
A federal government was formed by the DOS and the SNP (Socialist People's Party).
Not a word that SNP was part of previous Milosevic's government or that they have not been elected by the Montenegrin people.
Milan Milutinovic remained President of the Republic of Serbia.
Not a word that he is a war criminal.
The Criminal Code does not recognize spousal rape as a criminal offense; rape is defined as forced sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married.
This explains why rape was part of Milosevic's terror during Balkan wars. It is perfectly normal to rape your wife and all Croat, Muslim and women of all those who oppose Milosevic. After the work, Kostunica and Djindjic can go back home and rape their wives as much as they want. It is perfectly legal.
The country served as a source, transit, and destination point for trafficking in women for the purpose of forced prostitution
Women do not enjoy status equal to men, and relatively few women obtain upper level management positions in commerce.
It is OK to celebrate March 8th, international day of the women though. Let's be a hypocrite for a day. You can rape your wife for the rest of the year.
Russia
Year 2000 was the year of Putin and very bad one for Russian people and all those who opposed this reincarnation of Stalin. Former KGB agent kicked out of service because of poor performance has found role suitable to losers and demagogues, politics. When everything else fails just jump to politics and you will succeed. Restoration of old Stalin national anthem and promotion of Stalin into a God was one of many controversial issues regarding Putin. Word Stalin was replaced in national anthem with word God and that is one of the most significant improvements in theory of Marxism since Stalin's days. Fourth classic of Marxism has now become officially a God for Russia. Persecution of Gusinsky was one of dominant issues in 2000 as part of all out Kremlin attack on independent media in general, opposition political parties, NGOs and even scientists and artists. Everyone must obey Putin or else. Ever since Putin was introduced to political scene in 1999, second colonial war in Chechnya is main obsession of Kremlin. Power hungry and nostalgic for Stalin imperialist days, Putin wants to renew Russian colonial empire by what ever means necessary. Support of communists in Moldova, destabilizing Ukraine, renewing relations with Castro, Saddam, North Korea, Vietnam and China are good illustration of these silly and futile efforts.
Both the presidential elections and the December 1999 Duma Elections were judged by international observers to be largely free and fair, although in both cases preelection manipulation of the media was a problem. There were credible reports in March of election fraud in some locations; however, there was no evidence that such abuses affected the outcome of the presidential election.
Actually, Clinton decided to keep his eyes shut and let Putin declare his phony victory. Idiotic results indicating that 70% of voters voted for Putin are pure sci-fi. Not even Stalin declared such a nonsense publicly. Don't send Stevie Wonder next time to Russia to monitor elections, please.
However, approximately 36 percent of citizens continue to live below the official monthly subsistence level of $35.
So what? They have their old national anthem back so they can sing it instead of last rites. Russians are dispensable, Stalinism is not.
Arbitrary arrest and detention and police corruption remain problems. Police and other security forces in various parts of the country continued their practice of harassing citizens from the Caucasus, Central Asia, Africa, and darker-skinned persons in general through arbitrary searches, detention, beatings, and extortions on the pretext of fighting crime and enforcing residential registration requirements.
David Duke was invited to Moscow, Zhirinovsky was awarded by Putin personally. Maybe Putin wants final solution?
There also were credible reports that military forces engaged in extrajudicial killings in Chechnya. For example, on February 5 Russian riot police and contract soldiers (men hired by the military for short-term service contracts) executed at least 60 civilians in Aldi and Chernorechiye, suburbs of Grozny. The perpetrators raped some of the victims and extorted money, later setting many houses on fire to destroy evidence.
According to HRW, no one has been held accountable for the extrajudicial killings of 130 civilians in Alkjan-Yurt, Staropromyslovski, and Novye Aldi in late 1999 and 2000.
Kremlin is always very concerned about civilians in Serbia and Iraq but never in Chechnya.
An estimated 11,000 detainees and prisoners died during the year
Russian prisoners are not very important. What about NMD, Castro and Kosovo?
According to media reports in February, a woman was being held in connection with the murder of a prominent member of Parliament, Galina Starovoitova. Starovoitova was shot outside of her apartment in 1998 in what appeared to be a political killing. In 1999 a former police officer became a suspect in the assassination, but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
There were no developments in the 1999 killings of the St. Petersburg Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) leader Gennadiy Tuganov and Deputy Mayor Mikhail Menevich.
