B4-1504, 1505, 1508, 1545, 1550 and 1564/95

Resolution on the persecution of Wei Jingsheng

The European Parliament,

A.appalled by the savage 14-year prison sentence inflicted on 13 December 1995 by the Intermediate Court in Beijing on Wei Jingsheng, the Chinese dissident,

B.recognizing that Wei Jingsheng, who was charged with attempting to overthrow the Chinese Government, is in reality being persecuted because he has demanded democratic rights for the Chinese people,

C.whereas Wei Jingsheng has already served a sentence of 15 years in prison in the laogais (labour reform camps) and the salt mines of Nanpu, following his involvement in the Wall of Democracy movement and his appeals for a more democratic regime in China,

D.shocked that since his re-arrest on 1 April 1994, Wei Jingsheng has been held incommunicado and that his family and lawyers were provided with no information about him until he was charged on 21 November 1995,

1.Condemns the persecution of Wei Jingsheng by the Chinese Government and calls for his immediate release;

2.Insists that the Commission and the Council consider how best to initiate a joint action in accordance with the Treaty on European Union to exert long-term pressure on China to respect human rights and considers that trade and investment policies must be considered as means of such pressure;

3.Calls for the release of all prisoners of conscience and the immediate closure of the laogais;

4.Instructs its Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China to raise the problem of human rights there with the Chinese authorities;

5.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the parliaments of the Member States and the Government and National People's Congress of China.