Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Vigil for Cao Shunli in March 2014 in Dublin – (c) Front Line

Didi Kirsten Tatlow reports in The New York Times of 28 March how the issue of Cao Shunli’s death in detention in China has not ended. A lawyer for Cao Shunli said her family wants an independent autopsy by pathologists from outside China, saying they do not trust local pathologists or the police to make an accurate report. “If we can we would like to invite an international expert or an international expert organization to come here to do an autopsy,” said the lawyer, Ms Wang Yu. “’The family has not requested an autopsy yet, though they want one, because they don’t trust anyone here to do a fair job,” [The Beijing Lawyers Association and the Beijing Municipal Justice Bureau seem to be putting pressure on the lawyer]Mr. Liu (another lawyer) said he and Ms. Wang have sent eight freedom-of-information requests to the government seeking answers to what Ms. Cao’s medical condition was when she entered the detention center, which doctor treated her, what treatment she received, and other questions.But so far — such requests must be answered by the government within 15 days — they had received no answers.The next step would be to sue the government, he said.“We would either bring an administrative review case to the Chaoyang Detention Center and the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau, to force them to pass the request upstairs for higher authorities to answer, or we would sue them in court,” he said. “If someone is responsible for Ms. Cao’s death,” he said, “then they must be identified and brought to justice.”

via Family Seeks Independent Autopsy of Activist Who Died in Detention – NYTimes.com.

for the background, see previous posts:

https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/china-in-the-un-human-rights-council-manages-to-silence-cao-shunli-as-well-as-ngos/

https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/how-china-cut-short-cao-shunlis-remembrance-in-the-un/

https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/south-africa-disappoints-terribly-in-the-human-rights-council-support-for-chinas-silencing-the-silence/

This entry was posted on March 28, 2014 at 16:38 and is filed under Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR.

Tags: autopsy, Beijing Lawyers Association, Beijing Municipal Justice Bureau, Cao Shunli, China, death, detention center, Front Line (NGO), Hans Thoolen, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, illegal detention, impunity, ISHR, Liu, medical care, New York Times, reprisals, UN Human Rights Council, UPR, Wang Yu, woman human rights defender