By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Ji Sizun, a 58 years-old grassroots legal activist from Fujian province, has been sentenced to three years in prison.  He was charged for making fake official government seals and forging official documents in 2006.  Last year, Ji traveled to Beijing from the southern province of Fujian. He wanted to call for greater participation of Chinese citizens in the political process and denounce rampant official corruption.  He applied for a permit to hold a protest against corruption in one of Beijing’s three official “protest zones” designated for public use during the Beijing Olympic Games.  When he returned to check on his application three days later, he disappeared, human rights groups said.  Eyewitnesses said Ji was escorted out of the building and put into a car by several men who appeared to be plainclothes police officers.

Ji’s lawyer Huang Qiang says, “For charges of making fake official government seals and forging official documents, three years is the heaviest punishment.”  However, Huang refused to say if the sentence was linked to Ji’s attempt to demonstrate during the Beijing Olympic Games. Huang said he did not know about Ji’s activities during the games.

Ji’s action was a respond to an announcement made by Liu Shaowu, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) security director on July 23, 2008.   The announcement stated “people or protesters who want to express their personal opinions can go to do so” in line with “common practice in other countries.”  Over the following week, 77 applications were filed.  Citizens who applied were either detained by authorities or blocked by complicated application procedures.  In one instance, two women in their 70s were ordered to spend a year in a labor camp after applying, but authorities later reversed their decision.

Human Rights Watch called for immediately exonerate and release of Ji. Human Rights Watch said that Ji’s conviction is part of a broader campaign against dissent and perceived threats to the Chinese Communist Party’s one-party rule linked to official concerns about possible unrest in 2009.   Sophine Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, says, “Ji Sizun’s conviction is just the latest betrayal of the Chinese government’s promises that the Beijing Olympics would foster greater development of human rights in China.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Would-be Olympics protester sentenced to prison – 16 January 2009

Guardian – China Olympics protester jailed on forgery charges -16 January 2009

Human Rights Watch – China: Would-Be Olympics Protester Ji Sizun Jailed – 16 January 2009