Representative Christopher Smith, Chairman and Senator Sherrod Brown, Cochairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China announce a hearing on:
“Examination into the Abuse and Extralegal Detention of Legal Advocate Chen Guangcheng and His Family”
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
2118 Rayburn House Office Building
The plight of Chen Guangcheng and his family continues to attract attention inside and outside China. Chen is a self-trained legal advocate who has represented farmers, the disabled, and other groups. He is perhaps best known for the attention he drew to population planning abuses, particularly forced abortions and forced sterilizations, in Linyi city, Shandong province, in 2005. In deeply flawed legal proceedings, authorities sentenced him in 2006 to four years and three months in prison for, among other things, “organizing a group of people to disturb traffic order.” While imprisoned Chen was reportedly beaten by fellow inmates and denied medical treatment. Following his release in September 2010, Chen, his wife Yuan Weijing, and their six-year-old daughter have faced stifling conditions of home confinement and constant surveillance. Chen and Yuan reportedly have been beaten since being released, and until recently their daughter was denied schooling. Chen’s health also remains in doubt as he suffers from a digestive disorder. Authorities have continued to employ violence to prevent the growing numbers of journalists and supporters from visiting the family. Online campaigns in support of Chen have also sprung up in China, yet the government has censored terms that relate to him or his case. Witnesses will examine why the Chinese government has not permitted access to information regarding Chen Guangcheng’s circumstances and well-being nor permitted visitors to see Chen. Witnesses will also examine the criminal procedure violations related to Chen’s current detention under an illegal form of “house arrest” and Chen’s access to legal counsel.
Witnesses:
Jerome A. Cohen, Professor, New York University School of Law; Co-director, U.S.-Asia Law Institute; and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China (HRIC); Professor of Law Emerita, City University of New York School of Law
Chai Ling, Founder, All Girls Allowed
Click here to download a copy of the Commission’s full 2011 Annual Report.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, established by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 as China prepared to enter the World Trade Organization, is mandated by law to monitor human rights, including worker rights, and the development of the rule of law in China. The Commission by mandate also maintains a database of information on political prisoners in China-individuals who have been imprisoned by the Chinese government for exercising their civil and political rights under China’s Constitution and laws or under China’s international human rights obligations. All of the Commission’s reporting and its Political Prisoner Database are available to the public online via the Commission’s Web site, http://www.cecc.gov.