April 14, 2016

 

Zheng Churan, second from left, Li Tingting and Wei Tingting with Ms. Zheng’s lawyer, Chen Jinxue, left, next to a sign reading Haidian District Detention Center in Beijing on Wednesday.

Didi Kirsten Tatlow/The New York Times

 

BEIJING — The Chinese police lifted bail conditions on Wednesday for five feminists who were detained in Beijing last year on the eve of International Women’s Day for planning to distribute leaflets warning of sexual harassment on public transit, according to the women and their lawyers.

 

However, the police said they were still investigating a case against the five women for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” a criminal charge, said Chen Jinxue, a lawyer for one of the women, Zheng Churan.

 

 

The case of the five became a global cause célèbre last year, casting doubt on China’s assertions that it was improving women’s rights and embarrassing the leadership during celebrations in New York to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1995 United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing.

 

On Wednesday, in response to a police summons, Mr. Chen accompanied Ms. Zheng, Li Tingting and Wei Tingting to the Haidian District Detention Center, where the women had been detained for five weeks last year. The police refused to allow the lawyer to enter the gate and security guards and uniformed police officers questioned reporters and ordered them out of the area. The two other feminists, Wu Rongrong and Wang Man, did not attend.

 

One of the conditions of the women’s release from detention last year was that they not travel from their legal place of residence. Also, each had to provide a personal guarantor for her conduct. Both were lifted on Wednesday.

 

“I’m very disappointed that they did not drop the case,” Mr. Chen said outside the detention center after the meeting, as security guards from a nearby village ordered him, the women and reporters to leave. Guards also tried to stop reporters from photographing and filming.

 

“But they are free to go where they like,” he said.

 

The women tried to give the police a typed request for them to drop the case, but they said the police refused to accept it. Mr. Chen said he would mail the request to prosecutors once he returned to the southern city of Guangzhou, where he and Ms. Zheng live.

 

Ms. Zheng said the police had told the women, “We’re not dropping the case against you, because it’s not just about you, it’s about a whole group of people.” She said they did not explain what group they were referring to.

 

“And they didn’t say anything about when they would drop” the case, Ms. Zheng said. “It makes me feel like I’m going to be suspected of being a criminal for the rest of my life.”

 

A woman who answered the telephone in the detention center declined to comment, saying the center did not make decisions or discuss individual cases. She declined to give her name.

 

On Wednesday, the police also returned belongings they had confiscated last year when they detained the women. But Ms. Li said they had not returned one of three laptops and a mobile phone they had taken from her. In protest, she refused to take receipt of her belongings, she said.

 

The charge facing the women carries a maximum prison term of five years, meaning that, under Chinese law, they may still face criminal prosecution during five years from the time of their detention.

 

Mr. Chen called on the police to drop the case, which has been heavily criticized by human rights advocates.

 

“They didn’t do anything illegal at all,” he said. “I’m very disappointed.”

 

The women have said that they were treated harshly at times during their detention, with the police blowing smoke in their faces, denying medication, accusing them of lacking filial piety and criticizing some for their sexual orientation.

 

But they said the experience, though occasionally frightening, would not stop them from working for women’s rights in China. Nor, they said, did the police ask them to stop.

 

“I think the police know what we’re like,” Ms. Wei said.

 

Ms. Zheng said she would file an application for the government to reimburse her for the journey from Guangzhou for her and Mr. Chen, which cost several thousand renminbi.

 

 

 

For detail please visit here

 

April 14, 2016

 

Zheng Churan, second from left, Li Tingting and Wei Tingting with Ms. Zheng’s lawyer, Chen Jinxue, left, next to a sign reading Haidian District Detention Center in Beijing on Wednesday.

Didi Kirsten Tatlow/The New York Times

 

BEIJING — The Chinese police lifted bail conditions on Wednesday for five feminists who were detained in Beijing last year on the eve of International Women’s Day for planning to distribute leaflets warning of sexual harassment on public transit, according to the women and their lawyers.

 

However, the police said they were still investigating a case against the five women for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” a criminal charge, said Chen Jinxue, a lawyer for one of the women, Zheng Churan.

 

 

The case of the five became a global cause célèbre last year, casting doubt on China’s assertions that it was improving women’s rights and embarrassing the leadership during celebrations in New York to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1995 United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing.

 

On Wednesday, in response to a police summons, Mr. Chen accompanied Ms. Zheng, Li Tingting and Wei Tingting to the Haidian District Detention Center, where the women had been detained for five weeks last year. The police refused to allow the lawyer to enter the gate and security guards and uniformed police officers questioned reporters and ordered them out of the area. The two other feminists, Wu Rongrong and Wang Man, did not attend.

 

One of the conditions of the women’s release from detention last year was that they not travel from their legal place of residence. Also, each had to provide a personal guarantor for her conduct. Both were lifted on Wednesday.

 

“I’m very disappointed that they did not drop the case,” Mr. Chen said outside the detention center after the meeting, as security guards from a nearby village ordered him, the women and reporters to leave. Guards also tried to stop reporters from photographing and filming.

 

“But they are free to go where they like,” he said.

 

The women tried to give the police a typed request for them to drop the case, but they said the police refused to accept it. Mr. Chen said he would mail the request to prosecutors once he returned to the southern city of Guangzhou, where he and Ms. Zheng live.

 

Ms. Zheng said the police had told the women, “We’re not dropping the case against you, because it’s not just about you, it’s about a whole group of people.” She said they did not explain what group they were referring to.

 

“And they didn’t say anything about when they would drop” the case, Ms. Zheng said. “It makes me feel like I’m going to be suspected of being a criminal for the rest of my life.”

 

A woman who answered the telephone in the detention center declined to comment, saying the center did not make decisions or discuss individual cases. She declined to give her name.

 

On Wednesday, the police also returned belongings they had confiscated last year when they detained the women. But Ms. Li said they had not returned one of three laptops and a mobile phone they had taken from her. In protest, she refused to take receipt of her belongings, she said.

 

The charge facing the women carries a maximum prison term of five years, meaning that, under Chinese law, they may still face criminal prosecution during five years from the time of their detention.

 

Mr. Chen called on the police to drop the case, which has been heavily criticized by human rights advocates.

 

“They didn’t do anything illegal at all,” he said. “I’m very disappointed.”

 

The women have said that they were treated harshly at times during their detention, with the police blowing smoke in their faces, denying medication, accusing them of lacking filial piety and criticizing some for their sexual orientation.

 

But they said the experience, though occasionally frightening, would not stop them from working for women’s rights in China. Nor, they said, did the police ask them to stop.

 

“I think the police know what we’re like,” Ms. Wei said.

 

Ms. Zheng said she would file an application for the government to reimburse her for the journey from Guangzhou for her and Mr. Chen, which cost several thousand renminbi.

 

 

 

For detail please visit here