Reference Material: The New Clothes of the Chinese Legal System

(Clearwisdom.net) [Note: the reference material posted on this website is not written by Falun Gong practitioners, and does not necessarily represent Falun Gong practitioners' opinions.]

Today if you are unfortunate enough to get into legal trouble in China and appear in its courts, you will see that all the judges on the bench are wearing new uniforms. This is certainly a sign of the progress that the Chinese legal system is making. But underneath the new clothes of the society that is supposedly ruled by the law, you will observe many events that technically violate the Chinese laws but are happening so frequently that people have gotten used to it.

1. Crackdowns

The Chinese government and its Justice Department organize one or several major "crackdowns" every year. The slogan during the crackdown campaigns is "Tougher Sentences and Faster Trials." For a crime that normally gets a three-year sentence, a ten-year sentence might be handed down during the crackdown period. According to Chinese law, a person has ten days to appeal his sentence after it is first handed out. But during the "crackdown," the sentence might be carried out immediately. During the crackdown period, it seems that existing laws are voided, and the Chinese government actually violates its own laws with a careful plan and a tight organization. Therefore a "crackdown" can be considered a large-scale law-breaking activity on the part of the Chinese government. But the poor Chinese citizens either lack knowledge of laws or are scared of the harsh rhetoric of the crackdown. As a result, everyone has simply gotten used to it.

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4. Group Appeal and Appealing to Higher Authorities

The Chinese Constitution clearly states that a citizen has the freedom of speech. The 41^st article of the Chinese Constitution goes one step further and clearly states that a citizen "has the right to appeal against, file a lawsuit against, and report the wrongdoings of government agencies." Governments at various levels also have the Office of Appeals to listen to the opinions of the ordinary citizens. Neither the Chinese Constitution nor the "Regulations for Making Appeals" states that a citizen could only file his complaint at the governmental agency at a certain level. But stopping and suppressing ordinary Chinese citizens from filing an appeal at a higher-level governmental agency is something that occurs so frequently that ordinary people at the "bottom of society" (especially farmers) have developed misconceptions. To them, in order to file an appeal, one must visit the lowest level appeal's office first and then go up level by level if the complaint is not addressed, and one is allowed to make an appeal only if he does it as an individual. People think that it is illegal to file an appeal at a higher-level governmental agency without filing it at a lower level first, and it is illegal for people to make a group appeal. On this point, the Chinese people have been deliberately misguided by the so-called "relevant government agencies." China has had an ongoing campaign to educate the masses with knowledge of laws. The truth of the matter is that what the Chinese people need to know the most is that any activity that is not explicitly forbidden under Chinese laws is considered legal.

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7. Disrupting Radio Airwaves, Restricting Internet Access and Making up Rules that Violate the Chinese Constitution

The Chinese government has been disrupting the airwaves of "enemy radio stations" for several decades. But it is not clear what legal basis the operation is conducted under. During the last several years, the Chinese government has also imposed restrictions on the Internet, which is based on "Temporary Rules Governing the Publishing of Material on the Internet." The Chinese Constitution states that a citizen has the freedom of speech and communication, in other words the freedom to speak one's mind. At the same time, the Chinese Constitution does not impose any restriction on a citizen's right to listen to speech and communications from others. That is to say that a Chinese citizen's right to listen to foreign radio stations and read material from the Internet is protected by the Chinese Constitution. The Chinese Constitution does not state that people can't listen to or read any so-called "anti-revolutionary or pornographic material." From this, we can see that it is highly possible that "Temporary Rules Governing the Publishing of Material on the Internet" violates the Chinese Constitution. As to how to judge whether a law or a rule violates the Constitution or not, this is an area that China has a long way to go before it is in a position to make an objective assessment.

8. Refusal to Extend the Passports of Citizens Living Overseas

A person's passport is just a proof of his nationality. Any Chinese citizen, regardless of where he lives, has the right to obtain a passport. When the passport expires, as long as the person has not given up his Chinese citizenship, he has the right to get his passport extended. But the overseas Chinese embassies routinely refuse to extend the passports of its citizens in an effort to suppress their political inclinations or religious beliefs. The Chinese government ends up using administrative means to permanently strip its people's citizenships and their rights as citizens. According to Chinese laws, only the courts have the right to temporarily take away the rights of a Chinese citizen after it has found the person guilty of a crime, and even then it does not have the right to take away the person's Chinese citizenship. But somehow the overseas embassies enjoy higher authorities than the court and the laws.

Even though all the judges and lawyers in China have put on new uniforms, the law-breaking activities of Chinese governmental agencies can be seen everywhere. But nobody seems to be willing to challenge that. The reason is that in China, judges, prosecutors, and lawyers are all under the administrative leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and at the same time the Chinese Communist Party is also above the government. From this angle, we can see that no matter what kind of new clothes is put on the Chinese legal system, it is merely the Party's tool, and its actual servant-like position has not changed.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/2/21/44918.html

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