Starovoitova accused Zhirinovsky of collaboration with Iraq and North Korea just days before she was murdered. Zhirinovsky is good Putin's friend although banned from entering most of Europe and the rest of the world. Racism is the way, says Putin. Kill all who oppose us and get rewarded.
According to Human Rights Watch's (HRW) report on torture in Russia released in November 1999, torture by police officers usually occurs within the first few hours or days of arrest and usually takes one of four forms: beatings with fists, batons, or other objects; asphyxiation using gas masks or bags (sometimes filled with mace); electric shocks; or suspension of body parts (e.g. suspending a victim from the wrists, which are tied together behind the back). Allegations of torture are difficult to substantiate because of lack of access by medical professionals and because the techniques used often leave few or no permanent physical traces.
In 1999 Sergey Pashin, a Moscow judge and rule of law activist, stated repeatedly that, in the cases that come before him, confessions often have been coerced from suspects through beatings. He also charged that "witnesses" often have been beaten to force them into testifying, when in fact they may have no knowledge of the case.
Human Rights Ombudsman Oleg Mironov estimated in October that 50 percent of prisoners with whom he spoke claimed to have been tortured. In April 1998, the Permanent Human Rights Chamber, an advisory presidential committee, concluded that torture was "common" among representatives of the Ministry of Interior, and that it was "widespread and systematic," especially in the pretrial stages of law enforcement.
Who gives a damn about human rights in Russia? Torture is the way, says Putin.
According to press reports, in September, a warrant officer on a Pacific Fleet ship became drunk and began to beat enlisted men on board. As a result, 41 sailors, over half the ship's company, left the ship and went to the Pacific Fleet Headquarters to complain about repeated, savage beatings by drunken noncommissioned officers. Admiral Rasskazov told the press that sailors complain to him or to prosecutors every day.
Get drunk, have fun, beat people up, no one will charge you with anything. Russia becomes land of drunkards and thugs thanks to Putin.
Other reported abuses of armed forces personnel included the practice by officers and sergeants of "selling" soldiers to others as slave labor (to build dachas, etc.) or to other officers who have a military need for personnel but are not able to work through the system, most often linked to units in the Northern Caucasus military district. The USMC reported that such practices continue. In one recent complaint received in the USMC's Moscow office, a soldier was allegedly sold for approximately $2 (50 rubles) to another unit. In another case, an officer bought a soldier for 10 bottles of vodka. The USMC continues to receive complaints about the Ministry of Internal Affairs and accused it of being among the worst of the branches in its human rights record.
Racism and slavery go along very well.
According to the armed forces' Medical Service, approximately 45 percent of military personnel committing or attempting suicide were driven to it by either physical abuse or the often inhuman conditions of military service.
Red Army has become Suicidal Army. If Putin gives them to drive Libyan demolition trucks then he might counter NMD.
Conditions in police station detention centers vary considerably, but as a rule are harsh. In most cases, detainees are not fed and have no bedding, places to sleep, running water, or toilets.
In larger cities such as Moscow, the average space per prisoner amounts to 0.5 cubic meters.
Back to Middle Ages is direction where Russia is heading although compressed and condensed prisoners is new scientific achievement. How do you fit one adult prisoner in 0.5 cubic meters anyway? Too bad that this is state secret that can't be further discussed.
In January and February the remand prison at Chernokozovo was the principal detention center for those detained in Chechnya. Prolonged beatings to the genitals and to the soles of the feet, rape, electric shocks, tear gas and other methods of torture were used at the center. Guards subjected detainees to humiliation and degrading treatment. At least one person was beaten to death.
In one of many reported incidents, a Chechen man described how he saw federal guards puncture detainees' eardrums and file their teeth and damage their lips with a file forced into their mouths--an apparently new form of torture.
This is original! Instead of toothbrushes they use files to brush prisoners teeth in Russia. Isn't it easier to ask for free American toothbrush instead of using files?
Internet service providers were required to install, at their own expense, a device that routes all Internet traffic to an FSB terminal.
