Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A656-W410
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A656-W410
Release
Date: September 18, 2011
发布日：2011年9月18日
Topic:
About "Residence under Surveillance" in China -- Wei Jingsheng
标题：再谈监视居住 -- 魏京生
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Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
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About
"Residence under Surveillance" in China
--
Wei Jingsheng
We
say that "residence under surveillance" in China is illegal
detention, or enforced disappearance according to the United Nations
standard. This assertion is aimed
at the so-called laws that are designed to complete the lawlessness of the
Communist regime, i.e. the upcoming revision of the Criminal Procedure Law to
be submitted to the People's Congress in October.
What
is the original meaning of "residence under surveillance"? It was one of the lightest among
various judicial measures which restricted personal freedom. According to international
practice and China's own provisions in the past, "residence under
surveillance" was only the surveillance of suspects without imposed limits
of the suspects' living and other activities. So, it did not need a formal approval by the court or
Procuratorate; the public security or the police could decide themselves.
Since
the early eighties when the Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law were
modified, all the dictatorial organs felt restricted -- it was not as
convenient to arrest people. This
inconvenience for the government to arrest people in fact ensures that people's
freedoms are protected. The
biggest threat to people's freedom and power came from the governments. To limit its own power is the required
homework for all governments. Even
in a slave system, there are laws to protect slaves. Otherwise, people would not manage to live.
Since
the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the Chinese Communist Party felt that
too much freedom had been given to the people and it was becoming difficult to
manage them. The public security
organs could not arrest people as they wished. At the most, they could only display their "residence
under surveillance" permit.
They had to get the approval of the courts and Procuratorate to arrest
people, which was not very convenient.
Sometimes, the courts and Procuratorate would not necessarily cooperate
with the public security organs' abusive actions. This separation of powers limited police abuse, as well as
limited the unreasonable dictatorship of the Communist Party. Such was the motive for the Communist
Party to seek a more convenient way.
This
convenient method for arresting people became "residence under
surveillance". Simply playing
with these two concepts of "residence" and "surveillance",
the regime was able to turn a law with the least restriction of personal
freedom into a law for kidnapping hostages without any legal supervision. To formally arrest someone requires by
law the notification of the family and access to lawyers, etc. However, with the new law of
hostage kidnapping, they could quietly lock up people in a place arranged by
the police, without any others knowing.
Is not that outright kidnapping?
Whether
it is in accordance with the laws of past or present, the terms of arrest are
that the arrested person shall not disappear, and family members or a lawyer
must know where this person is.
Regardless whether the person is a suspect or criminal, the person is
still protected by law and allowed to live in society even if in prison. According to the revision of the law
that has been announced now, a person will be completely disappeared after the
person is put under "residence under surveillance" and there will be
no way to monitor if the police are treating the person humanely. That is to say this person will be
detained illegally, or kidnapped.
This kidnapping is to be approved by law; this illegal detention is to
be approved by law; and this complete lawlessness is to be approved by
law. This kind of modification of
the law is the degradation of the legal system toward a complete lawlessness.
After
all, the degradation has not just begun now. Since the implement of the new law on January 1, 1980, the
dictatorship has been nibbling at the legal system, step by step. The formulation of the new Criminal Law
of 1980 was exactly the result of the lawless suffering of both average people
and Communist officials during the Cultural Revolution. This suffering made them all deeply
feel that the rebuilt the legal system is the essential conditions for people's
survival. In particular, some
senior Communist cadres were put in jail by their own law of lawlessness during
the Cultural Revolution. While in
jail, they also suffered from the persecution of their own law which did not
safe guard human rights. These
personal experiences enabled them to join ranks with determination to rebuild a
new rule of law.
However,
Deng Xiaoping soon discovered that the rule of law was in fundamental conflict
with the one-party dictatorship he adhered to. If people are protected by the law, then the police and
agents are not able to arrest people as they wish. A dictatorship needs to be able to arrest people at the will
of the dictatorial authority.
Otherwise, it will not produce widespread fear. If it cannot achieve the result of
killing the chickens to threaten the monkeys, if it cannot control the people
at its will, then the Communist regime will not be able to implement its
politics of the minority oppressing and exploiting the majority. When the legal system becomes a shield
to protect people and an umbrella to limit the dictatorship, it becomes the
antithesis of one-party dictatorship.
