Der internationale PEN ist (ebenso wie der amerikanische PEN und der unabhängige chinesische PEN) zutiefst besorgt wegen einer neuen Welle von Verhaftungen von Schriftstellerin, Journalisten, Herausgebern und Bürgerrechtlern in den vergangenen Wochen in China. Offensichtlich wurden die betroffenen Personen verhaftet, weil sie pro-demokratische Demonstrationen in Hongkong öffentlich unterstützt hatten. Berichten zufolge wurden allein vier Intellektuelle am 26. November 2014 verhaftet.
He Zhengjun und Xu Xiao. Beide wurden am 26. November gemeinsam mit Xue Ye und Liu Jianshu inhaftiert. Quelle: PEN International
Dabei handelt es sich um:
Xu Xiao, eine prominente Schriftstellerin, Redakteurin und Herausgeberin aus Peking.
Xue Ye und Liu Jianshu, unabhängige Herausgeber und Buchhandlungsinhaber.
He Zhengjun, Administrativdirektor des “Transition Institute”.
Abgesehen von den vier eben genannten wird die Schriftstellerin, Dokumentarfilmemacherin und Drehbuchautorin, NGO Aktivistin und Ehrenmitglied des unabhängigen chinesischen PEN, Kuo Yanding, seit dem 10. Oktober 2014 wegen des angeblichen Anzettelns von Unruhen zur öffentlichen Unterstützung der Proteste in Hongkong festgehalten.
Der internationale PEN fordert die bedingungslose Freilassung von allen fünf Inhaftierten, falls sie lediglich wegen der friedlichen Äußerung ihrer Meinungen festgehalten werden, wovon auszugehen ist.
Hintergrund (bereitgestellt vom internationalen PEN in englischer Sprache)
Xu Xiao, a prominent Beijing-based writer, editor, and publisher. She is being held in Beijing’s No.1 Detention Center on suspicion of “endangering national security.” In October, Xu Xiao, chief editor of “New Century” publications, was reported to have been included in a list of writers whose works were banned by China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). She is also a volunteer lecturer with Liren College, a non-governmental educational institution which runs private schools and libraries and was developed from Liren China Rural Library, shut down by the authorities in 2012. The executive director of Liren College, Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) honorary member Chen Kun, was also reportedly arrested on 6 October on charges of creating disturbances for publically supporting the protests in Hong Kong. Liren College was established under the umbrella of the China Rural Library (CRL), which over the last few years has had several library branches shut down by Chinese authorities.
Xue Ye and Liu Jianshu, independent publishers and bookstore owners also affiliated with Liren College, currently held on suspicion of “illegal business practices”, possibly relating to alleged illegal publications or the selling of illegally published books. Xue Ye is executive director in charge of libraries for Liren College and the former president of CRL; Liu Jianshu, who returned to the country after studying at Harvard and Oxford in 2011, since then had been the former deputy general-director of CRL and managing Liren libraries.
He Zhengjun, administrative director of the Transition Institute, a renowned civil society independent think tank which has now been shut down by the Beijing authorities. Writers Guo Yushan and Huang Kaiping, the Transition Institute’s founder and ex-director, respectively, were arrested in October on charges of creating disturbances for publically supporting the protests in Hong Kong. The charge of creating disorder is commonly used to silence dissent. The Transition Institute, founded in 2007, has carried out investigations in the fields of fiscal reform, local elections, legal reforms, business regulations, citizen participation and education rights. Both of Guo and Huang are ICPC honorary members.