On May 28, 1989, a week before the crackdown, I was taken to Qincheng Prison. I immediately asked the prison guards for copies of those laws, which they brought to me two days later. The very next day, I used them to write my first letter to the Communist Party Central Committee, pointing out that it was illegal to detain me without legal charges or a documented administrative decision. A member of the Politburo sent me a message to tell me that my letter had been passed on. I never received a response.
At the time, the only thing that I regretted was that political reform had not started earlier. I regretted that Deng Xiaoping had decided to overturn Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang’s proposal to resolve the crisis within democratic principles and the rule of law. But as much as I was concerned about the negative impact that the turn of events had for political reform, I could never have imagined that they would actually open fire on innocent civilians. I don’t think anyone except Deng himself could have foreseen such a thing.
During my endless hours in Qincheng, I thought long and hard about the demonstrations, and I could come to no other conclusion than that the crackdown was wrong. The demonstrations that spring were not only the voice of a few Beijing students, but expressed the concerns of all the Chinese people. They demanded democracy and an end to corruption. They wanted to ensure that the benefits of economic reform would truly go to the people and not just to government officials and their families.
The economic reforms had brought prosperity to China, but a small number of people with power and influence were reaping the greatest benefits. This was profiteering and nepotism. Only with connections could one have opportunity. The so-called market economy did not offer true competition. Without competition, there could be no transparency. This situation caused the people of China great discontent, and proved that economic reform alone is not enough. It must be accompanied by political reform as well.
After Deng’s crackdown on June 4, China’s policy shifted toward tighter political control but continued liberalization of the economy. The government hoped to increase public tolerance of political constraints by offering greater economic freedoms, and to use the opening of the Chinese market to undermine the international sanctions that were put in place after the crackdown. Even as this policy has gained considerable success, the question remains: how long can this last?
Economic liberalization will continue to clash with political controls. Political intolerance promotes absolute power, while economic liberalization increases opportunities. The combination creates a hotbed for corruption. In the past 10 years, the greatest benefits of economic reform have continued to go to the powerful few. The use of power in exchange for money has run rampant. Unequal opportunity and the uneven execution of the law make the vast majority of people believe that their futures are unpredictable.
As long as authoritarianism and corruption prevail, the voice of Tiananmen will continue. In the face of the growing trend of democracy around the world, even the Chinese government was finally compelled to sign the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In today’s global environment, they will find it more and more difficult to maintain their policy of political controls.
The Tiananmen crackdown went beyond any possible legal justification, and the principles of human rights and the spirit of democracy. If the verdict on the crackdown is not reversed, then could there be another “Tiananmen Incident”? If the government has unchecked power, it could happen again. To avoid that, the decision to crack down must be redressed.
The current leaders of China now have an opportunity to re-evaluate and surpass Deng’s legacy. Most of China’s current leaders were not in decision-making positions at the time of the student movement, and need not now bear the negative responsibility. But if this government isn’t subject to the people’s supervision and the rigors of rule of law, then the people must ask: are the government’s domestic and foreign policies responsible, stable and predictable? The people have the right to demand that the leaders uphold justice and the Constitution by reassessing the 1989 movement. This is a responsibility that they cannot refuse.
If this re-evaluation comes to pass, then my time in prison will have been worthwhile.
title: “Reversing The Verdict” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “April Hanson”
Legal experts say such false confessions do happen. And DNA testing, which has been key in reversing hundreds of wrongful convictions, is highlighting the problem. According to Williams College psychology professor Saul Kassin, who has studied false confessions, 20 percent of those eventually cleared by DNA confessed to police. “There is,” says Kassin, “a segment of the population–young people, those with low IQs or mental illness–who, under intense pressure, make false statements against themselves.” In the jogger case, four of the teens made incriminating admissions, but their descriptions of the attack were incomplete, inaccurate and, at times, contradictory. Investigators who reviewed the case were careful not to suggest wrongdoing or coercion on the part of the police, although many questions remain about how and why the teens confessed.
The second-guessing could be avoided, legal experts say, by requiring police to videotape the entire interrogation, rather than simply the incriminating narrative after hours, sometimes days, of questioning. “It’s the only way the juries can understand the context and determine for themselves whether a confession is true or false,” says Steven Drizen, a law professor at Northwestern University who has studied 130 false-confession cases.
Two states, Minnesota and Alaska, already require such videotaping. Although police in Minnesota initially feared taping would hobble them, Minneapolis prosecutor Amy Klobuchar says the opposite has turned out to be true. With full videotaped interrogations, she says, judges hold fewer suppression hearings and simply go to the videotape. Tapes also protect police against false accusations of coercion and brutality. Full interrogation tapes, she says, bolster the prosecution. “In court, defend-ants look like choirboys,” says Klobuchar. “But with tapes, jurors see his true state of mind the night he was arrested–swearing at police and acting up.”
After a judge officially vacates the convictions in February, the five men are expected to file civil suits against the city. But because investigators found no police wrongdoing, it is unlikely the men will prevail. Reyes is serving a long sentence for raping and murdering another woman. The jogger, who has no memory of the attack, is writing a book to be published this spring. “She’ll touch on the collapse of the legal case,” said Patricia Eisemann, chief of publicity for Scribner. “But she won’t dwell on it. She is writing an inspirational story.” Her recovery is indeed inspiration. The legal case, though, is a story of a different kind.