On July 25 Minister of Communications Leonid Reyman issued an order implementing the last stage of SORM. According to the order, registered by the Ministry of Justice on August 9, the FSB is no longer required to provide to the telecommunications and Internet companies any court documentation or any information about targets of interest.
What did you expect from former KGB agent?
The number of civilian fatalities caused by federal military operations cannot be verified, and estimates of the total number of civilian dead vary from the hundreds to the thousands. For example, on December 20, seven students were killed when Russian forces fired mortar rounds on Grozny State Pedagogical Institute.
According to HRW and other NGO reports, Russian soldiers executed at least 38 civilians in the Staropromyslovski district between December 1999-January 2000. Most of the victims were women and elderly men, and all apparently were shot deliberately by Russian soldiers at close range.
Stop bombing schools please! Don't shoot civilians!
Federal forces reportedly beat, raped, tortured, and killed numerous detainees. The human rights NGO Memorial compiled a list of 300 missing captured rebels, some of whom had not been seen in 6 months. Federal forces reportedly ransomed Chechen detainees to their families. Prices were said to range from several hundred to thousands of dollars.
There were some reports that federal troops purposefully targeted some infrastructure essential to the survival of the civilian population, such as water facilities or hospitals.
People need water and don't need their hospitals destroyed.
International organizations estimate that the number of IDP's and refugees who left Chechnya as a result of the conflict reached a total of about 280,000 at its peak in late spring. Of this total, most went to Ingushetiya (245,000). Some 6,000 Chechen IDP's were reported in Dagestan, 3,000 in North Ossetia, and 6,000 in Georgia. About 20,000 Chechen IDP's reportedly went to other regions of the Russian Federation.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that at times as many as 150,000 persons were displaced within Chechnya and lacked access to humanitarian assistance.
Not bad for his first year in office. Stalin displaced 650,000 Chechens in 1944 and Putin 450,000 in 2000.
On January 17 Aleksander Khinshtein, a journalist with Moskovskiy Komsomolets and TV-Center known for his frequent vitriolic attacks on senior Government officials, was visited at his home by armed FSB agents who demanded that the journalist accompany them to the city of Vladimir for "psychiatric testing."
You don't like racism, slavery, torture? You must be insane, let's go to the nearest asylum!
On March 15 the Moscow daily Novaya Gazeta reported that its computer network was hacked, preventing the publication of that day's edition. Dmitriy Muratov, the newspaper's editor in chief, told the GDF that the hacking occurred on the very day that the newspaper was to publish a number of articles exploring irregularities in the financing of Vladimir Putin's election campaign.
Although FSB monitors all Internet activity, hackers do their job without any problems. I wonder if FSB is connected to them? You probably remember that FS Net was twice seven days off line in 1999, first before our eviction on December 29th and then on December 31st for the same period. All servers of our host providers were sabotaged in attempt to bankrupt company and force us to find different provider. We all hope that you didn't think that we have pulled FS Net off line. It was FSB, of course.
In March the state-backed Gazprom repaid Credit Suisse-First Boston a $211 million Media-Most loan that the firm had guaranteed in 1998. Immediately following the repayment, Gazprom demanded that Media-Most repay this debt, refusing to accept shares in the holding's outlets as a form of repayment. Media-Most executives and most media experts maintain that Gazprom acted at the behest of the Putin administration.
Putin complains that Russia is out of money, that can't repay debts, that can't improve living standards of Russian but yet they have plenty of money for buying credits and loans of those who oppose them in order to shut them down. What a hypocrisy!
The newspaper contained an editorial about the upcoming inauguration of President Putin and a collage depicting Putin as a Nazi officer. The publication of "fascist symbolism," including Nazi imagery, is prohibited by law.
Please don't alter Putin's picture to look like Hitler. He is not yet ready to fully embrace national-socialism as Milosevic did. On the picture, Putin introduces new ideas about free white Russia inspired by David Duke's new book.
In 1997 the Duma enacted a new, restrictive, and potentially discriminatory law on religion.
While citizens are free to travel within the country, the Government also imposes registration requirements on domestic travel. All adults are issued internal passports, which they must carry while traveling and use to register with local authorities for visits of more than 3 days (in Moscow, 24 hours).
