Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau
Opinion Recommending Indictment
Beijing Public [Security Bureau] Indictment [Opinion] (2013) no. 99
The criminal suspect Xu Zhiyong is a male, ethnic Han, born March 2, 1973, a Beijing resident, Ph.D in law, citizen with no Party affiliation, and lecturer in humanities at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; ID card number: 620102197303025316, place of household registration: Apt 1104, No. 4 Qinghe Qingyuan Dong Li, Haidian District, Beijing, current residential address: Apt 1104, No. 4 Qinghe Qingyuan Dong Li, Haidian District, Beijing. Xu was criminally detained on July 16, 2013, on suspicion of the crime of gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place. He was lawfully arrested on charges of gathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place on August 22, 2013, and is currently detained in the Beijing Municipal Detention Center No. 3.
The case of criminal suspect Xu Zhiyong’s gathering crowds to disrupt order in public places is connected to the case being handled by this bureau of Hou Xin, Yuan Dong, Ma Xinli, Zhang Baocheng et al illegally assembling on March 31, 2013. Through interrogation and investigation of a number of currently detained criminal suspects it was discovered that Xu Zhiyong was the behind-the-scenes instigator of a whole series of incidents of gathering crowds to disrupt order. Therefore, on July 16, 2013, this bureau summoned the criminal suspect Xu Zhiyong to a public security organ for interrogation and investigation. That investigation has now concluded.
Through investigation in accordance with law, the following has been ascertained:
I. From the end of 2009 until the beginning of 2010, after Xu Zhiyong, at Wang Gongquan’s instigation, had set up a program for education equality,* Xu Zhiyong, Wang Gongquan et al established an executive committee which held a number of meetings to discuss how to promote this program. Later, Xu Zhiyong, using his personal influence, took part in a number of mass gatherings of parents [who lived and worked in Beijing but were] without Beijing household registration. Through gathering to deliberate, online liaisons, printing and distribution of promotional materials, micro-blog posts, essays, and other means, Xu repeatedly incited parents without Beijing household registration to gather en masse before the Ministry of Education in order to exert pressure on government departments. In addition, Xu Zhiyong tasked Lin Zheng with the administration of specifically-created bank accounts for donations for the education equality program and paid Lin Zheng a salary. [He also] asked Meng Fanling, the representative of parents without Beijing household registration, to handle contact with the students’ parents, reimbursed her for travelling expenditures and expenses for collecting signatures, and paid her a salary. Due to Xu Zhiyong et al’s organisation, planning, and incitement, several incidents occurred where parents without Beijing household registration gathered before the Ministry of Education to create a social disturbance, including the incidents of July 5 and February 28. Among these were the following:
1. In July 2012, Xu Zhiyong met and conspired with the students’ parents and made multiple microblog posts inciting the group of parents without Beijing household registration to go to the Ministry of Education to petition. On July 5, 2012, under the organisation, planning, and instigation of Xu Zhiyong, more than 100 such parents of students gathered at the Ministry of Education to create a serious disturbance, during which they misrepresented China’s educational policies, verbally abused Ministry officials, and disobeyed control [efforts] by public security and people’s police officers, thereby seriously disrupting order in a public place.
2. On January 25, 2013, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Gongquan, Ding Jiaxi et al gathered at U.B.C. Coffee, and agreed to encourage parents without Beijing household registration to assemble at the Beijing Municipal Education Commission to make a show of force and apply pressure. Then, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Gongquan et al incited others into action by making microblog posts, sending group text messages, and producing and disseminating leaflets and business cards. Under the incitement of Xu Zhiyong, Wang Gongquan, and Ding Jiaxi, on February 2, 2013, more than 100 students’ parents went to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission to assemble and cause a disturbance. The parents disobeyed control [efforts] by public security and people’s police officers, thereby seriously disrupting order in a public place.
