Inciting subversion of state power () is a crime under the law of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...
. It is article 105, paragraph 2 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code.
[''The 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China'']
Volume 1 of Chinese law series, Laws, etc. (Chinese law series) ; v. 1, by Wei Luo,
published by Wm. S. Hein Publishing, 1998, , , page 73, via books.google.com on 10 10 9
The "inciting subversion" crime is related to earlier Chinese laws criminalizing activities deemed "
counterrevolutionary"; as was the case with its predecessor, the charge is wielded by the government as
an instrument of political repression.
[Joshua Rosenzweig, "The Sky Is Falling: Inciting Subversion and the Defense of Liu Xiaobo" in ''Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China'' (Hong Kong University Press: 2012), pp. 31-33.] The Chinese government frequently uses "inciting subversion of state power" as a "catch-all" charge used to target and imprison political activists, human rights campaigners and dissidents.
[China: "Appalling" jail sentence for outspoken pastor makes mockery of religious freedoms]
Amnesty International (December 30, 2019). In 2009, prominent dissident and
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
laureate
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist on ...
was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "incident subversion of state power" based on his drafting of the
Charter 08 manifesto calling for political reform.
[ A 2008 report by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) website lists 34 people convicted under this law, many of them for having posted articles on the internet that were critical of the government. The Chinese authorities have used the charge against Chinese human rights lawyers and activists in the ]709 crackdown
The 709 Crackdown ( or 709案 '709 Case' for short) was a nationwide crackdown on Chinese lawyers and human rights activists instigated during the summer of 2015. It is known as the "709 crackdown" as it started on 9 July 2015.
Yaqiu Wang of Hum ...
, which began in 2015. In 2019, Zhen Jianghua, a human rights activist and anti-censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
campaigner, was sentenced to two years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power"; later the same year, Wang Yi, the pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church, a Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...
-based house church
A house church or home church is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that see ...
(congregation operating outside of government control), was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in charges of "illegal business operation" and inciting subversion of state power.[
Gao Mingxuan, one of the editors of the 1980 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China, commented on the application of the law in the Liu Xiaobo case, contending that the laws are not greatly different from similar ones in other countries and that each country sets limitations on freedom of speech, such as ]England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
's Treason Act 1351
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has ...
(last used to prosecute William Joyce
William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, ...
in 1945 for collaborating with Germany in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
), Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
's Strafgesetzbuch
''Strafgesetzbuch'' (), abbreviated to ''StGB'', is the German penal code.
History
In Germany the ''Strafgesetzbuch'' goes back to the Penal Code of the German Empire passed in the year 1871 on May 15 in Reichstag which was largely identi ...
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and .
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Text of the law
Article 105, Paragraph 2, 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China (translation by Wei Luo):
"Anyone who uses rumour, slander or other means to encourage subversion of the political power of the State or to overthrow the socialist system, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years. However, the ringleaders and anyone whose crime is monstrous shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years."[
]
1997 UN report
The United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
' Working Group on Arbitrary Detention The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) is a body of independent human rights experts that investigate cases of arbitrary arrest and detention. Arbitrary arrest and detention is the imprisonment or detainment of an individual, by a State, wi ...
reported on the new law in its 1997 'country visit' to China. It predicted correctly that the vague language of the law would enable it to be used against the 'communication of thoughts or ideas'.[ Report submitted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]
, Addendum, Visit to the People's Republic of China, 1997, United Nation
pdf link
/ref> A quote from the report:
See also
*List of Chinese dissidents
This list consists of activists who are known as Chinese dissidents. The label is primarily applied to intellectuals who "push the boundaries" of society or criticize the policies of the government. Examples of the former include Wei Hui and J ...
*Law of the People's Republic of China
The Law of the People's Republic of China, officially referred to as the Socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, is the legal regime of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. ...
* Human rights in China
* List of political offences that attract jail terms in China
* Picking quarrels and provoking trouble
* Anti-Soviet agitation
References
{{China national security
Chinese law
Political repression in China