The city of Moscow frequently is cited by NGO's for violating the rights of nonresidents and ethnic minorities, as well as the rights of those legitimately seeking asylum. Mayor Luzhkov has in the past called for the expulsion from Moscow of Chechens and other persons from the Caucasus.
So much about freedom in Russia.
Russia is a country of origin for trafficking in persons, especially in the trafficking of women.
There are reports of children being kidnaped or purchased from orphanages for sexual abuse, child pornography, and body parts.
In a much publicized case near Moscow, police set up an undercover operation which resulted in the arrest of a grandmother and uncle of an 8 year old boy, who had sold the child for $90,000 to persons who admitted they wanted the boy for sale of his body parts.
This is new, buying kids and selling them for body parts.
China
Although Clinton's administration did everything to minimize human rights abuses in China, report from China is terrible as usual. Huge money donations from China to Clinton and Democratic Party softened their stance and allowed Chinese government to even increase terror against Chinese people. especially those who oppose Chinese Communist Party. Persecution of members of Falun Gong and industrialization of Tibet (excuse for forceful assimilation of Tibet) dominated in 2000. After one Falun Gong protest in Beijing, CCP started brutal assault on everything linked with Falun Gong in order to prevent any challenge to its rule. After positive signals from Washington, CCP announced industrialization of Tibet including railway to Lhasa and massive influx of Chinese immigrants to Tibet. Their plan is very simple and identical to Stalin's plans for forceful resettlement of millions of people living in former USSR in order to legitimize their colonial conquests. Tibet was never and will never be part of China, similar to Baltic republics that were never part of USSR. Red Army invaded Tibet in 1949 and dismantled its government in 1951. It seems that new cultural revolution has started in China and repression is intensifying.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) is an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the paramount source of power. At the national and regional levels, Party members hold almost all top government, police, and military positions.
Opposition legally doesn't exist. All who challenge communist rule are eliminated quickly by any means necessary.
The official press reported a number of extrajudicial killings, but no nationwide statistics are available. During the year, deaths in custody due to police use of torture to coerce confessions from criminal suspects continued to be a problem. For example, in Xinjiang Abduhelil Abdumijit was tortured to death in custody, according to foreign press reports. The deaths in custody of Falun Gong practitioners were a significant new development. Various sources report that approximately 100 or more Falun Gong adherents died during the year in police custody; many of their bodies reportedly bore signs of severe beatings or torture, or were cremated before relatives could examine them
In order to prevent autopsy, CCP is cremating bodies as Hitler did during WWII to eliminate all evidence.
Former detainees and the press credibly reported that officials used electric shocks, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, incommunicado detention, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse against some detained men and women.
Chinese torture methods are legendary.
In December 1999, authorities in Henan Province committed Xue Jifeng to a mental hospital after he attempted to establish an independent labor union to support workers harmed in a financial fraud. He was held until June (see Section 6.a.). Wang Wanxing, who protested in Tiananmen Square in 1992, continued to be held in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Beijing.
Stalin methods of putting dissidents in mental institutions are popular in China.
During the year, reports began to surface in the press about a woman who was detained by Guangzhou police and sent to a psychiatric hospital in June 1999 because she appeared upset after having had her luggage stolen, and she lacked an identity card. The woman, who was not identified, was raped repeatedly by male inmates at the psychiatric hospital before her husband was able to secure her release approximately 24 hours later. At the couple's insistence, police investigated the rapes, but vital evidence was destroyed prior to the investigation, and only one of the accused had been tried to date (see Section 1.d.). The woman's attempt to win damages was rejected by one court.
Rapes in asylums are good for those who complain about stolen luggage.
Yu Dongyue, who defaced the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 student protests, reportedly is suffering severe mental illness from repeated beatings and mistreatment in a Hunan prison.
Cult habits don't die fast.
According to credible reports, Fang Jue is in very poor health. Xu Wenli, who tested positive for hepatitis B during a prison hospital examination, was denied treatment for the disease in 1999 despite repeated pleas by his family.
An Fuxing, a China Democracy Party member and veteran of the Tiananmen prodemocracy movement, contracted hepatitis B at Liaoyuan prison and died from the illness in April. Hua Di, a Stanford researcher, whose 15-year prison sentence on charges of providing missile program secrets to persons abroad was overturned in mid-March, was in custody awaiting a new trial. He is suffering from cancer and was denied release on medical parole in April.
Denying medicine is just another way to kill prisoners.
Forced labor in prison is common.
The law permits the authorities in some circumstances to detain persons without arresting or charging them, and persons may be sentenced administratively to up to 3 years in reeducation-through-labor camps and other similar facilities without a trial.
Official government statistics report that there are some 230,000 persons in reeducation-through-labor camps.
There are reports that persons with documentation allowing them to live or work in urban areas have been detained illegally under these provisions; but, because they are not entitled to a trial, they have little recourse if the detaining officials cannot be persuaded to allow their release. Some reportedly are forced to confess that they were living and working without permits in the urban area in which they were detained, despite having the appropriate documentation; in some cases, such documentation reportedly is destroyed.
They can pick you up in the street without any reason and send three years to labor-camp to work there as a slave. Slavery is still in practice in China. Why bother paying workers when you can force them to work for free. Check this site for more info on slavery in China: Laogai Research Foundation
A campaign initiated by the Government in 1998 to eliminate the China Democracy Party (CDP), a would-be opposition party, broadened and intensified during 1999 and continued throughout the year. This campaign has resulted in the arrest, detention, or confinement of scores of persons. Since December 1998, at least 25 core leaders of the CDP have been sentenced to long prison terms on subversion or other charges. In what some experts have described as an attempt by authorities to tarnish the public image of the democracy movement, during the year Chinese officials accused a number of democracy activists of soliciting prostitutes, distributing pornographic videos, petty theft, or other crimes unrelated to their political activities.
Also in February, the second highest ranking member of the Shanghai branch of the CDP, Dai Xuezhong (who was arrested in January), was sentenced to 3 years in prison for allegedly hiring three persons to commit an assault with a knife. During the trial, Dai was not allowed to testify in his own defense.
So much about freedom of political opinion. What is new here is that now defendants are prevented to speak in the courtrooms.
During a 1998 conference at a Beijing university, according to informed sources, one expert estimated that more than 70 percent of commercial cases in lower courts were decided according to the wishes of local officials rather than the law. State-run media have published numerous articles calling for an end to such "local protectionism" and for the development of a judiciary independent of interference by officials.
Courts are just for fools who believe that justice is being served in China.
Police and prosecutorial officials often ignore the due process provisions of the law and of the Constitution. For example, police and prosecutors can subject prisoners to severe psychological pressure to confess, and coerced confessions frequently are introduced as evidence. In March the top prosecutor, Procurator General Han Zhubin, admitted that abuses such as using torture to extort confessions, extorting favors from suspects, and nepotism remained serious problems. In May 1998 he also acknowledged that some prosecutors used interrogation rooms like "prison cells" to hold suspects beyond the legal detention period. In 1999 Han's office received 812,821 complaints; 342,017 were related to prosecutors.
The new Criminal Procedure Law also does not address certain shortcomings in the legal system. Under the law, there is no right to remain silent, no right against double jeopardy, and no law of evidence. The mechanism that allows defendants to confront their accusers is inadequate; according to one expert, only 1 percent to 5 percent of trials involve witnesses.
What kind of law is there? You have the right to confess everything and be shot afterward.
Trials continue to be conducted in secret. In July 1999, Wang Yingzheng, a 19-year-old activist in Jiangsu Province, was tried in secret for writing an article criticizing official corruption. Wang's family was not notified of the trial until several weeks afterward. In June 1999 labor activist He Chaohui also was tried in a closed courtroom in Hunan. According to Amnesty International, two sisters who owned a bookstore were sentenced to prison terms in January for distributing Falun Gong literature. The sisters reportedly were arrested in July 1999, held incommunicado for 3 months, and tried in secret
What is the purpose of secret trials except to allow unrestricted persecution.
Lawyers who try to defend their clients aggressively continue to have problems with police and prosecutors, leading to complaints and threats of harassment by law enforcement officials. Lawyers' professional associations have called for better protection of lawyers and their legitimate role in the adversarial process.
Lawyers are supposed to misrepresent their clients and persuade them to confess everything and later be shot.
