ICC Note:
Dr. Fan after being released from a prison cell now finds his home a simular prison as he is held in tight quarters, and visiters are chased away with police brutality.
12/23/2010 China (ChinaAid) Chinese authorities are keeping the pressure on one of China’s foremost legal scholars and leading human rights lawyers despite releasing him late last week after nine days in police custody, giving little cause for optimism about the fate of Fan Yafeng, according to ChinaAid sources.
Dr. Fan, a leading advocate of constitutional democracy and the head of Christian Human Rights Lawyers of China, the Shengshan (Holy Mountain) Culture Research Institute and the Shengshan (Holy Mountain) Church, remains under house arrest since his return home on Dec. 18.
Many police officers are posted round-the-clock at the door of his home, barring anyone—including relatives—from visiting. His wife and three-year-old son do not have freedom of movement. Their Internet connection has been cut and their phone lines are tapped. Visiting friends have been beaten up or picked up by police.
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During Dr. Fan’s detention, police searched his home and research institute, confiscated more than 100 items and held his wife for an all-night interrogation session. These actions, the focus of the interrogation on the research institute’s finances and publishing activities, and the recent treatment of Dr. Fan’s friends and relatives all appear to be signs that the authorities are preparing a criminal case against Dr. Fan.
According to an online report by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, at about 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, the day that Dr. Fan was allowed to return home, six human rights lawyers and two rights defenders were on their way to visit Dr. Fan at his research institute in the Manting Fangyuan apartment complex in Shuangyushu, Haidian District, when they were stopped by eight para-police officers who used brutal violence to prevent them from visiting Dr. Fan.
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Furthermore, several officers from the local Shuangyushu police station, including Wen Sanxi (Badge 035974) and Wu Yibin (Badge 037510), also took Li, Wang, Dong, Meng as well as Dr. Fan’s neighbor in Apartment 703 into custody.
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