The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, respected members:
As citizens of the People’s Republic of China, we solemnly appeal to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for the appointment of a special committee of inquiry, in accordance with Article 71 of the Constitution which states that “the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee may, when they deem it necessary, appoint committees of inquiry into specific issues and adopt relevant resolutions in the light of their reports,” to conduct an independent investigation into the case of policeman shooting an villager named Wang Shujie whose house would be forcefully dismantled in Ershili Village, Xinglongtai Disctrict, Panjin City, Liaoning Province in the morning of September 21st 2013. The reasons are as follows:
Firstly, this is an extremely wicked case. In recent years, the abuse of public powers by local authorizes in forceful demolition had caused many people to lose their lives and intensified social tension and confrontation. As a very dangerous escalation of this trend, this forceful demolition-related case of policeman shooting villagers sets a precedent of the initiative act of policeman causing loss of life and rings alarm bells for the whole Chinese society.
Secondly, this case is not accidental but rather usual. It is quite a commonly seen systematic error that local authorities expropriate land at low prices and take violent actions when farmers protest. If this case is not fairly treated, local authorities of other regions will follow the example and more incidents similar to the Panjin case will occur, thus causing more lives’ losing. This will further intensify the tension and confrontation between the common people and the administrative departments all over the country.
Thirdly, the local authority of Panjin City is one party of this case. Zhangyan, the policeman who gunned the villager down, was vice director of the police station of Bohai, Xinglongtai District, Panjin City. As an officer designated by the local government, Zhangyan’s behavior obviously represents the will of the local government of Panjin City. It is said that Sun Xiangguo, secretary of the municipal CPC of Panjin City, once said, “The pace of demolition is the pace of our development and the extent of demolition is the extent of our development.” Since the Panjin case is closely associated with forceful demolition, opinions of and even information provided by the local authority t of Panjin City will inevitably be affected by its position as one party. That’s why the local government of Panjin City is not eligible for investigation into this case.
Fourthly, behaviors of the local authority of Panjin City have proved that it’s impossible for fair self-investigation to be conducted. After the occurrence of the Panjin case, the local authority of Panjin city openly abused public force to draw the curtain over the truth of the fact through destroying the body of the victim, illegally arresting witnesses, trying every possible means to obstruct normal commission and investigation by lawyers and the media and to repress relatives of victims and local people from accepting inquiry and investigation. Although the truth of the Panjin case remains to be found out, it is irrefutable that the actions of the local authority of Panjin is aimed at keeping the truth from being brought to light. Therefore, behaviors of the local authority of [Page]Panjin City also prove that it is lacking in neutrality and credibility to conduct self-investigation and that an independent inquiry organization which has nothing to do with the local authority of Panjin City is needed to conduct investigation.
Fifthly, with certain public power in its hand, the local authority of Panjin City could not be restrained by common social force. The fact that the local authority of Panjin City had threatened victims and witnesses and opposed the unarmed reporters and lawyers by abusing public force resources in its hand without any fear so that common organizations could not possibly conduct unencumbered investigation also proves that its behaviors were indulged by its upper administrative authorities. Therefore, we suggest that the appointed independent inquiry organization should possess sufficient legal authority to restrain the local authority of Panjin City, to overpower those abusing public power and to surpass administrative departments.
Sixthly, the Panjin case has turned from a regional incident to a nationwide incident. Although the case of policeman shooting villagers happened in Panjin City, it has now exerted influence nationwide. Whether this case will be fairly treated will affect people’s confidence in China’s rule of law. If the local authority of Panjin City conducts self-investigation and is partial to itself so that justice could not be possibly upheld, the people certainly have reasons to query whether or not the justice could be realized throughout the land of China. In return, only when neutrality of investigation is guaranteed will the Panjin case be fairly judged, and only a nationwide organization surpassing local governments will be eligible to conduct inquiry from the perspective of the whole country.
Last but not the least, according to the Constitution, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee is China’s legislative organ responsible for formulating impartial laws and more obliged to guarantee the implementation of impartial laws. If we are unable to find out the truth of the Panjin Case, the impartial laws will be unable to make fair judgment, thus greatly damaging itself. In other words, allowing a party which has already shown its unfairness to judge its own case is in itself totally unfair. Therefore, it’s the unshirkable responsibility of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee to conduct investigation into this case.
In view of the above-mentioned seven reasons, we sincerely hope the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to accept our appeal.
Best regards!
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Cosigners:
Jiang Ping
Sheng Hong
Zhang Qianfan
Xu Zhangrun
October 29th, 2012 |
