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CHINA’S PARALLEL JUSTICE system for Communist Party members relies heavily on torture and is “abusive and illegal”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week, calling for it to be abolished.
The 88 million members of the country’s ruling party are subject to an internal justice system known as “shuanggui”, which operates without oversight from judicial authorities and has been increasingly criticised by China’s legal community.
More than 15 officials have reportedly died from abuses in “shuanggui” since 2007.
Since coming to power, President Xi Jinping has presided over a much-publicised drive against corruption that has punished more than one million officials in what some compare to a political purge.
Abuses
“President Xi has built his anti-corruption campaign on an abusive and illegal detention system,” said Sophie Richardson, HRW’s China director.
She called for its abolition as a “first urgent step” towards restoring confidence in China’s legal system. “Political parties in a one-party state should not run their own detention systems.”
A report released Tuesday, based on analysis of court verdicts, media reports and interviews with former detainees and their family members, details the abuses of the system.
Typically, “shuanggui” subjects disappear without warning and are held in unofficial detention facilities until they “confess” to corruption. Then they are brought into the criminal justice system and convicted.
Tactics used to extract confessions include prolonged sleep deprivation, food and water deprivation, severe beatings, being forced into stress positions for extended periods of time and threats to family members, among others.
‘They’d beat me’
One former detainee detailed how he was forced to invent stories of his crimes. “They made me make it up. I had to make it up -– if I didn’t, they’d beat me.”
Another was made to stand and sit in alternating endless 12 hour shifts, saying “my legs became swollen, and my buttocks were raw and started oozing pus.”
One Beijing-based lawyer described the case of a client who was given only an hour of sleep a day and was forced to spend the rest of his time balancing a book on his head.
After eight days, he “confessed to everything and to whatever they said”, the lawyer explained.
“At that point his feet were swollen like an elephant’s and he could no longer urinate.”
Stricter control
Chinese courts have a conviction rate of 99.92 percent.
“The courts function as rubber stamps, lending credibility to an utterly illegal Communist Party process,” said Richardson.
In October a key meeting of the Communist Party called for stricter control over its members, promising to strengthen internal curbs on their behaviour.
Newly issued rules after the conclave further tighten ideological controls that have already increased dramatically under Xi.
They call on party members to oppose acts contrary to the party leadership and promise increased investigations into behaviour that does not follow the party line.
- © AFP 2016.
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Nice to see an Irish company going so international.
Associated British Foods (ABF), a British company, own most of Primark. Their international headquarters are in Dublin though.
You could say the same about many Irish brands. Aer Lingus and Guinness for example, hardly Irish anymore but still synonymous with Ireland.
Founded in Dublin 1965 by Galen Weston. Married Dublin model Hilary Frayne (a recent Governor of Ontario). Irish story through and through.
ABF are owned by a family trust, namely the Weston’s whose matriarch is a Dublin lady and the Ryan’s from West Cork, food, hotels, shops….Dublin is the main holding company location. Shares are for obvious reasons traded on the LSE.
A ribbon to cut and no sign of Enda… He’s slipping lads…he’s f$%king slipping.
Hi love your top! 4 Euro Penneys!!!!
They’ve got a whole lot of things for Christmas. And, I believe, a lot for the family.
Might just pop in for a few bits.
straight outa Cedarwood!
Someone better tell them not to put anything in the dryer ! or bye bye tshirt
wish they had a decent shopping website…. hate going in the stores…. clothes always scattered everywhere, usually the floor!
Nothing like cheap, throwaway clothes. Don’t people who wear the same clothes more than thrice look so dirty and poor? Just like the sweatshop workers who slave so I can have the #LatestFashions
Well I’m delighted Primark has made its way to the U.S. I bought plenty of things from penny’s that has lasted years and I’ve also bought expensive stuff that has gone to sh!te after a couple of wears.
you must be rich
Well said BevinArmageddon ! lurach, what a prat
Jasus Bevin thats gas, I had exact the same experience. Bought a pair of those MC Hammer trousers and before I knew it they were in shyte. But funny enough a pair of slip on’s with tassels I bought in 1987 are like new. I only wear them to funerals mind.
I bought a pair of jeans form Penneys for 6€ that lasted me almost three years of constant wear. They still looked new. I also had a very expensive brand pair that barely lasted 6 months. I still regret not going back and buying three more pairs. Still would’ve been cheaper and I’d still be wearing them now!
Did they steal Clery’s clock?
Open a Carroll’s gifts there next
COME TO SYDNEY!!!!!
More power to them but lets hope they don’t start putting shamrocks on their windows
Penny’s looks really cool inside. Much prefer the Zara store on Newbury street though.
Why didn’t the ethical clothing company ever catch on?
Come on the Ryan’s of West Cork
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