Xu Zhiyong (Chinese: 许志永; Pinyin: Xǔ Zhìyǒng) is a lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was one of the founders of the NGO Open Constitution Initiative and an active rights lawyer in China who helped those underprivileged.
In 2003, he was elected to the Haidian District People's Congress as an independent.[1]
Unlike other human rights activists, Xu firmly and carefully pushed his calls for political change and social justice in existing laws, and his group has been regarded as relatively cautious and conservative.[2][3] In his recent interview before his arrest, he described his dream
| “ | I wish our country could be a free and happy one. Every citizen need not go against their conscience and can find their own place by their virtue and talents; a simple and happy society, where the goodness of humanity is expanded to the maximum, and the evilness of humanity is constrained to the minimum; honesty, trust, kindness, and helping each other are everyday occurrences in life; there is not so much anger and anxiety, a pure smile on everyone’s face. | ” |
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—Xu Zhiyong, China Digital Times |
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In 2009, July 29, he was arrested at his home, and detained by Chinese authorities on charges of tax evasion.[4][5] At the same time Xu's colleague Zhuang Lu was also arrested by authorities [6]
Open Constitution Initiative (公盟 in Chinese, Pinyin: gōng méng), which helped many people in human rights violation law cases, was fined 1.46 million RMB on July 14, 2009 for 'dodging taxes' and was shut down by the authorities by declaring it "illegal".[7]
Xu Zhiyong was released on bail on August 23, 2009; he is currently waiting for court hearing.[6] The Australian newspaper The Age reported that the release of Xu, Zhuang and another Chinese dissident, Ilham Tohti, was in part due to pressure on Beijing from the administration of American President Barack Obama.[8]
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| Natural and legal rights Claim rights and liberty rights Negative and positive rights Individual and group rights |
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Animals · Humans |
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