STATE SECRETS: CHINA'S LEGAL LABYRINTH - HRIC
STATE SECRETS: CHINA'S LEGAL LABYRINTH - HRIC
STATE SECRETS: CHINA'S LEGAL LABYRINTH - HRIC
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CASE STORY<br />
Liu Fenggang<br />
Xu Yonghai<br />
Zhang Shengqi<br />
36 HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA <strong>STATE</strong> <strong>SECRETS</strong>: CHINA’S <strong>LEGAL</strong> <strong>LABYRINTH</strong><br />
Protestant house church leaders Liu Fenggang (刘凤钢), Xu Yonghai (徐永海)<br />
and Zhang Shengqi (张胜棋) were initially detained on state secrets charges<br />
between October and November 2003. They were charged under Article 111 of<br />
the Criminal Law with “providing state secrets to foreign organizations,” and<br />
tried in secret on March 16, 2004 by the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s<br />
Court in Zhejiang Province.<br />
Liu Fenggang, a Beijing-based Christian, was accused of carrying out<br />
research for a report that exposed Chinese government repression of the clandestine<br />
Catholic Church. Xu Yonghai, a former psychiatric doctor at Beijing<br />
Pingan Hospital, was tried for having printed the report, and Zhang Shengqi,<br />
a computer firm employee, for undertaking to post it on the Internet and to<br />
send it electronically to organizations abroad. However, their lawyer pointed<br />
out that the State Secrets Bureau certificate produced as evidence by the<br />
procuratorate had not been signed, and therefore was invalid.<br />
As a result, the court placed Liu and Xu under “residential surveillance”<br />
starting on May 14, but no verdict was given until August 6, 2004. The court<br />
took no account of the invalid State Secrets Bureau certificate, and sentenced<br />
Liu to three years in prison and Xu to two years, as well as imposing a oneyear<br />
prison sentence on Zhang Shengqi. In addition, the court did not include<br />
the period Xu and Liu had spent under residential surveillance as time<br />
served, with the result that the period from May 14 until August 6 was effectively<br />
added to their sentences.<br />
Zhang Shengqi and Xu Yonghai were released on February 7, 2005 and January<br />
29, 2006, respectively. 129 Despite the release, Xu’s freedom continued to be<br />
restricted by Chinese security agents. Liu Fenggang was released in February<br />
2007.<br />
Unless otherwise indicated, information on the above case is taken from<br />
<strong>HRIC</strong>’s human rights database and website.<br />
Liu Fenggang Xu Yonghai Zhang Shengqi
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