Subject: Researcher into laid-off workers in China investigated for
subversion
Monday, June 12 7:23 PM SGT
Researcher into laid-off workers in China investigated for subversion
BEIJING, June 12 (AFP) -
A man who conducted research into the massive number of workers being laid
off in China's state-owned enterprises has been arrested and is being
investigated for subversion, a human rights group said Monday.
Feng Daxun, a 59-year-old former journalist from China's southwestern
Sichuan province, was arrested on December 16, a day after police found him
talking to participants of a 2,000-strong protest in the province's Nei
Jiang city, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and
Democracy said.
Feng was at the scene asking the workers from the Sichuan Nei Jiang Machine
Tool Factory about the cause of the protest and their views on the
government's three-year plan to close, merge or restructure inefficient and
money-losing state-owned companies.
The workers, who had not been paid for a year, blocked a highway.
Feng was accused of inciting the workers to stage further protests.
The rights group in statement faxed to Beijing said Feng had been charged
with subversion and was facing a prison sentence of 10 years or more.
But an official with Nei Jiang city's procuratorate told AFP that Feng's
case was still being investigated and that the case might be sent back to
the police for further investigation because there was insufficient
evidence to charge him.
"It depends on how our investigation goes," said the official who
identified himself only as Mr. Zheng.
Feng is being kept in a detention center.
Mr. Zheng said Feng had also written open letters to Chinese President
Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji as well as essays criticizing the
government. But there was no evidence Feng widely distributed his writings,
he said.
The Information Center said Feng had served five years in prison for
pro-democracy activities. He worked as a reporter for 10 years and
continued to freelance after retiring in the 1980's.
Since October 1998, three dissidents have been imprisoned for between seven
to 10 years for revealing information about workers' protest, including one
who was interviewed by Radio Free Asia, the rights group said.
Labour protests are one of the most common types of demonstrations in
China. Last year, the number of protests rose nearly 70 percent from 60,000
in 1998 to 100,000, according to government statistics obtained by the
Information Center.
The rise in the number of demonstrations is causing concern for the
country's leadership, which has in recent months frequently espoused the
importance of maintaining social stability and paying workers and retirees'
wages and pensions on time and in full.