II. On September 11, 2012, Xu Zhiyong colluded with Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing et al to gather and discuss launching “asset disclosure’’** activities. Afterward, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Li Wei, Wang Yonghong, Sun Hanhui et al gathered several more times to conspire and continue discussing specific details of launching asset disclosure activities. During this time, the aforementioned persons made a joint resolution to take to the streets to disseminate leaflets and unfurl banners in order to continuously expand the influence of these activities. Also after some discussion, funds were later consolidated to create leaflets and banners. These were distributed to relevant persons involved in the incidents in order to gradually upgrade these activities from “gathering signatures on the internet” to “displaying banners on the streets” and other illegal activities. Due to the organization, planning, incitement, and leadership of Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Li Wei et al, beginning in January of 2013, several incidents, including incidents on January 27, February 23, February 24, March 9, and March 31, occurred in which several persons displayed banners, disseminated leaflets, and stirred up rumors in public venues such as Chaoyang Park, Tsinghua University, Zhongguancun Plaza, and Xidan Plaza, seriously disrupting order in a public place.
1. In mid to late January 2013, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Li Wei, Sun Hanhui, Wang Yonghong et al met in U.B.C. Coffee and decided to go to the South Gate of Chaoyang Park to display banners on January 27, 2013. Wang Yonghong was to be in charge of more detailed organization of this activity, whereas Sun Hanhui was to invite journalist to surround and observe the proceedings. Later, Li Gang, Yuan Dong, Wang Yonghong et al met in the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Xidan Department Store to discuss the details of the planned banner display in Chaoyang Park on January 27, and went to inspect the location. On January 27, 2013, while walking in the park, Li Gang, Yuan Dong et al, unfurled the banners which had been made in advance and provided by Xu Zhiyong, drawing a large crowd of onlookers. When the bureau’s people’s police officers arrived to stop them, Yuan Dong impeded their law enforcement by running off. After doing so, he later returned to the South Gate of Chaoyang Park to again display the banner. He struggled with the officers for the banners and resisted their enforcement of law, seriously disrupting order in a public place. After the aforementioned persons were educated and advised to leave by the people’s police officers, Li Gang once more drove Yang Dong to the West Gate of Tsinghua University to continue unfurling banners and again drew a large crowd of onlookers, seriously disrupting order in a public place. After the incident, relevant persons involved in the case uploaded pictures of the process to the internet, seriously disrupting order in a public place and order of the public space on the internet.
2. On February 23, 2013, Ding Jiaxi, Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng et al went to Zhongguancun eWorld Plaza, Hailong Building, and other places to display banners which had been made and provided in advance by Xu Zhiyong et al. During this time, Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng et al went topless and had written across their upper bodies “Disclose [your] assets or step down and get lost”, “Disclose citizenship”,*** and other slogans. This drew a large crowd of onlookers and seriously disrupted order in a public place.
3. On February 23, 2013, after the activity concluded, Ding Jiaxi et al decided to continue the illegal activity of displaying banners the next day. At a same-city dinner gathering**** that night, Ding Jiaxi continued to instigate displaying banners at Zhongguancun the next day. On February 24, Ding Jiaxi, Zhang Baocheng, Yuan Dong, Li Gang et al once again went to Xin Zhongguan [The Gate], the east gate of Peking University, the west gate of Tsinghua University, and other locations where they displayed banners and distributed several hundred leaflets to onlookers. These drew large crowds of onlookers. Furthermore, Ding Jiaxi later uploaded pictures of the process described above onto the internet, seriously disrupting order in a public place and order of the public space on the internet.
4. On March 9, 2013, Ma Xinli, Li Huanjun, Zhang Baocheng, Yuan Dong et al headed to Zhongguancun Plaza in front of the Carrefour entrance, and displayed the banners which had been made in advance and provided by Xu Zhiyong et al. Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng et al used coarse language in the process of unfurling the banners, saying that “the nation is not the Communist Party’s private garden” and “we demand the leaders disclose their assets and their children’s citizenship”, as well as insults about National People’s Congress Representatives. They also unfurled a banner with a picture of a “Wang Ba” tortoise***** and wandered around the area with it, and Ma Xinli went topless, causing a large crowd of onlookers to gather. Afterwards, Hou Xin, Zhang Baocheng et al uploaded pictures of the incident to the internet, seriously disrupting order in a public place and order of the public space on the internet.
5. On March 31, 2013, Hou Xin, Zhang Baocheng, Yuan Dong et al, having conferred in advance, assembled people including Ma Xinli, Zhou Xiaoshan, Cao Shangbin, and Zhang Ran to go to Xidan Culture Square. There, they displayed banners which had been made in advance and provided by Xu Zhiyong et al, made speeches over a megaphone, distributed leaflets, and took photographs and videos, causing more than a hundred onlookers to gather. They then refused to obey police and security personnel’s discouragements, seriously disrupting order in a public place.
