The Chinese Regime Is Turning Homes Into Prisons
CommentaryThe number of house arrests in China has increased under Xi Jinping’s rule. Furthermore, revisions to the Criminal Procedure Law have allowed Beijing to weaponize house arrest and use it to target rights defenders and dissidents. There are times when house arrests, or “residential surveillance” as it is officially called, are warranted for certain individuals–such as young mothers, pregnant women, those with illness or caring for others—if their crimes are not seen as severe. China is no different. Yet a new report by Safeguard Defenders, titled “Home As Prison,” has shown how China’s legal changes over the last decade have weaponized what house arrests can actually mean, and government data, not surprisingly, shows Beijing has exploded the scale of its use. In itself, the underlying logic and its outcomes are nothing new; if the police are given power, even if it is marked as an exception, they will take it and run with it. Exceptions become norms in China real quick. Need an example? Did you know the police are allowed to detain someone for only 48 hours, like in most countries, until they need to ask the prosecutor for their arrest? Probably not, because every time the issue is mentioned in the media, they tend to say the police can detain you for 37 days before you need to be arrested. And, in a way, they are right. There are a long string of exceptions that the police can invoke to extend this period, and those are now invoked so regularly, in every conceivable case, that it has become the norm. The new report, released on Sept. 6, shocked many people when it revealed that Chinese authorities have placed up to 860,000 people under house arrest since 2013, and that is not even counting this year. In fact, house arrest is so regularly used arbitrarily and illegally against rights defenders and dissidents that the real number is likely over 1 million already. Even if it is not, it will pass the million mark real soon. Although these numbers are shocking, many media reports failed to take note of the legal changes that have driven these changes, and how the nature of house arrests has changed—and it is there that the real horror lies. Legal changes—first in 2012, and later again in 2018—gave the police power to not only remand someone to house arrest, but to place a long string of restrictions on them. The police themselves apply all these restrictions and no justification is needed. You can now be locked away in your house, possibly for six months, with all communication cut off, including visitations. Worse still, police can use this new “tool” in the few instances where their actions are denied by a prosecutor. For example, if the police seek to have someone arrested, which needs to be approved by the prosecutor, and it is rejected, they can slap house arrest on that person, instead of setting them free. The decision to use house arrests is taken by the police itself, with no judicial review or supervision. It has given police the power to run amok and to do so with impunity. Even though the safeguards the Chinese judiciary is supposed to provide those detained and arrested are weak, and ignored at will, at least they exist. With house arrest, police have found another tool to circumvent them altogether. Considering the sheer number of victims, and all indicators point toward its use continuing to expand, Chinese police have managed to turn people’s homes into prisons. With the unrestrained power that this gives the police, it’s hard to see it being reined in, and things are likely to get worse before they can get better. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Follow Peter Dahlin is the founder of the NGO Safeguard Defenders and the co-founder of the Beijing-based Chinese NGO China Action (2007–2016). He is the author of “Trial By Media,” and contributor to “The People’s Republic of the Disappeared.” He lived in Beijing from 2007, until detained and placed in a secret jail in 2016, subsequently deported and banned. Prior to living in China, he worked for the Swedish government with gender equality issues, and now lives in Madrid, Spain.
Udumbara
Commentary
The number of house arrests in China has increased under Xi Jinping’s rule. Furthermore, revisions to the Criminal Procedure Law have allowed Beijing to weaponize house arrest and use it to target rights defenders and dissidents.
There are times when house arrests, or “residential surveillance” as it is officially called, are warranted for certain individuals–such as young mothers, pregnant women, those with illness or caring for others—if their crimes are not seen as severe. China is no different. Yet a new report by Safeguard Defenders, titled “Home As Prison,” has shown how China’s legal changes over the last decade have weaponized what house arrests can actually mean, and government data, not surprisingly, shows Beijing has exploded the scale of its use.
In itself, the underlying logic and its outcomes are nothing new; if the police are given power, even if it is marked as an exception, they will take it and run with it. Exceptions become norms in China real quick. Need an example? Did you know the police are allowed to detain someone for only 48 hours, like in most countries, until they need to ask the prosecutor for their arrest? Probably not, because every time the issue is mentioned in the media, they tend to say the police can detain you for 37 days before you need to be arrested. And, in a way, they are right. There are a long string of exceptions that the police can invoke to extend this period, and those are now invoked so regularly, in every conceivable case, that it has become the norm.
The new report, released on Sept. 6, shocked many people when it revealed that Chinese authorities have placed up to 860,000 people under house arrest since 2013, and that is not even counting this year. In fact, house arrest is so regularly used arbitrarily and illegally against rights defenders and dissidents that the real number is likely over 1 million already. Even if it is not, it will pass the million mark real soon.
Although these numbers are shocking, many media reports failed to take note of the legal changes that have driven these changes, and how the nature of house arrests has changed—and it is there that the real horror lies.
Legal changes—first in 2012, and later again in 2018—gave the police power to not only remand someone to house arrest, but to place a long string of restrictions on them. The police themselves apply all these restrictions and no justification is needed. You can now be locked away in your house, possibly for six months, with all communication cut off, including visitations.
Worse still, police can use this new “tool” in the few instances where their actions are denied by a prosecutor. For example, if the police seek to have someone arrested, which needs to be approved by the prosecutor, and it is rejected, they can slap house arrest on that person, instead of setting them free. The decision to use house arrests is taken by the police itself, with no judicial review or supervision. It has given police the power to run amok and to do so with impunity.
Even though the safeguards the Chinese judiciary is supposed to provide those detained and arrested are weak, and ignored at will, at least they exist. With house arrest, police have found another tool to circumvent them altogether.
Considering the sheer number of victims, and all indicators point toward its use continuing to expand, Chinese police have managed to turn people’s homes into prisons. With the unrestrained power that this gives the police, it’s hard to see it being reined in, and things are likely to get worse before they can get better.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
