4 of the Guangdong labor activists formally charged, 2 released - day 37

Update January 9: Peng Jiayong and Deng Xiaoming have been released from detention and escorted back to their home towns. Four of the original detainees have been formally charged as criminal suspects. Tang Jian - of the original seven who disappeared in early December - is still out of contact, but is believed to have avoided criminal charges by cooperating with the police.

Translated by Solidarity with Chinese Workers from ［“12.3广佛劳工被捕事件”最新消息］何晓波、曾飞洋、朱小梅、孟晗已确认被批捕，邓小明已获释. For more on the December 3 crackdown and solidarity efforts, see “Solidarity with Chinese Workers“, and the Facebook page “Free Chinese labour activists now 馬上釋放中國勞權人士”.

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Today (Jan 8 2016) is the 37th day of the criminal detention of Guangzhou-Foshan labor activists Zeng Feiyang, Zhu Xiaomei, He Xiaobo, Deng Xiaoming, Meng Han and Peng Jiayong. According to law, this is the maximum permissible length of criminal detention. Tang Jian, who was not criminally detained, has also been out of contact for 37 days.

This morning, He Xiaobo’s wife was personally delivered his notice of arrest personally by the police. The notice shows He Xiaobo’s arrest under charges of embezzlement was already confirmed as of yesterday afternoon. He is still being held at the Foshan Nanhai District Detention Center.

Photo: He Xiaobo’s notice of arrest

At the same time, He Xiaobo’s wife learned from the Foshan Procuratorate that Xiaobo’s case had already been returned to the Public Security Bureau for further investigation.

Lawyers also acquired the latest updates on arrested activists Zeng Feiyang, Zhu Xiaomei, Deng Xiaoming and Meng Han from the Guangzhou City Panyu District Procuratorate today. But on this last day of the activists’ criminal detention, the news their relatives received was almost uniformly bad.

At around 4pm, Meng Han’s case lawyer Yan Xin sent out a message: I received a call from the Panyu Procuratorate stating Panyu Dagongzu Service Center former-staff Meng Han’s arrest had been approved, with charges of inciting crowds to disrupt public order.

At the same time, lawyers confirmed that Panyu Dagongzu Service Center director Zeng Feiyang’s arrest was also approved.

Subsequently, Lawyer Pang Kun reported Dagongzu Service Center staff Zhu Xiaomei’s arrest had been approved.

It has been confirmed that Haige Worker Service Center volunteer Deng Xiaoming’s has been released. At 7pm tonight, lawyers relayed that the Guangzhou No. 1 Detention Center stated Deng Xiaoming had already left the detention center, but as of 7pm, lawyers were still unable to reach Deng. Neither have Xiaoming’s parents seen him. Lawyers hypothesize Xiaoming may have been taken in by the Domestic Security Bureau (国保) for questioning.

At present, there is no news regarding Laborer Mutual Aid Group director Peng Jiayong. We are as yet unable to determine whether he has been released or been arrested. There is no news either on the disappeared Tang Jian.

Currently, of the 7 apprehended labor activists, Zeng Feiyang, He Xiaobo, Zhu Xiaomei and Menghan are already confirmed as under arrest; Deng Xiaoming has been released, but neither friends and family nor lawyers have seen him. There is no news on Peng Jiayong and Tang Jian.

This morning, He Xiaobo’s wife revealed in his [Wechat] Friend Circle that someone claiming the name of Xu from the accusing party’s staff (the staff list did not have her name) stated: “Before Xiaobo’s arrest was approved, he had already had his say towards the arrest approvals department procurator. In addition, Xiaobo signed a promissory note not to hire lawyers, stating they didn’t know lawyers existed and wouldn’t listen to their opinions.”

The sole word of the procuratorate does not convince one that “not needing to hire lawyers” was Xiaobo’s real desire. In response, Xiaobo’s wife raised some questions. “Who made Xiaobo sign the contract? What evil intentions does that person have?”

In reality, Xiaobo’s family immediately hired a lawyer after his arrest, and his family has never received any notice of Xiaobo singing a note not to hire lawyers. Over the past 37 days, lawyers have repeatedly been blocked by the police and the detention center and have not been allowed to see Xiaobo. The case lawyers have also been talked to by the Domestic Security Bureau (国保, China’s secret police). They are not allowed to continue work on the Xiaobo case.

None of the 7 apprehended labor activists have been able to see their lawyers. Lawyers repeatedly went to both the Guangzhou and Foshan detention centers to request visits with the detained, but each time were rejected by the police and detention center for illegal reasons.

It is clear that the real role of the Procuratorate is to do evil in cooperation with the Public Security Bureau, brazenly ignoring the law, ignoring the existence of the lawyers, and denying the detained their rights to see a lawyer.

In the 37 days of their detention, those on the outside have been unable to know the state of Xiaobo or the other labor activists apprehended by the police.