Activists fearful as ex-cop takes charge of legal affairs
BEIJING: Chinese rights lawyers and activists say the promotion on Monday of former police official Fu Zhenghua to head China’s justice ministry signals an even deeper freeze on attempts to use the country’s legal system to defend against rights abuses.
Lawmakers at China’s annual meeting of parliament rubber-stamped the appointment of Mr Fu, previously a deputy head of China’s ministry of public security, to take charge of the department in charge of maintaining and improving China’s legal system. Mr Fu was preceded by Zhang Jun, who is now head of the state prosecutor and courts.
Long seen as a rising star in law enforcement, Mr Fu led a number of high-profile investigations and crackdowns, including the probe into former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who was found guilty of corruption.
Since 2015, he headed an office dedicated to the suppression of what the ruling Communist Party calls “evil cults”, including the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong.
Mr Fu’s self-described “heavy fist” approach to law enforcement has won him plaudits from Chinese state media, which has previously said his campaigns helped clean up Chinese society and tackle graft.
Rights groups have called for the United States to target Mr Fu with sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which authorises the US government to freeze assets of those responsible for gross human rights violations.
A coalition of 23 groups coordinated by Washington-based Human Rights First asked the United States to impose sanctions against Mr Fu and two other police officers for their role in overseeing the detention of activist Cao Shunlin, who died in custody in 2013.
“Fu Zhenghua has presided over a number of serious human rights violations throughout his career,” said Frances Eve, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
“Fu’s appointment is a sign that the Xi Jinping regime is not going to back down on its suppression of human rights.”
Neither China’s justice department or public security ministry responded to faxed requests for comment about rights activists concerns.
China regularly rejects foreign criticism of its human rights record, saying that its people are best placed to judge the rights situation in China.
The United States imposed sanctions on one officer, Gao Yan, in December last year. Mr Gao had been in charge at Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing where a Chinese rights activist, Cao Shunli, was held and questioned prior to her death in hospital under police custody in March 2014.
Rights groups say Cao was tortured and denied medical care. Mr Gao could not be reached for comment.
China said that the United States should not be a “human rights judge”, after the sanctions against Mr Gao were announced.
President Xi Jinping has overseen clampdown on all forms of dissent in Chinese society, which has seen dozens of rights lawyers and activists jailed.
The announcement last month that China would scrap presidential term limits was met with despair by many of China’s rights activists who were holding out hope that the tightening was temporary.
Rights groups say that the justice department has increasingly disbarred lawyers who challenged official abuses of power, after rules for law firms and lawyers were revised in 2016 to require greater political loyalty.