Initiatives for China   10-10-2008
Contact: Jim Geheran 202.290.1423 508.494.5682 (cell) jgeheran@initiativesforchina.org

No response from prison authorities where 61-year old Dr. Wang is serving a life sentence for pro-democracy activity. The family of Dr. Wang Bingzhang, father of the overseas Chinese democracy movement, has expressed growing concern for his life. Dr. Wang is currently serving his seventh year of a life sentence in a prison in Guangdong Province, China. He is 61-years old, in poor health, and has reportedly suffered several strokes while in prison. Dr. Wang is a ermanent resident of the United States who gave up the practice of medicine to advocate for democracy in China. While in Vietnam in 2002, he was allegedly kidnapped by Chinese state police and transported into China where he was given a secret trial and sentenced to life in prison. He has spent much of his prison term in solitary confinement. Prison authorities permit his family one visitation per month for 30 minutes.

According to Ti-Anna Wang, The 19 year old daughter of Dr. Wang, prison authorities typically notify her family by the 20th of each month regarding the visitation schedule for the following month. “We have received no communication from the prison authorities October’s visit” said Ms. Wang, “My mother has placed several calls to the prison. In each case, the call was answered, but the phone was immediately disconnected”. Ms. Wang also stated that prison authorities have not yet responded to formal inquiries from Dr. Wang’s lawyers. “My family is extremely concerned for my father’s health.
It is allergy season in the region where he is imprisoned. My father suffers from severe hay fever, which impairs his breathing and causes permanent lung damaged, if untreated.” Ms. Wang went on to say that the only time visitation announcements were delayed in the past were due to health issues or as punishment for hunger strikes that Dr. Wang has periodically undertaken to protest his treatment in prison.

Ms. Wang urgently requests all possible assistance from the U.S. and Canadian Governments with determining the status of her father. She can be contacted through Initiatives for China.