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Pressure builds to reform labor camp system
Source: Xinhua |
January 18, 2013, Friday
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THE mother of a young rape victim in central China?s Hunan Province on Monday filed a petition protesting against her detainment in a labor camp, sparking a new wave of public outcry for reform of the reeducation-through-labor system.
In petition letters handed to the provincial petition department, Tang Hui urged authorities to redress the famous case in which she was sent to a labor camp in the city of Yongzhou after campaigning for harsher punishments for those convicted of raping her 11-year-old daughter and forcing her into prostitution.
Last August, she had been sentenced without an open trial to 18 months in a labor camp for disturbing public order. The national fire storm over her treatment forced authorities to release her after eight days.
Tang also demanded that òtwo local police officers in Yongzhou be punished by law for raping her daughter,ó who was abducted and forced into prostitution in October 2006. The girl was rescued on December 20, 2006. Tang also said in the letters that another local police officer was a regular at brothels in Yongzhou.
The petition came three days after authorities rejected her demand for state compensation for the time she spent in the labor camp. The city?s re-education through labor committee rejected Tang?s demand for state compensation last Friday, saying her term was handed down in line with regulations and the decision to release her was based on humanitarian grounds.
Tang was sent to the labor camp last August for òseriously disturbing social orderó when petitioning publicly for justice in front of government buildings. She was released because officials said her daughter, who turned 17 last year, was a minor in need of her mothers? care.
Several re-education through labor cases, including Tang?s, have fueled discussion over reforming, or even abolishing, China?s labor camp system.
Last month, a court in Chongqing rejected an appeal from Ren Jianyu, a 25-year-old village official, against his 2011 sentence of two years to a labor camp for spreading ònegative information and inciting the subversion of state power.ó Ren was released in November last year, after serving just over half of his sentence.
Ma Huaide, vice president of the China University of Political Science and Law, said the criticism stems from the abuse of the labor camp system and the lack of a legal basis for randomly expanding its scope to punish unwanted petitioners.
The re-education through labor system was approved by the National People?s Congress and established in the 1950s, a time when the Communist Party of China was consolidating the newly founded republic and rectifying social order.
Though the system was modified to include more regulations from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, many experts believe it contradicts the Constitution and has been abused by local officials to safeguard òsocial security.ó Under the controversial system, police are allowed to send people to labor camp for as long as four years, without an open trial.
Jiang Wei, a senior official in charge of judicial reforms, in October said the need for reforms had been recognized and a plan was being developed.
In petition letters handed to the provincial petition department, Tang Hui urged authorities to redress the famous case in which she was sent to a labor camp in the city of Yongzhou after campaigning for harsher punishments for those convicted of raping her 11-year-old daughter and forcing her into prostitution.
Last August, she had been sentenced without an open trial to 18 months in a labor camp for disturbing public order. The national fire storm over her treatment forced authorities to release her after eight days.
Tang also demanded that òtwo local police officers in Yongzhou be punished by law for raping her daughter,ó who was abducted and forced into prostitution in October 2006. The girl was rescued on December 20, 2006. Tang also said in the letters that another local police officer was a regular at brothels in Yongzhou.
The petition came three days after authorities rejected her demand for state compensation for the time she spent in the labor camp. The city?s re-education through labor committee rejected Tang?s demand for state compensation last Friday, saying her term was handed down in line with regulations and the decision to release her was based on humanitarian grounds.
Tang was sent to the labor camp last August for òseriously disturbing social orderó when petitioning publicly for justice in front of government buildings. She was released because officials said her daughter, who turned 17 last year, was a minor in need of her mothers? care.
Several re-education through labor cases, including Tang?s, have fueled discussion over reforming, or even abolishing, China?s labor camp system.
Last month, a court in Chongqing rejected an appeal from Ren Jianyu, a 25-year-old village official, against his 2011 sentence of two years to a labor camp for spreading ònegative information and inciting the subversion of state power.ó Ren was released in November last year, after serving just over half of his sentence.
Ma Huaide, vice president of the China University of Political Science and Law, said the criticism stems from the abuse of the labor camp system and the lack of a legal basis for randomly expanding its scope to punish unwanted petitioners.
The re-education through labor system was approved by the National People?s Congress and established in the 1950s, a time when the Communist Party of China was consolidating the newly founded republic and rectifying social order.
Though the system was modified to include more regulations from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, many experts believe it contradicts the Constitution and has been abused by local officials to safeguard òsocial security.ó Under the controversial system, police are allowed to send people to labor camp for as long as four years, without an open trial.
Jiang Wei, a senior official in charge of judicial reforms, in October said the need for reforms had been recognized and a plan was being developed.
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