The evidence affirming the facts stated above is as follows:
The suspect’s statements, accomplices’ statements, witness testimony, record of remote inspection and review, appraisal of electronic evidence, physical evidence, documentary evidence, audio-visual materials.
To summarize the above, the criminal suspect Xu Zhiyong used topics such as asset disclosure and education equality to organize, plan, and carry out a series of unlawful and criminal activities such as displaying banners and distributing leaflets in public places, and organizing to cause disturbances in front of state organs, and, during this time, defied and obstructed national public security management personnel in the lawful performance of their duties, seriously disrupting the order in a public place. His actions have violated Article 291 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, involving the crime of organizing a crowd to disrupt the order in a public place. In accordance with the provisions of Article 160 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, this case is hereby transferred for review for indictment.
Sincerely submitted to
Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate, No. 1 Branch
Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau
December 4, 2012
Translators’ Notes:
* One of several campaigns of the New Citizens Movement. In the Beijing Municipality, as in other regions of China, children who do not hold a Beijing household registration are not permitted to attend regular schools or take the university entrance exam locally, which can be an issue for children of migrant workers who join their parents as they travel to work in Beijing. For more information, see “School for Migrant Worker’ Children Closed,” Xinhua News Agency, August 17, 2011, http://www.china.org.cn/china/2011-08/17/content_23226973.htm; Su, Jiapeng, Xia, Yihua, and Xie, Jiaxi [苏嘉鹏、夏以华及谢佳熹], “Quarrelling Fiercely, But Not About the Same Things” [吵得很激烈，但谈的不是一回事儿], Southern Weekend [南方周末], October 25, 2012, http://www.infzm.com/content/82250.
** One of several campaigns of the New Citizens Movement, calling on officials to disclose their assets is ostensibly in line with the national anti-corruption campaign. For more, see, Hayashi, Nozomu, “Activist Arrested as China Stifles Calls for Asset Transparency,” The Asahi Shimbun, May 10, 2013, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201305100089; An, Baijie, “Anti-graft Body Pushes Officials to Disclose Assets,” China Daily, December 3, 2013, http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-12/03/content_17146640.htm.
*** For more information on calls to disclose the citizenships of officials’ family, see “China Increases Oversight of Officials Whose Spouse, Children Emigrate Overseas,” Xinhua News Agency, July 26, 2010, http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7079589.html.
**** For more information on same-city dinner gatherings, see Xiao Guozhen, “What Is a ‘Same-city Dinner Gathering?’”, China Change, September 22, 2013 http://chinachange.org/2013/09/22/what-is-a-same-city-dinner-gathering/
***** “Wang Ba” (王八) is one of many words for the tortoise, but it also is an expletive referring to a cuckolded man.
(Translated by a group of friends. NOT a ChinaChange.org translation.)
Related reading:
The Last Ten Years, by Xu Zhiyong, in which he reviews, among other things, how the equal education rights movement started, its triumphs and regrets.
Watch a video of the March 31 event in Xidan on youtube (in Chinese).
“A blow for freedom: The campaign in memory of Sun Zhigang, 10 years on”
Chinese/English bilingual version
Thank you for posting this translation. I would like to add one related reading to the two above, because the topic is also ‘The Last Ten Years.’
Around early May 2013, on the 10 year anniversary of Sun Zhigang’s death and the final campaign, initiated in many parts by Xu Zhiyong and Teng Biao, to abolish the Custody and Repatriation System, Xu Zhiyong reflects on the ten years since the 2003 campaign. It is important to revisit the events surrounding Sun Zhigang’s unnatural death and the abolishing of the Custody and Repatriation System for its likely transferable lessons to today’s much touted abolishing of the RTL system.
“A blow for freedom: The campaign in memory of Sun Zhigang, 10 years on”
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1236973/blow-freedom-campaign-memory-sun-zhigang-10-years
Thank you. Xu Zhiyong has been indicted on Friday, only days after the police recommended indictment. The plan, it seems, is to try him during the Christmas holidays so that fewer people will be paying attention.
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