Local governments warned again to stop intercepting, detaining petitioners

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China reiterated Tuesday that local discipline authorities are not allowed to intercept or detain petitioners.

Zhang Shaolong, deputy director of the letters and calls office of the commission, said disciplinary authorities of all levels should eradicate any wrongful acts to intercept "regular" petitions at "reception venues" and "public places."

Zhang also demanded petitioners go to appointed reception venues to ensure social order. "Yet we have our own jurisdiction and cannot handle all petitions. We accept reports of violations to Party discipline, appeals of punishment on oneself, and suggestions to the anti-graft endeavor," said Zhang, adding that controversies including forced demolition, pollution and labor disputes should seek resolution at related agencies.

A national conference in January took the crackdown on petition interception as a major goal for the year.

Petition interception is a common practice of local authorities aiming to prevent petitioners from turning to higher authorities. Some petitioners suffered violence or were sent to re-education-through-labor centers.

However, Zhang's comments left observers wondering if intercepting a petitioner at "non-public places" would be acceptable and could lead to more secret interceptions.

"We know this is essentially wrong, but we get so much pressure from superior authorities and would be punished if we allow many petitioners to go to Beijing," an official who joined some interceptions from Mianyang, Sichuan Province, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Global Times earlier.

Petitioners also said while they receive a response from central agencies, their cases are often left unsolved or referred back to local authorities. "I was intercepted by local police after petitioning about the delay in my case, and they sent me to the re-education center in 2009 to shut me up," Chen Bo, a former prison guard in Liaoning Province who tried to report the illegal behavior of his warden, told the Global Times.

The keys to stopping interceptions are to take away the superior pressure for local authorities and improve the ability of judicial organs, but eventually the mechanism should be canceled, said Yu Jianrong, an expert and professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.