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19.11.2003Olympic Watch denounces fresh human rights abuses in ChinaPrague, November 19, 2003 – Olympic Watch (Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games in a Free and Democratic Country) has issued a statement in which it denounces “the latest wave of prison sentences for Chinese human rights advocates”. Jan Ruml, Acting Chairman of the Olympic Watch Committee, is sending the document to the government of the People’s Republic of China today.The statement refers to two particular cases of peaceful activists who were sentenced to eight and three years in prison, respectively. Zheng Enchong is to serve three years in prison for the crime of “illegally providing state secrets to entities outside of China” by allegedly sending two reports about a workers’ demonstration to a New York-based human rights organization. He Depu, in a case that received coverage in the media around the world, was sentenced to eight years in prison for “attempt to overthrow the state” because he had signed an open letter to the Beijing government. In the statement, Olympic Watch requests that the Chinese authorities not only release the two and other prisoners of conscience, but also generally “fulfill the commitments to improving the human rights situation and ensuring freedom of information that were declared while Beijing was bidding for the Olympic Games 2008”. Olympic Watch |
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