DEMOCRACY FOR CHINA: THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY PROMOTES

A CAMPAIGN FOR THE CANDIDATURE OF THE CHINESE DISSIDENT WEI

JINGSHENG FOR THE 1997 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

Brussels, September 16th, 1996. The Transnational Radical Party has recently, promoted a campaign for the candidature of the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

Wei Has been the leader of the "Wall of Democracy" movement at the end of the seventies, in Peking. Wei was arrested on March 29, 1979, for "divulging State secrets", and was sentenced to 14 years in prison for "counter-revolutionary crime". Wei was released in 1993, thanks to "a false wave of democracy" by the Chinese Government which failed at the attempt to be awarded the host of the 2000 Olympic game, in Peking, but he did not stop denouncing openly, violations of human rights in China.

On April 1st, 1994, Wei was arrested again and detained for twenty months without indictment and trial. He became the symbol of the Chinese government's repression against any form of dissidence and democratic opposition. On April 21st, 1995, Wei was sentenced by the Chinese Authorities to another 15 years of prison to spend in the ill-famed "laogai" of Tangshan. Today, Wei's health condition is very serious, and he needs a constant physician monitoring which can not be guaranteed by the prison's sanitary structures.

For all these reasons and also to star in the Western countries a serious debate on the condition of the democracy in China, the Transnational Radical Party in collaboration with the French's "Federation for Democracy in China" and New Yorkers's "Human Rights in China", is organizing a new campaign in support of the candidacy of Wei for the Nobel Peace Prize 1997.

The moment which the Nobel Committee will decide the winner is coming, and we believe that it is very important to let the International Community know who Wei is, and what is his political status, and his current situation. But, it is also important that by this singular and exemplary story of Wei's democracy commitment, the Western Countries as well as the European Union should decide to have a debate on the necessity to determine a "POLICY" towards China. The new policy should relate economic and trade agreements with the respect for human rights and democracy in China.

As of today, 351 candidacy proposals have been collected, who among those of 220 Deputies and Senators, 130 University Professors and one Government member (categories entitled to present Nobel candidature).

Among WEI's supporters, we remember those of Emma Bonino, European Union Commissioner for humanitarian aids, 65 Parliamentarians from all groups, Deputies and Senators from 20 different Parliaments, and 5 University Presidents.

The campaign in support of Wei Nobel Peace Prize 1997 will finish in January 1997, when all the collected proposals will be delivered to the Nobel Committee, in Oslo.

Enclosed here, you will find the list of the first 351

supporters of Wei's candidature.

Transnational Radical Party