The lack of due process is particularly egregious in death penalty cases. There are 65 capital offenses in the law. They include financial crimes such as counterfeiting currency, embezzlement, and corruption. During the year, several mid- or high level officials were sentenced to death for embezzlement or corruption; one, Hu Changqing, vice governor of Jiangxi Province, was executed in February. The trial of 11 officials in the Xiamen corruption scandal was conducted in secret. Seven of the officials were sentenced to death, and four were sentenced to life in prison. Persons may be sentenced to death for other property crimes as well; among those reportedly executed during the year was a man from Yunnan Province, convicted of setting a forest fire. A higher court nominally reviews all death sentences, but the time between arrest and execution is sometimes days or less, and reviews consistently result in the confirmation of sentences.
You have the right to be executed for anything CCP wants.
Persons can also receive long prison sentences for financial crimes after very short trials; according to a press report, on May 30, businessman Mou Qizhong was sentenced to life in prison for foreign exchange fraud after a 1-day trial in November 1999.
Speedy trials are also popular in China as well as lack of any means for defendants to defend themselves.
Government officials deny holding any political prisoners, asserting that authorities detain persons not for their political or religious views, but because they violate the law. However, the authorities continued to confine citizens for political and religious reasons. It is estimated that thousands of political prisoners remain incarcerated, some in prisons and others in labor camps.
If this is true then where are political parties in China, where are popular elections and why all important positions in Chinese society are held by members of CCP?
The Constitution states that the "freedom and privacy of correspondence of citizens are protected by law." Despite legal protections, authorities often do not respect the privacy of citizens in practice. Although the law requires warrants before law enforcement officials can search premises, this provision frequently has been ignored; moreover, the Public Security Bureau and the procuratorate can issue search warrants on their own authority. Authorities often monitor telephone conversations, fax transmissions, e-mail, and Internet communications of citizens, foreign visitors, businessmen, diplomats, and journalists, as well as dissidents, activists, and others.
Authorities also open and censor domestic and international mail. Han Chunsheng, a Voice of America (VOA) listener who allegedly sent over 20 letters critical of the Government to a VOA mailbox, remains in prison on an 8-year sentence for counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda. Government security organs monitor and sometimes restrict contact between foreigners and citizens.
It seems that all these laws are just passed to fool the world and present that there is a civilized society in China governed by the laws. This more looks like jungle society where chief does what he wants and all who oppose him end up as his dinner.
Government harassment prevents Tiananmen Square massacre-era activist Tang Yuanjun and other present and former dissidents and their relatives from obtaining and keeping steady employment. The Government continued to freeze bank accounts kept by Ding Zilin containing funds to help the families of Tiananmen massacre victims, an action criticized by dissidents within the country and human rights organizations abroad.
This is robbery, plain and simple. Who gives them a right to steal someone else's money?
According to a senior family planning official, 10 million persons are sterilized each year and not all voluntarily. In 1998 a former Fujian Province local family planning official stated that local authorities in a Fujian town systematically used coercive measures such as forced abortion and sterilization, detention, and the destruction of property to enforce birth quotas.
There reportedly have been instances in which pregnant prisoners in reeducation-through-labor camps were forced to submit to abortions
This is similar to what Nazis did in concentration camps during WWII.
There are no privately owned television or radio stations, and all programming must be approved by the Government. Commercial program producers are seeking to expand the limits of broadcast content.
Even in Russia and Serbia there are privately owned radio and TV stations. China really hits low here.
Authorities have at various times blocked politically "sensitive" web sites, including those of dissident groups and some major foreign news organizations, such as the Voice Of America (VOA), the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
What is the point in that? People are not stupid not to know that these news organizations exist and that most of them are well respected around the globe. This is similar to Nazi occupation of Europe during WWII when all foreign broadcasts were banned and interfered by Gestapo. Didn't help them then and will not help CCP either.
The Constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the Government severely restricts this right in practice. The Constitution stipulates that such activities may not challenge "Party leadership" or infringe upon the "interests of the State." Protests against the political system or national leaders are prohibited. Authorities deny permits and quickly move to suppress demonstrations involving the expression of dissenting political views.
