Liu Ping (activist)

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Liu Ping (Simplified Chinese: 刘萍, Traditional Chinese: 劉萍, Pinyin: Liú Píng, born December 2, 1964 ) is a grassroots civil rights activist in China. A retired factory worker with the Xinyu Iron and Steel Group , she drew widespread attention when she was elected as an independent local delegate to the National People's Congress in 2011 . In 2013, Liu Ping was arrested for publicly asking Chinese officials to reveal her financial situation. Liu was the first among the arrested activists of the New Citizens' Movement in China to be tried. In June 2014, Liu Ping was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

biography

Liu was born in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province in 1964 . She worked at the Yuanxingang equipment and materials company, a branch of the Xinyu Iron and Steel Group. In 2009 she was forced to withdraw. After she retired, Liu began campaigning to increase compensation for her colleagues who, like her, were forced to retire. She went to the central government in Beijing three times to petition , and was arrested in 2010 and detained for 10 days.

In April 2011, Liu Ping decided to stand as a local delegate to the National People's Congress. After Liu announced her candidacy, the local government began harassing her and her supporters. The authorities viewed their actions as being supported by "anti-China forces" and as a dire threat to China's established electoral process. Even though Liu had enough supporters to get on the ballot as required by Chinese electoral law, Yang Jianyun, the director of the local electoral bureau, declared Liu to be an ineligible candidate.

Liu Ping's attempt received broad support in China, for example from the prominent scholar Yu Jianrong. In the same year, a wave of independent candidates was launched in China. Wei Zhongping, another citizen from Xinyu, also tried to stand up with Liu. Like Liu, he was declared unsuitable by the authorities. More than 100 people announced campaigns on the Internet, including celebrities like Li Chengpeng , but only a few of them actually ran. The Chinese authorities took this very seriously and made sure that not a single independent candidate appeared on any ballot paper. Also Xu Zhiyong , a prominent lawyer and activist who was able to run twice independently in the past, this year had also failed.

Liu Ping has participated in several important campaigns since the failed candidate attempt. In 2011, Liu organized a group of citizens to visit blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng , who was under house arrest and closely guarded in Linyi , Shandong Province . Liu also went to Wukan Village to support the villagers during the Wukan protests.

In 2013, many Chinese citizens took to the streets and asked Chinese officials to disclose their financial situation. On April 23, 2013, Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, and Li Sihua organized a demonstration in Xinyu. Liu was arrested on April 27th, and Wei and Li were arrested shortly afterwards. The reason for the imprisonment was originally "incitement to subversion against state power". Soon afterwards, that charge was changed to three other charges: Illegal Gathering; Organizing a group of people to disrupt public order; Undermining the law with a cult organization. The hearing took place on October 28, 2013; many of its supporters and witnesses have been harassed or imprisoned.

In June 2014, she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison by a court in Jiangxi Province. The reason given was that she had hindered law enforcement with a cult, gathered a crowd to disrupt order in public places and provoked quarrels and disputes.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liu Chang, Why Liu Ping's Candidacy Failed , Caixin online, July 6, 2011, accessed November 18, 2016
  2. ↑ a b Chris Buckley, With Snap of Group Photo, 3 Members of Advocacy Group Face Trial in China , The New York Times, October 26, 2013, accessed November 18, 2016
  3. ↑ a b Megha Rajogapalan, China jails anti-corruption activists after high-profile trial , Reuters, June 19, 2014, accessed November 18, 2016
  4. ^ A b Louisa Lim, Tweeting To Electoral Victory In China? Maybe Not , NPR.org, September 14, 2011, accessed November 18, 2016
  5. ↑ Brice Pedroletti, Beijing's university challenge: should you vote with a smile? , The Guardian, November 15, 2011, accessed November 18, 2016
  6. ↑ China detains activist Liu Ping on subversion charge , BBC News, May 8, 2013, accessed November 18, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Liu Ping
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 刘萍
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese basic civil rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd December 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Xinyu, Jiangxi Province