Like
all the Communist Parties, Deng Xiaoping liked to do things in the name of
good, which was beneficial in deceiving the world. However, shall this "good" become the reality;
then it would be in violation of the basic principles of their dictatorial
autocracy. Deng needed to seek a
way to break the law yet do it in the name of the law, thus to accomplish the
goal of the Communist Party. Thus,
shortly after Deng Xiaoping's faction stabilized its power, it initiated a
so-called "Strike Hard" measure as a law outside of the legal system.
What
does "Strike Hard" mean?
To many Chinese, it was to severely crack down on criminals; a good
matter which benefits both the people and the country. It was like the recent "sing
praises for the red and hit the black society" in Chongqing, which gives a
first impression of protecting people and could win claps and cheers from the
people. Yet in reality it was used
for the purpose of undermining the legal system, to remove the legal umbrella
at the root.
The
bigwigs of power do not feel how important the protection of the law is. Most average Chinese do not know about
such a complicated thing, and thus do not think how important the protection of
the law is either. Usually, most
people tend to look at the issue optimistically when they are not
persecuted. Generally, people feel
it is OK to treat thieves and hooligans a little hard, even beyond the legal
limit. Is it not to everyone's
benefit to eliminate the thieves and hooligans? The result of this type of mentality is that the dictators
took advantage of the loophole.
Law
is binding to all members of society.
If we accept lawlessness against the thieves and hooligans, then it will
be lawless to all. When the
thieves and hooligans lose their protection under the law, everyone else also
theoretically loses his/her protection under the law. When the law enforcement agencies can go beyond the law, the
security of all is threatened. But
before the threat arrives, most people are not aware of the problem.
Before
the Cultural Revolution, various officials of the Communist Party continuously
went beyond law to punish the others.
People also ignored the law and were in support of this growing
lawlessness which went beyond the law.
However, when the lawlessness reached a certain degree, it started to
threaten the personal security of the average person and the officials. Under the slogan of "the law is
not a shield", everyone suffered the pain of lawlessness. During the Cultural Revolution, the
officials who were persecuting others only yesterday became victims themselves
today.
This
history from not too long ago teaches us the lesson that the law must be valid
for all. To legitimize lawlessness
will not just make the ordinary people victims. The people who helped to enact Draconian laws will become
