Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Zhou Yongkang Blocked Dissident's Release

Political dissident Wang Bingzhang was due to be released last year, until Zhou Yongkang vetoed the decision, according to a recorded conversation obtained by the citizen news site Boxun.

Wang founded two political parties in the eighties and nineties, his pro-democracy stance quickly attracting the attention of the authorities.  He was thrown in jail in 2003 after being found guilty on charges of terrorism, but after the death of his mother in 2011, plans were being made for his release - plans that were promptly blocked by the head of the Central Politics and Law Commission at the time, Zhou Yongkang.

An anonymous source in possession of a series of recordings made between December 2011 and October 2012, details four conversations, one of which discusses Wang's deteriorating mental and physical condition, and plans to have him released for medical treatment.  The plan was for a member of Wang's family to take care of him, ensuring that he didn't resuming his political activities.
The judicial official explained that following the Wang Lijun incident last February — in which the former Chongqing police chief fled to the US consulate in Chengdu and sparked China's biggest political scandal in decades — and the high profile escape from illegal house arrest of blind activist lawyer Chen Guangchen, party leaders felt there was too much political pressure to release Wang at this time.

Towards the end of the transcript, Wang's relative asked the official whether the decision to veto the release was made by the Central Politics and Law Commission, China's highest body in charge of political and legal affairs, though the official refused to confirm and simply asked for understanding.

The source who gave the tapes to the website says that he has even more incriminating recordings that will be released at a more opportune time.  Boxun has been ramping up negative coverage of Zhou ever since the Wang Lijun debacle in 2011
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