Why not challenge party leadership? What are interests of the State? To make people stupid, prohibit them to think, dictate what ever they want to non-party members? This kind of society is doomed and there is nothing they can do to help them save their deranged views that are obsolete. Without critics society can't grow and advance itself.
The Constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe; however, the Government seeks to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. There are five officially recognized religions--Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. For each faith, there is a government-affiliated association to monitor and supervise its activities.
The Criminal Law states that government officials who deprive citizens of religious freedom may be sentenced to up to 2 years in prison in serious cases. However, there are no known cases of persons being punished under this statute.
Printing bible is criminal offense although report doesn't mention this. Read full story here.
Authorities also conducted demolition campaigns against unregistered places of worship. Beginning in early November, according to local press reports, officials in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, and surrounding areas began a campaign to close or destroy, sometimes with explosives, hundreds of unregistered Protestant churches and Buddhist and Taoist temples. Wenzhou has a long Christian history and reportedly counts several hundred thousand Christians among its population. It has been estimated that approximately 450 churches and temples were destroyed during the weeks prior to December 25 in Wenzhou, and as many as 1,200 churches and temples were closed or destroyed in surrounding areas of Zhejiang Province during that time. Officials stated that the places of worship that were closed and destroyed were targeted because they were unregistered and therefore illegal; however, according to some observers, many of the places of worship had attempted to comply with regulations regarding registration, but their paperwork had never been finalized by the RAB.
This is vandalism, hooliganism and act of barbarism similar to the one that is right now happening in Afghanistan where Taliban is systematically destroying Buddha statues and other objects related to Buddhism.
Under the "staying at prison employment" system applicable to recidivists incarcerated in reeducation-through-labor camps, authorities have denied certain inmates permission to return to their homes. Those inmates sentenced to a total of more than 5 years in reeducation-through-labor camps on separate occasions also may lose their legal right to return home. For those assigned to camps far from their residences, this practice constitutes a form of internal exile.
Where are they supposed to go then? To the Moon maybe?
Citizens do not have the right to change their Government peacefully and cannot freely choose or change the laws and officials that govern them.
Nothing new here.
A high female suicide rate is a serious problem. According to the World Bank, Harvard University, and the World Health Organization, some 56 percent of the world's female suicides occur in China (about 500 per day).
You have the right to forceful abortion, sterilization, rape and then you can commit suicide. China is wonderful place for women.
The purchase of women was criminalized in 1991, with the enactment of the NPC Standing Committee's "Decision Relating to the Severe Punishment of Criminal Elements Who Abduct and Kidnap Women and Children," which made abduction and sale separate offenses.
Before 1991, purchase of women was legal. Interesting!
Tibet
According to reports, the rate at which Tibetan political prisoners are dying in detention, or soon after their release, demonstrably as a result of abuse while in detention, is increasing. According to the Tibet Information Network (TIN), female political prisoners, particularly those held at Lhasa's Drapchi prison, are at the greatest risk: since 1987, 1 in 27 died while in prison or soon after being released. Drapchi's male political prisoners died at a rate of about 1 in 33 since 1987. Overall TIN reports a death rate of 1 in 50 for Tibetan political prisoners as of year's end.
There are many credible reports that prisoners are tortured and mistreated. Authorities use electric shocks, suspension in painful positions, and other forms of torture or abuse. Several sources reported the mistreatment and beatings of nuns in prison, including 24-year-old Ngawang Sangdrol, who was imprisoned at age 13, released 9 months later and resentenced at age 15; her prison sentence was extended for a third time in late 1998 to a total of 21 years for her involvement in demonstrations, most recently during May 1998. Ngawang Sangdrol reportedly has been beaten severely on multiple occasions because of repeated participation in protests at Drapchi prison; her health is poor and deteriorating, and she is not receiving adequate medical care, according to credible reports.
Genocide is in full swing in Tibet. Too bad that Clinton's administration didn't notice that.
In February 1999 TIN and the foreign press reported increased use of military-style drills and exercises (often in either very hot or very cold weather) at Lhasa's Drapchi prison.