victims themselves.
To
hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2011/WeiJS110909residencesurveillance.mp3
(Written
and recorded on September 9, 2011.
Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A656-W410
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A656-W410
Release
Date: September 18, 2011
发布日：2011年9月18日
Topic:
About "Residence under Surveillance" in China -- Wei Jingsheng
标题：再谈监视居住 -- 魏京生
Original
Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2011/report2011-09/WeiJS110918residencesurveillanceA656-W410.htm
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再谈监视居住
-- 魏京生
我们说监视居住是非法拘禁，或者按联合国的标准叫做强迫失踪。这个说法仅仅是针对中共无法无天的所谓法律而言，也就是即将在十月份提交人民代表大会的刑事诉讼法修改案。
监视居住的本来含义是什么呢？这是司法机关限制人身自由的各项措施中，最轻微的一种。按国际惯例和中国本身过去的规定，监视居住仅仅是对嫌疑人监视，并不限制嫌疑人的居住和活动。所以不需要很正规的由法院或检察院批准，公安机关或者警察机关可以自行决定。
自从八十年代初修改刑法和刑诉法以来，各专政机关都觉得碍手碍脚，抓人不那么方便了。政府抓人不方便，其实正是老百姓的自由得到了保障。对老百姓的自由和人身权力最大的剥夺，正是来自政府。限制他们的权力，是所有政府的必修功课。就是奴隶制，也有保护奴隶的法律。否则老百姓就没法活了。
自从天安门大屠杀以来，中共越来越觉得给人民的自由太多了，老百姓不好管了。公安机关不能随便抓人，最多只能开出监视居住证。要抓人还得要法院检察院的批准，太不方便。有时候，法院检察院不一定会配合公安机关的违法乱纪行为。这就使得警察胡作非为受到了很大限制，也使得共产党实行不讲理的专政受到了很大的限制。这就是中共寻找一个方便的办法的动机。
这个可以随便抓人的方法就是监视居住。只要在监视和居住这两个概念上玩一些花招，就可以把一个最轻微限制人身自由的法律，便成为可以不受任何监督绑架人质的法律。正式逮捕一个人，依法还得通知家属，请律师等等。有了新的绑架人质法，就可以悄悄地，不让任何人知道就把人给关在警察们安排的地方。这不就是赤裸裸的绑架嘛。
不管是按照过去还是现在的法律，各种抓人的条款都不能让人消失，都必须让家属或律师知道这个人在哪儿。无论是嫌疑人还是罪犯，都还受到法律的保护，并且生存在这个社会中。按现在公布的修正案，被监视居住后人就完全消失了，完全不在人们的视野之中，完全无法监督警察们是不是依法对待这个人。也就是说这个人被非法拘禁了，或者说被绑架了。而且这是法律认可的绑架；法律认可的非法拘禁；法律认可的无法无天。这样的修改法律，是法制向无法无天的退化。
说起来，这种退化不是刚刚开始的。从八零年实施新的法律以来，专政就在逐步蚕食着法制。八零年新刑法的制定，正是因为人民大众和共产党官员们，都在文化大革命中深受无法无天之苦，深感重建法制是人们生存的基本条件。特别是一些中共的高级干部，文革中被他们自己制定的无法无天的法律关进了监狱，在监狱中又受到他们自己制定的非人权的法律的迫害。这些亲身经历使他们很坚定地加入到重建法制的行列之中。
但是，邓小平很快就发现法制和他要坚持的一党专政有着根本的冲突。人们依法受到了保护，特务们就不能随便抓人了。专政需要按照专政机关的意志随便抓人，否则就不能造成普遍的恐惧感。而不能达到杀鸡吓猴的效果，就不能任意控制老百姓，就不能实行少数人压迫和剥削多数人的政治。当法制成为保护人们的挡箭牌，成为限制独裁专制的保护伞时，法制就成为了一党专政的对立面。
邓小平像一切共产党一样，喜欢把美好的名义顶在头上。这有利于欺骗世人，但不能把美名变成真的，否则就违反了他们独裁专制的基本原则。要找到一个以法律的名义违法乱纪的办法，才能够两全其美的完成共产党的目标。于是在邓小平的派系稳定了权力之后不久，就放出了一个法外施法的所谓“严打”。
“严打”是什么意思呢？在很多老百姓看来，这是严厉打击刑事犯罪，是利国利民的好事。就像最近重庆的唱红打黑一样，听起来都是保护老百姓，让人拍手称快的事情。但是骨子里却趋势破坏法制，是从根本上取消了法律的保护伞。
对有权有势的大人物来说，他们不觉得法律的保护有多重要。小老百姓大多数又不太清楚这么复杂的事情，也不觉得法律的保护有多么重要。而且在没有遭受迫害的时候，人们大多倾向于乐观地看问题。一般会觉得对小偷流氓狠一点没问题，超过了法律的限制也没问题。把小偷和流氓都消灭了不是皆大欢喜吗？结果就让独裁者们钻了空子。
法律是针对所有社会成员的。它可以对小偷流氓违法乱纪，也就可以对其他所有人违法乱纪。小偷流氓们失去了法律的保障，所有人在理论上也就失去了法律的保障。执法机关可以超越法律办案，威胁的是所有人的安全。但是在威胁没有来临的时候，大多数人并没有意识到问题。
文化大革命之前共产党的大大小小官员们不断地超越法律整治别人。老百姓也忽略了法律，支持这种不断超越法律的违法乱纪。大家看上去也还相安无事。可是无法无天发展到一定的程度后，就开始威胁到老百姓和官员们自身的安全了。在法律不能作为挡箭牌的口号下，大家都深受了无法无天之苦。文革之中，那些昨天还在迫害别人的官员们，自己也成了受害者。
这段还不算久远的历史教训告诉我们，法律是对所有人有效的。把无法无天合法化，受害的也不会仅仅是老百姓。那些帮助制定恶法的人，自己也会成为受害者。
聆听魏京生先生的相关录音，请访问：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2011/WeiJS110909residencesurveillance.mp3
（撰写并录音于2011年9月9日。自由亚洲电台播出。）
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