Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Lawyer Claims Zhang Dejiang's Election was Unconstitutional, Weibos and Search Engines Censor "Unconstitutional"


On March 18, 2013, Hangzhou-based lawyer Wang Cheng (王成) sent a letter to China's Supreme People's Court alleging that Zhang Dejiang's (张德江) election to the National People’s Congress was unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated Articles 65 and 103, which read:
Article 65 The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is composed of the following:  
the Chairman;
the Vice-Chairmen;
the Secretary-General; and
the members. 
Minority nationalities are entitled to appropriate representation on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
The National People’s Congress elects, and has the power to recall, members of its Standing Committee.
No one on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall hold office in any of the administrative, judicial or procuratorial organs of the State. 
Article 103 The standing committee of a local people’s congress at or above the county level is composed of a chairman, vice-chairmen and members, and is responsible and reports on its work to the people’s congress at the corresponding level.
A local people’s congress at or above the county level elects, and has the power to recall, members of its standing committee.
No one on the standing committee of a local people’s congress at or above the county level shall hold office in State administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs. 
第六十五条 全国人民代表大会常务委员会由下列人员组成:
  委员长,
  副委员长若干人,
  秘书长,
  委员若干人。
  全国人民代表大会常务委员会组成人员中,应当有适当名额的少数民族代表。
  全国人民代表大会选举并有权罢免全国人民代表大会常务委员会的组成人员。
  全国人民代表大会常务委员会的组成人员不得担任国家行政机关、审判机关和检察机关的职务。
第一百零三条 县级以上的地方各级人民代表大会常务委员会由主任、副主任若干人和委员若干人组成,对本级人民代表大会负责并报告工作。
  县级以上的地方各级人民代表大会选举并有权罢免本级人民代表大会常务委员会的组成人员。
   县级以上的地方各级人民代表大会常务委员会的组成人员不得担任国家行政机关、审判机关和检察机关的职务。
According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post:
The article stipulates that no one on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall hold office in any of the administrative, judicial or procuratorial organs of the state. 
“But when Zhang was elected as the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee on March 14, he was still serving the post of China’s vice-premier,” Wang said. 
Zhang formally stepped down from his government post two days later when the new line-up of vice-premiers was announced.Wang also alleged the elections of five vice-chairmen of the NPC Standing Committee were invalid under the same reasoning: former president of the Supreme People’s Court Wang Shengjun; former head of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Ping; former health minister Chen Zhu; former vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court Wan Xiang; and former director of the State Council Information Office Wang Chen. 
Four of those officials resigned from their former posts within a few days after their election, with the exception of Wang Chen, who is still holding his State Council post.
This screenshot, taken on March 25, 2013, shows that a search for "unconstitutional" (违宪) on Sina Weibo returns no results, just a censorship notice.
These screenshots, taken the same day, show that Sina Weibo also targeted searches for "Hangzhou Lawyer China's Supreme Court" (杭州律师 中国最高法院) for censorship - searches for that term were censored, while searches for "Hangzhou Lawyer," "China's Supreme Court," "Hangzhou China's Supreme Court," and "Lawyer China's Supreme Court" were not censored.
These screenshots show that Baidu was censoring searches for "Wang Cheng Unconstitutional" (王成 违宪), but not "Wang Cheng" or "Unconstitutional."
These screenshots show that Sogou, Soso, and Yahoo.cn were also censoring searches for "Wang Cheng Unconstitutional."



These screenshots show that, while Youdao says that it is unable to find any results for "Wang Cheng Unconstitutional," when a users adds quotation marks ("Wang Cheng 'Unconstitutional'") Youdao is able to find hundreds of results, the first being a blog post by the lawyer Chen Guangwu (陈光武)  entitled "Some Thoughts On Wang Cheng's Bring Suit Claiming National Leaders Elections' Were Unconstitutional and Invalid." (王成诉国家领导人选举违宪和无效案之思考)


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