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2008 Olympic Profile: Ye Guozhu

Jimmie | August 13, 2008 | Comments (0)

July 26, 2008 was supposed to have been a happy day for the friends and family of Ye Guozhu. Expecting to see their loved one after four years, they were stunned to receive a telephone call from the Chinese authorities telling them that their loved one would not be released from prison until October 1 and that he had been taken from the prison where he had been held by the Public Service Bureau, China’s secret police. The reason, they were told was “for the ‘good of his family’, ‘to keep them out of trouble during the Games.’” In order to extend his jail time, the Chinese government found him guilty of a crime he could not have possibly committed.

Ye’s only crime was that of questioning the authority of the Government of China.

In 2003, Ye was just another property owner in Beijing’s Xuanwu District who learned that the government and developers had seized their property, with little or no compensation, in order to build brand new buildings for the Olympic Games on prime property in the city. He lost his business and the house in which three generations of his family lived along with him. After trying in vain to press his grievance through proper governmental channels, he decided to stage a protest against the seizure. Mindful of government regulations, he applied for a permit to stage the “September 18 10,000 People March” protest against the forced evictions which have affected thousands in the city.

That turned out to be a huge mistake.

Three days after applying for the permit, he was arrested. In December of 2004 he was convicted for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” an sentenced to four years in prison. While in prison, he has been tortured. According to Amnesty International,

He is reported to have been tortured while in detention. Suspended from the ceiling by the arms and beaten repeatedly by police before his trial, he was also beaten with electro-shock batons in Chaobai prison, Beijing, towards the end of 2006.

He was then sent twice to Qingyuan prison for periods of “discipline”, most recently in February 2007 for 10 months, apparently because he tried to appeal his conviction.

In addition, his family has been prevented from supplying him with medicine for his medical conditions, including high blood pressure and prison authorities are only giving him basic medical care.

The reason given his family for his extended detention is that he is being held “for suspicion of gathering a crowd to disturb public social order”, something he could not have done while in prison, considering that for a good part of the time he has been held incommunicado. It is, quite simply, a trumped-up charge designed to keep him from embarrassing the Chinese government during its coming-out party.

Today, Ye Guozhu is being held somewhere in China’s prison system enduring the brutal ministrations of his guards while the rest of the world ooh and aah at the glitz of this week’s Games. Thousands of people will admire the brand new buildings that sit where Ye’s house and business used to be and they’ll never know. Perhaps one day, more people will know his name and his story.

Previous 2008 Olympic Profiles:
Mao Hengfeng
Yang Maodong (AKA: Guo Feixiong)
The People of Beijing, June 3-4, 1989