China Aid Association
Applicants:
1          Name: Li Ming, male, of Han ethnic group, born September 23, 1954. ID No.: 512930195409234593. Home address: the Third Team of Wangbao Village, Baoma Township, Langzhong City, Sichun Province. Phone: 0817-5183176
2          Name: Jin Jirong, male, of Han ethnic group, born June 26, 1940. ID No.: 360602400626101. Home address: No.29, Wangyemiao Street, Langzhong City, Sichun Province. Phone: 0817-5182515
3          Name: Wang Yuan, male, of Han ethnic group, born May 16, 1968. ID No.: 512930196805164595. Home address: the Tenth Team of Bade Village, Baoma Township, Langzhong City, Sichun Province. Phone: 13990714417
4          Name: Li Mingbo, male, of Han ethnic group, born October 15, 1969. ID No.: 512930196910153492. Home address: the Second Team of Taipingqiao Village, Hexi Township, Langzhong City, Sichuan Province. Phone: 13228260253
Detention Place: The Detention House of Langzhong City, Sichuan Province
Attorneys:
1          Name: Li Baiguang. ID No.: 110108196810011959. Home Address: Room 12B07, No. 4 Building, Changyuantiandi Community, No. 18 of Suzhou Street, Haidian District, Beijing. Phone: 13910802896
2          Name: Gou Qingju. ID No.: 512930197201073523. Home Address: No 86 of Taipingqiao Village, Hexi Township, Langzhong City. Phone: 13228260253
The respondent of the application (to whom this application is submitted)
Name: the Detention House of PSB of Langzhong City
The requests are as follows:
1.        The four applicants request the recovery of the right to read the Bible in the Detention House of Langzhong City, where the applicants are detained.
2.        The four applicants request that the respondent of the application shall perform the legal duty by providing an appropriate place for worship on Sunday.
The facts support for this application:
Sunday, June 27, 2006, the Christians including Li Ming, Jin Jirong, Wang Yuan and Li Mingbo, participated in the normal Christian worship service at the home of a Christian couple, Huang Shifu and Wang Shixiu (home address: the First Team, the Fourth Village, Baoma Township, Langzhong City). The Christians Zhu Guizhen and Shi Shihe also participated in this Sunday Christian worship.
On the way home, following the worship, several plain-clothed Langzhong City PSB policemen arrested without warrant Zhu Guizhen and Shi Shihe and forced them into a police van. The PSB launched an illegal interrogation of their religious beliefs, beliefs that are protected by Article 36 of the Constitution of PRC, and unlawfully intervened into their legitimate religious activities.
After the illegal arrest of Wang Suhua, Zhu Guizhen and Shi Shihe by the PSB of Langzhou City, Christians Li Ming, Jin Jirong, Wang Yuan and Li Mingbo went to the Public Security Room of Baoma Town for details of the arrest. However, Li Ming, Jin Jirong and Wang Yuan received a brutal beating from the policemen.
June 27, 2006, the PSB of Langzhong City unlawfully detained Li Ming, Li Mingbo, Jin Jirong and Wang Yuan, subject to no legal proceedings; they were imprisoned in the Detention House of Langzhong City PSB.
On July 25, 2006, the Administration Committee of Re-education through Labor of People’s Government of Nanchong City gave an administrative punishment decision that the four applicants shall receive two years re-education through labor.
Since June 27, 2006, the Detention Center of the PSB of Langzhong City has illegally deprived the applicants of their right to read the Bible. The officials in the detention center even forbid the applicants to use such terms as “God” and “Jesus” in their letters to their families.
The legal support for this application:
Article 36 of the Constitution of the PRC stipulates, “Citizens of the PRC are entitled to religious freedom. Any state organs, social organizations, or individuals shall not compel any citizen to believe or not believe in a religion, nor shall they discriminate against citizens who believe or do not believe in, any religion€¦the state protects normal religious activity.”
The household registers of the applicants testifies that they are the citizens of the People’s Republic of China; therefore, they enjoy the religious freedom proclaimed in the Article 36 of the Constitution of the PRC. The applicants have the right to choose their religion freely; none of these four applicants shall be restricted or deprived of the religious freedom by any governmental entity, social organization, or individual.
The applicants, as the citizens of PRC living within the territory of PRC, shall enjoy the inalienable right of religious freedom under any circumstance. The detention center of the PSB of Langzhong City shall perform its legal duty prescribed in the Constitution, by protecting the right of religious freedom enjoyed by the applicants during the detention period and providing the maximum facilitation for the exercise of their rights.
Subject to Article 54 of the Penal Law of PRC, deprivation political rights of persons serving prison sentences or re-education through labor are limited to the following:
1.        The right to vote and the right to be elected;
2.        The right of speech, press, assembly, association, procession, demonstration;
3.        The right to hold office in governmental body;
4.        The right to assume the leadership of national enterprise, national company, institutional unit, and people’s organization.
So, the applicants shall be deprived of the political right proclaimed in Article 54 of Penal Law of PRC during the detention period in the detention center.
However, the applicants are not deprived of the right of religious freedom, neither are they prevented from enjoying this right during detention.
Article 5 of the Constitution of the PRC stipulates, “The People’s Republic of China implements rule by law to construct a socialist country under the rule of law.”
The embodiment of the “principle of rule by law” regarding the right of citizens should be: the citizen can exercise his/her right and freedom where no prohibitive regulation is given; the entity holding the public power shall provide maximum facilitation for the exercise of his/her right and freedom, instead of interfering or prohibiting the citizen’s exercise of his/her right and liberty.
The Detention Center of the PSB of Langzhong City, shall have the duty to allow the attorneys of the applicants to send the Bibles to the applicants and allow them to read the Bible, shall provide an appropriate place for the applicants to worship, so as to fulfill the requirement of the Constitution. The failure of the Detention Center of the PSB of the Langzhong City to fulfill its legal duty shall constitute the administrative inactivity.
In conclusion, based on Article 5 of the Constitution of the PRC which proclaims the principle of rule by law, and Article 54 of the Penal Law of PRC, which neither prohibits nor deprives the applicants of the right of religious freedom, the requests that the applicants made comply with the Constitution and Law of PRC, and shall be protected by the Constitution and Law of PRC. The Detention Center of the PSB of Langzhong City, shall fulfill it’s legal duty that “the state protects the normal religious activity” prescribed in Article 36 of the Constitution of PRC without reservation, and provide an appropriate and necessary place for the exercise of applicants’ right and liberty..


China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected] 
Website: www.chinaaid.org

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