China: Yang Hengjun’s decision to waive his rights to an appeal

A statement posted on behalf of Yang Hengjun’s family and friends.

We, family and close friends, strongly support Yang’s decision to waive his legal right to appeal the suspended death sentence handed down to him earlier this month.

Despite his innocence – despite the fact that there has never been a skerrick of evidence presented against him – there are two practical reasons why an appeal would be detrimental to Yang’s welfare.

First, there are no grounds to believe that the system that enabled Yang’s sustained torture and fabricated the charges against him is capable of remedying the injustice of his sentence.

Second, commencing an appeal would only delay the possibility of adequate and supervised medical care, after five years of inhumane treatment and abject medical neglect.

Yang’s decision to forgo the appeals process does not in any way change the fact that he is both innocent and morally unbreakable. “Mentally no one can destroy me,” as he was able to write prior to his sentencing. “I have broken no laws, and I can withstand the judgement of …the public, conscience, history and time.”

Political Persecution

Yang Hengjun is an Australian political prisoner who has been sentenced to death because of his writings in support of individual freedoms, constitutional democracy and rule of law.

The suspended death sentence imposed on Yang Hengjun by the Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate Court is a political persecution. If Yang were dealing with a rule-of-law system, there would be many avenues for appeal – starting with the fact that the accusations made against him are without any factual basis. Sadly, this is not the case.

Yang was subjected to hundreds of instances of torture and has never received any semblance of due process. Indeed, the accusations that the Beijing Municipal State Security Bureau has levelled against him are so spurious that they have never been publicly disclosed, let alone properly tested and cross-examined in court.

Sadly, and despite the best efforts of Yang’s heroic lawyers, Mo Shaoping and Shang Baojun, the contemporary Chinese legal system is a tool for the Chinese Communist Party to persecute political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. It is a justice system without independence or justice. This is why we believe there is no realistic grounds to believe that the system is capable of remedying the injustice that it has imposed.

Health

Yang’s deteriorating physical condition does not allow him to endure further rounds of this legal system. Yang has been subjected to arbitrary detention for more than five years. The harsh conditions in the detention centre, including enforced sleep deprivation, erratic medication and being strapped to a tiger chair, have destroyed Yang's health. Throughout, he has been denied proper medical treatment for a serious kidney condition. He is in urgent need of properly supervised medical relief.

Ideals

There can be no doubt that Yang Hengjun has been convicted for his speeches and publications. Over the past two decades Yang has written and published hundreds of online articles explaining and advocating for the kinds of universal values – human rights, democracy, the rule of law – that Australians at home might sometimes take for granted.

Yang continues to stand by each and every one of those publications.

The absurdity of the 30-year-old espionage accusations that have been dredged up against him speaks to the prosecution’s failure to extract any kind of confession.

Legal Heroes

We are very grateful to lawyer Mo Shaoping and lawyer Shang Baojun for all they have done for Yang Hengjun over the past five years. Throughout, despite difficulties that are unimaginable to lawyers who practice in – to use Yang’s words – “the most beautiful country in the world, where the rule of law is strong and human rights are guaranteed” – they have used every inch of available space to defend Yang's innocence and demonstrate their shared commitment to the principles of justice. Mo Shaoping and Shang Baojun have made dozens of visits to Yang in the detention centre, provided courage and moral support, and taken care to communicate closely and faithfully with all parties concerned.

We thank Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – who is appropriately outraged by Yang’s treatment – and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who rightly observes that these circumstances “will have an impact on our relationship”. It is difficult to imagine a return to normal, healthy bilateral relations while an Australian political prisoner languishes in a Beijing jail.

We thank journalists, non-government organisations and public support throughout Australia, China and the world.

As Yang is still behind bars and his life is in danger, we urge the Australian Government, allied nations, and the wider international community to continue to show solidarity with Yang and put pressure on the Chinese Government so that Yang can be released from prison at an early date and reunited with his family.

We strongly appeal to the Chinese authorities to allow Yang Hengjun to be released on medical parole or otherwise transferred to safety in Australia, in accordance with the most basic humanitarian principles.

Yang Hengjun's family and friends

20 February 2024