It seems that Jason has been resurrected by CCP. You all know Friday the 13th series of movies. There are still 4 to be made, total of 13 Friday 13th movies. One of them is going to be Freddy vs. Jason. We suggest "Chairman Jason" and we'll give you a plot for this movie as well. After Chinese scientists uncover secret artifacts in Tibet, leaders of CCP visit Tibet and demand to see artifacts. Although scientists warn them about dangers they refuse to listen and somehow activate them releasing Jason's soul that captures body of one of CCP leaders. Because there is no democracy in China and because they all obey their leader blindly, Jason has open road to massacre people on the large scale. Newly formed battalions equipped with chainsaws, drills and other industrial tools are sent all over China with one goal only, kill everyone. Don't forget that Jason's finger is always near red button used to launch nuclear missiles. There is nothing to be afraid here or to be very afraid. All you can do is to realize that the game is over and you are going to die one way or another. Sequels are possible. We can later find out that Jason is long lost son of Stalin or Hitler and finale should be U.S. presidential elections in 2008 when Jason attempts to become new U.S. president. After Hillary loses elections in 2004, Gore bids again as the last hope of ruined Democrats. Just before elections he decides to visit Crystal Lake and... The point is that all those who made horror movies can never make them scary enough as world politicians can make us scared. Karadzic and Mladic murdered 200,000 people in just one civil war while Jason didn't kill 200 people in 9 movies. Human rights reports are the best source of horror and terror and there is nothing scarier than to live in China, Russia or some other country where human rights abuses run rampant.
The nuns, all in their twenties, had been imprisoned for taking part in peaceful protests.
You don't have to guess why did they pick only nuns in their 20s. "Come to our prison and enjoy our raping nuns party" - CCP.
The Government continued its "patriotic education" campaign aimed at enforcing compliance with government regulations and either cowing or weeding out monks and nuns who refuse to adopt the Party line and remain sympathetic to the Dalai Lama. The "patriotic education" campaign also is intended to increase the Government's control over the Tibetan Buddhist establishment. The "patriotic reeducation" of monks and nuns, which began in 1996 in Lhasa area monasteries and in subsequent years was intensified and extended throughout Tibet and to monasteries outside of the TAR, continued but at a lower level of intensity. A new round of political education classes in monasteries began at the end of 1999 in Lhasa and in some smaller monasteries in more remote parts of the TAR. However, the current pattern of classes several times per week or per month seems less frequent than previously.
So much about CCP not interfering in religious matters. Will they announce that Mao has become Buddha as Putin did similar thing in Russia by announcing that Stalin has become a God?
Illiteracy and semiliteracy levels are high. According to official government statistics, 42 percent of persons in the TAR are illiterate or semiliterate. Illiteracy and semiliteracy rates are as high as 90 percent in some areas. Chinese officials over the past few years have downgraded the use of Tibetan in education and in 1997 announced that they would begin teaching Chinese to Tibetan children starting in the first grade. The Government stated that this step was taken in order to make Tibetan children more competitive with their Han counterparts, and provide more educational and employment opportunities in the long run. Primary schools at the village level follow a Tibetan curriculum, but these schools usually have only two or three grades.
Just keep them uneducated and use them for free slave labor. That is how colonialists from China treat Tibetans.
Prostitution is a growing problem in Tibet, as it is elsewhere in the country, according to experts working in the region. Hundreds of brothels operate openly in Lhasa; up to 10,000 commercial sex workers may be employed in Lhasa alone. Much of the prostitution occurs at sites owned by the Party, the Government, or the military. Most prostitutes in Tibet are ethnic Han women, mainly from Sichuan. However, a substantial number of ethnic Tibetans, mainly young girls from rural or nomadic areas, also work as prostitutes. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among prostitutes in Tibet is unknown but is believed to be relatively high.
This is new. We didn't know that CCP has its own brothels. Is this allowed in Marxist philosophy or is it "who gives a damn about Marx we are just gang of criminals who do what we are pleased to do". All in all situation in Tibet is best described by this song popular among members of CCP:
Rape, rape, rape Tibet
Violently up the mountain.
Warily, warily, warily, warily,
Life is but a nightmare.
Nightmare of reading and analyzing these reports is finally over and this commentary ends here. We hope that next year there will be less nightmares and more positive developments because this trend of abuses is a serious problem that needs to be addressed soon.
FS Net Editor