Press Contact Shengde Lian Wang Xizhe (703)645-9054 (703)329-6836 (617)6662046(Chinese) Washington Office of Free China Movement Network 1319 18 St,NW,Washington DC 703 645-9054, 202 256-2925 English; 703 329-6836, fax 703 329-0149 Email:shengde@aol.com,http://www.freechina.net/ Press Release Free China Movement, representing 30 dissident organizations inside and outside China, strongly condemn Chinese governemnt's continuous violations of human rights by trying Chinese citizen Lin Hai politically because of his peaceful activity of exchanging email accounts with member of Free China Movement--VIP Reference; Publisher of VIP Reference, Lian Shengde, former student leader and political prisoner of 1989 Student Movement in Beijing said:"This will open a very terrible example for future persecution of internet users in mainland China on political charges if the international community could not stop this serious violations of human rights in China!" Also Free China Movement in China expand their influence to intelectual level--more Chinese dissidents are setting up forming branches of China Democracy Party in Hu Nan University in China! Free China Movement strongly condemn Chinese governemnts recent detention of six members of China Democracy Party on November 20 in their meeting. Their names are Yao Zhengyian, Li Guotao, Wu Yilong, Wang Rongqing, Zhu Zhengmin and Mao Qingxiang. Free China Movement Leaders Issue Statement; Call On President Clinton, State Department & Congress To Speak Out Against Worsening Human Rights Conditions In China; Demand Release Of Political Prisoner Lin Hai On Trial For Subversion; Press Conference Planned. November 22, 1998, Washington, D.C.- The Free China Movement, a coalition of over 30 Chinese Democracy organizations inside and outside of China, issued a statement today calling on President Clinton, the State Department, and members of Congress to put moral and political pressure on the Chinese Communist Government in order to stop the trial of Lin Hai, a defendant who is charged with "inciting subversion of state power." The Statement said, "We the members of the Free China Movement, call on President Clinton, Congress, the State Department, and the international community to urge the Chinese Government to immediately release Lin Hai, who is facing trial in China for "subversion," a crime that he did not commit. We also call on the above to call for the immediate release of dissidents Zhao Changqing, and Mr. Wang Youchai, who have done nothing illegal, and have peacefully tried to participate in the political process of democratizing China. We feel that the Chinese Government has violated the "UN Declaration of Human Rights," and the recently signed "International Covenant of Civil & Political Rights," by arresting and detaining those Chinese individuals who have committed no crime, have hurt no other human being, have stolen no property, and have subverted no government. It would be immoral and unethical for the world to remain silent, when innocent human beings are being deprived of their basic fundamental rights to speak and act freely; something the Chinese Communist Government has agreed to adhere to through their signing of international agreements guaranteeing these rights." Prosecutors say that from September 1997 until his arrest in March, Lin gave tens of thousands of Chinese E-mail addresses to "hostile foreign publications." In particular, they say, he provided addresses to an electronic newsletter to the Washington D.C. based VIP Reference, member of Free China Movement, which is compiled by Chinese democracy advocates in Washington and sent to hundreds of thousands of computer-users inside China. According to the indictment, Lin helped the newsletter " carry out propaganda and incitement by distributing essays inciting subversion of state power and overthrow the socialist system." Executive Director of the Free China Movement, Shengde Lian said, " Lin Hai unfortunately will be tried by the Chinese Communist Government which has no respect for the law, since there is no real democratic system of law in China. He will probably be convicted of something he is innocent of, unless there is a strong response by the Clinton Administration, Congress, and the international community. We are calling members of Congress and the State Department in order that they pressure the Chinese Government to drop all charges against the innocent Lin Hai, and allow him to resume his life as a husband and computer soft-wear executive." Donghai Feng, Editor of VIP Reference,said: "Zhao Changqing, a student leader of Tian An Men, was secretly arrested, charged, and secretly sentenced because he ran for an elected political office in Shanxi Province. Mr. Wang Che, an oversees dissident leader who returned to China at the beginning of November in order to peacefully advocate for moderate democratic reforms, was arrested for these activities. At the same time, the founder of China Democracy Party(CDP) and former student leader Wang Youchai had been detained since November 5 along with two other dissidents. Clearly, it would be naïve to believe that China has improved its human rights record as the Chinese government argued." Xie Wanjun, a Chinese dissident, will hold a protest in Tian An Men Square next week, claiming that the government deprived he and his wife the right to work and survive financially. Mr. Lian said, "China is at a cross roads, millions of Chinese are fed up with increasing poverty, unemployment, and human rights abuses. More citizens like Mr. Xie are speaking out, regardless of the consequences, because they are fed up with the Chinese Government, and want to peacefully work to change it," he said. Joel Segal, American Director of the Free China Movement, said, "We are faxing and calling State Department & Congressmen to see if they will intervene on behalf of Lin Hai. Hopefully, they will do the right thing, but we will just have to keep up the pressure. This is not the time for our political leaders to be silent; to do so would be cooperating with an unjust and evil communist dictatorship. That would be un-American." Free China Movement leaders and other human rights groups will have a press conference on Tuesday, November 24, 1998 ( Site to be announced) to call on President Clinton, Congress, and the international community to speak out against the detention and trial of Lin Hai which is scheduled to take place on Novemebe 26, 1998. (30)