STATEMENT OF MP IRWIN COTLER

HOUSE OF COMMONS

 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2003

 

Official report

(Hansard)

Foreign Affairs

 

 

Mr. Irwin Cotler (Mount Royal, Lib.): Madame Speaker, we just concluded an all party press conference in support of the case and cause of Dr. Wang Bingzhang, the celebrated Chinese human rights advocate, regarded as the father of the overseas Chinese democracy movement, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in China, the longest sentence ever meted out to a Chinese dissident, on trumped up charges of terrorism and kidnapping. Ironically, as witness testimony has revealed, he was the victim of kidnapping and criminal violence rather than the perpetrator of them.

 

Indeed, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has determined that the charges are without foundation; that his continued detention is in violation of international law; that he has been denied the right to a fair trial; and that China should remedy these violations.

 

Dr. Wang Bingzhang has a close connection to Canada. He is a doctoral graduate from McGill University and his parents, children and siblings reside in Canada.

 

Accordingly, we call upon the Chinese authorities to abide by their undertakings under international law, undertakings also to Canada, which is a co-signatory, to release Dr. Wang Bingzhang from prison, where, as his family testified today, his health is deteriorating, and permit him to be reunited with his family and colleagues in Canada and the United States.