Forfatteren Yang Hengjun er dømt til døden i Kina
Norsk PEN tilslutter seg uttalelsen til PEN International og fordømmer dommen til den australske forfatteren Yang Hengjun, som er idømt dødsstraff i Kina. Dommen falt fem år etter at han ble varetektsfengslet og anklaget for spionasje.
China: Writer Yang Hengjun handed suspended death sentence following deeply flawed trial
6 February: PEN International joins the undersigned PEN Centres in condemning the handing down of a suspended death sentence to Australian writer Yang Hengjun, five years after he was detained and accused of espionage. According to a statement published by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, the death sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year period of “good behaviour”.
On 5 February 2024, reports emerged that Yang Hengjun had been given a suspended death sentence by a court in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The sentencing occurred over two and a half years after his trial took place behind closed doors, raising significant concerns regarding Yang’s right to a fair trial and the principle of judicial transparency. The court’s judgement was delayed on numerous occasions, compounding the injustice that Yang has been subjected to.
‘This is a shocking, unacceptable outcome of a flawed, opaque judicial process in which a writer has been denied his basic human rights of representation and a fair trial. We stand in solidarity with Yang Hengjun and call on the PRC government to end its assault on freedom of expression.’ said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.
There are grave concerns for Yang’s health and ability to receive adequate healthcare while detained. He has a large cyst on his kidney, which he said was not properly treated, and has been kept in solitary confinement for large parts of his time in prison.
In light of the serious procedural issues surrounding his trial and the unsubstantiated allegations made against him, we call on the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to quash Yang Hengjun’s conviction and for his immediate and unconditional release. We also call on the Australian authorities to petition more forcefully for his release.
Signed:
- PEN International
- Independent Chinese PEN Centre
- PEN Melbourne
- PEN Perth
- PEN Sydney
- PEN Sweden
- PEN America
- PEN Chile
- PEN Myanmar
- PEN Bangladesh
- PEN Suisse Romand
- Pen Croatia
- PEN Philippines
- PEN Armãn
- PEN Netherlands
- PEN Trieste
- PEN Canada
- Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann
- PEN Germany
- PEN San Miguel
- PEN Québec
- PEN Malta
- PEN Cambodia
- English PEN
- French PEN Club
- Danish PEN
- Basque PEN
- PEN Liechtenstein
- Cuban Writer in Exile PEN
- NZSA – PEN New Zealand
- PEN Esperanto
- Polish PEN Club
- Vietnamese Abroad PEN
- PEN Norway
- PEN Slovenia
- PEN Club Romania
- Japan PEN Club
- PEN Eritrea in Exile
- PEN Català
- PEN Belarus
- PEN Flanders – Belgium
- PEN Uruguay
- PEN Malaysia
Imran Khan, tidligere statsminister i Pakistan og leder av det politiske partiet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf