China (MNN) — China's Public Secruity Bureau (PSB) officers
have tortured yet another Christian human rights attorney. Zheng Enchong was beaten, stripped, and
burned with cigarettes on June 17, China Aid Association reports.
Four officers from Zhabei District branch of Shanghai Municipal
Public Security Bureau had summoned him. Although they did not actually interrogate Zheng during the torture,
authorities compiled a written record of the interrogation anyway.
They wanted Zheng to sign the record, but he refused. Instead, he wrote a statement on the record
describing his treatment by the PSB and comparing it to the government's
treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. He
plans to file a complaint with the central government.
The government has been harassing Zheng ever since he filed
an important legal case in 2003, arguing that government officials conspired with Zhou
Zhengyi, "the richest man in Shanghai," to illegally confiscate homes for
demolition.
Officials have summoned Zheng almost 20 times, and they have
searched his house twice in the last two and a half months. He has difficulty walking after suffering
four severe beatings by the authorities.
Zheng already served three years in prison for "illegally
providing secrets to overseas entities" after filing the confiscation
case. This charge related to an
allegation that Zheng faxed two documents regarding workers' protests to the non-profit
organization Human Rights in China.
"As an internationally well-known
Christian human rights lawyer, Attorney Zheng has always defended the poor and
vulnerable," said Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid and a friend of Mr. Zheng and
his family. "The repeated harassment and torture against such a conscientious
rights defender demonstrates the Shanghai authorities' total disregard to
citizens' basic human rights. We encourage the international community to
continue to press the Chinese authorities to stop these hideous acts and to
hold the abusers accountable."
Contact the Chinese Ambassador to the United States to urge respect for
human rights and human treatment for Zheng Enchong:
Ambassador
Zhou Wenzhong
