According to Beijing sources, Xu Zhangrun, a former professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Law, has joined a group of mainland Chinese scholars and artists in signing a petition calling on the authorities to release Beijing-based publisher Geng Xiaonan and her husband, Qin Zhen.
According to RTHK, the sponsors of the petition include Peking University Law School professors He Weifang and Zhang Qianfan, and Tsinghua University sociology professor Guo Yuhua. They pointed out that Geng Xiaonan was not only a law-abiding citizen, but also a modern-day heroine who was not afraid of power and authority, and was deeply shocked by her arrest. They said that Geng was outspoken and outspoken, but her publications were all children’s books, cookbooks, etc., without any sensitive content, and that the conditions of her crime were harmful to the social consequences, but without any evidence to prove it, the authorities detained and charged her with serious abuse of power.
The letter stressed that “Geng Xiaonan recently spoke out on behalf of Xu Zhirong, Xu Zhiyong, Chen Qiushi and others who were convicted for their speech, and that the authorities’ real motive was to punish Geng Xiaonan for her remarks, and strongly urged the authorities to consider the dignity of the Constitution and the law and immediately restore their personal freedom. Previously, it was reported that Geng Xiaonan, who had been in criminal detention for more than a month, was recently arrested by the Beijing City Procuratorate with the approval of the Public Security Bureau. The letter included, “The ‘illegal business crime’ is a replica of the ‘speculation’ of the planned economy, a ‘pocket crime’ whose meaning can be arbitrarily interpreted by the powerful. ‘, whose main function is to cover up the political persecution of people of conscience in the economic and business world by the authorities, is an outright bad law,” etc. The majority of people in this country have been living in the misconception that if you want to criticize the government, you have to be ‘clean’ first, otherwise you can’t blame the government for picking on you,” the open letter reads.
This is rogue logic and we reject it,” the open letter said. Citizens are not saints, they make mistakes, but this does not mean that they lose their fundamental rights under Article 35 of the Constitution and have to endure persecution by the public power with ulterior motives”. Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China states: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration. We believe that it was not Geng Xiaonan who violated the law in this case, but rather the authorities who arrested her,” the statement stressed. We strongly urge the authorities to consider the dignity of the Constitution and the law and immediately restore the personal freedom of Mr. and Mrs. Geng Xiaonan.
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