May 12, 2003
President Hu Jintao
Peoples Republic of China
Beijing, China
c/o Ministry of Communications Fax: 86 10 65 292 345
c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fax: 86 10 65 882 594
c/o Ministry of Justice E-mail:
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the 2.5 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I strongly condemn the harsh prison sentences handed down by a Liaoyang court on two detained Liaoyang worker activists, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang. Yao Fuxin has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Xiao Yunliang to four years imprisonment on charges of subverting state power for their part in the peaceful demonstrations by workers from the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory in March 2002. The two men have been in detention since then and were tried on 15 January 2003 by the Liaoyang Intermediate Peoples Court. We have been told that during the hearing Xiao Yunliang appeared almost totally blind and was unable to recognize close family members.
Following the sentencing of the two men, many workers have visited the family homes of the Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang to show their continued solidarity and support. Through this letter of protest, Canadian workers are showing their support for these brave workers.
The sentencing announcement, almost four months after the actual trial, appears clearly timed by the authorities to come in the midst of intensive media coverage of SARS in China, in the hope that the harsh sentences on Yao and Xiao would thereby attract less international attention.
But, Mr. President, the international community is aware and is appalled at the infliction of these lengthy and entirely unjustified sentences upon two men who are guilty of nothing but attempting to peacefully protect and promote the legitimate rights of Liaoyang workers.
The Canadian Labour Congress joins with the International Labour Organization (ILO), of which China is a member of the Governing Body, and calls on you to urgently review the sentences of Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang and to release all Liaoyang workers still in detention and to drop any outstanding charges against them.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth V. Georgetti
President
cc. The Honourable William Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Honourable Claudette Bradshaw, Minister of Labour
CLC Executive Committee
CLC Officers and Executive Assistants
Wang Zhaoguo, Chairman, ACFTU (webmaster@acftu.org.cn)
Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in Ottawa
President Hu Jintao
Peoples Republic of China
Beijing, China
c/o Ministry of Communications Fax: 86 10 65 292 345
c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fax: 86 10 65 882 594
c/o Ministry of Justice E-mail:
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the 2.5 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I strongly condemn the harsh prison sentences handed down by a Liaoyang court on two detained Liaoyang worker activists, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang. Yao Fuxin has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Xiao Yunliang to four years imprisonment on charges of subverting state power for their part in the peaceful demonstrations by workers from the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory in March 2002. The two men have been in detention since then and were tried on 15 January 2003 by the Liaoyang Intermediate Peoples Court. We have been told that during the hearing Xiao Yunliang appeared almost totally blind and was unable to recognize close family members.
Following the sentencing of the two men, many workers have visited the family homes of the Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang to show their continued solidarity and support. Through this letter of protest, Canadian workers are showing their support for these brave workers.
The sentencing announcement, almost four months after the actual trial, appears clearly timed by the authorities to come in the midst of intensive media coverage of SARS in China, in the hope that the harsh sentences on Yao and Xiao would thereby attract less international attention.
But, Mr. President, the international community is aware and is appalled at the infliction of these lengthy and entirely unjustified sentences upon two men who are guilty of nothing but attempting to peacefully protect and promote the legitimate rights of Liaoyang workers.
The Canadian Labour Congress joins with the International Labour Organization (ILO), of which China is a member of the Governing Body, and calls on you to urgently review the sentences of Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang and to release all Liaoyang workers still in detention and to drop any outstanding charges against them.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth V. Georgetti
President
cc. The Honourable William Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Honourable Claudette Bradshaw, Minister of Labour
CLC Executive Committee
CLC Officers and Executive Assistants
Wang Zhaoguo, Chairman, ACFTU (webmaster@acftu.org.cn)
Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in Ottawa