Submission to UN on Mi Chongbiao – February 17, 2014
Comments Off on Submission to UN on Mi Chongbiao – February 17, 2014WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES
COMMUNICATION FORM
1. INFORMATION CONCERNING THE disappeared person
(a) * Family name(s): Mi (糜)
(b) * Given names(s): Chongbiao (崇标)
(c) Pseudonyms or other forms besides given name, by which he or she may be known: N/A
(d) Sex: _✔_ male / __ female
(e) Occupation/profession: Retried
(f) father’s name: mother’s name:
(g) Date of birth: October 17, 1939
(h) Place and country of birth: Guizhou Province, People’s Republic of China
(i) Was the person below 18 years-old at the moment of the disappearance? _____ yes / _✔__no
(j) Identity document (passport, national identity card, voter’s card or any other relevant national identity card)
type: ID Card
(k) Nationality or nationalities: People’s Republic of China
(m) Any other place of residence at the moment of the disappearance: N/A
(n) Marital status: Married (o) Indigenous: _✔_ yes/__ no (p) Pregnant: __ yes/_✔_ no
2. INFORMATION CONCERNING THE FACTS
(a) * Date of arrest, abduction or disappearance (at least month and year): September 2013
(b) * Place of arrest, abduction or where the disappearance occurred (be as precise as possible. Indicate street, city, province or any other relevant information):
Mr. Mi’s residence (where he was under illegal house arrest) in Yunyan District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province
(c) * Date when the person was last seen (at least month and year), if different from date of arrest or abduction (for example: if seen in a prison months after the initial arrest or abduction):
Mid-January 2014
(d) * Place where the person was last seen (if different from place of arrest or abduction. For example: if seen in a prison months after the initial arrest or abduction. Please, be as precise as possible. Indicate street, city, province or any other relevant information):
A hospital in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province
(e) Please, provide a full description of how the disappearance took place (attach one page if necessary. Please note that, although this is not a required element, providing a description as detailed as possible of the circumstances of the disappearance will enhance the possibilities to find the person):
Mi Chongbiao and his wife, Li Kezhen (李克珍), have been out of contact since September 2013, after being held under illegal house arrest for months in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. In June 2013, police arrived at Mi and Li’s Guiyang City residence and placed the couple under tight 24-hour surveillance days after Mi had posted online a complaint that he had submitted to the UN Human Rights Council about rights violations that his family has suffered. From that time, officers restricted them from going out and even buying food for Mi, 74, who suffers from diabetes. One day, when Li Kezhen was trying to go out to buy food, she was seized, beaten fiercely, and escorted back to the residence by the police officer. Her wrist was twisted badly during the process, but police officers watching them did not allow her to go to the hospital for any treatment. The police even asked Li to make four meals for them everyday and threatened to beat them if she refused.
This case of enforced disappearance follows years of authorities’ harassment and persecution of Mi Chongbiao and his family members. In 2007, Mi established a human rights organization in Guiyang and began to share information on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2012, Mi was held incommunicado and physically abused for weeks after openly demanding justice for prisoner of conscience Chen Xi (陈西) in Guiyang City People’s Square. Fearing Mi’s family would expose the abuses, police officers also detained his wife and two sons in black jails with Mi. Mi was interrogated for 25 straight hours with his hands tied to a chair. Not allowed to rest or eat, he fainted several times during the interrogation. Both Mi and his wife fell ill during their detention. Mi has been an active member of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum, which was established on the World Human Rights Day in 2005 to spread information on international human rights (and eventually banned by authorities in 2011). Mi has been taken away and held under police surveillance many times due to the activities of the Forum, and has spent a total of 30 months in detention in retaliation for his human rights advocacy work.
(f) * State or State-supported forces believed to be responsible for the disappearance. If the perpetrators are believed to be State agents, please specify and indicate who and why they are believed to be responsible. Be as precise as possible (military, police, persons in uniform or civilian clothes, agents of security services, unit to which they belong, rank and functions, identifications presented, etc.):
Police officers from Guizhou Public Security Bureau
(g) If identification as State agents is not possible, please indicate why you believe that Government authorities, or persons linked to them, may be responsible for the incident
(h) If there are witnesses to the incident, please provide their names and relation to the victim. If they wish to remain anonymous, indicate if they are relatives, by-standers, or others. If there is evidence, please specify.
There are no known witnesses.
(i) Additional Information on the case. Please indicate any other relevant information that could be useful to find the person
An activist, who dare not disclose his/her identity, spotted Mi in a hospital in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, but the current whereabouts of him and his wife remain unknown.
3. INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTIONS TAKEN AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE
* Indicate any action taken (police inquiries, jail, human rights commission, habeas corpus petition etc.) taken by the relatives or others to locate the person. You are required to state the following: when, by whom, and before which organ the actions were taken.
(a) Complaints (when, by whom, and before which organ/s): Mr. Mi’s family has approached the District and Municipal Public Security Bureaus and the government for their whereabouts, but did not get any response.
(b) Other steps taken (when, by whom, and before which organ/s) Mr. Mi’s son has disclosed this incident to the media and other rights activists.
(c) If no action was taken, please explain why
Date Submitted: February 17, 2014
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