July 17, 2008

China-human rights

Last week Nicolas Sarkozy, holder of the rotating EU presidency, defended his decision before the European parliament to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, copresident of the Greens/EFA Group in the European parliament, responded that such a decision was irresponsible towards the numerous political prisoners held in Chinese prisons. At Nicolas Sarkozy's request, Daniel Cohn-Bendit has established a list of political prisoners.


Last week Nicolas Sarkozy, holder of the rotating EU presidency, defended his decision before the European parliament to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, copresident of the Greens/EFA Group in the European parliament, responded that such a decision was irresponsible towards the numerous political prisoners held in Chinese prisons. At Nicolas Sarkozy's request, Daniel Cohn-Bendit has established a list of political prisoners.

The total number of political prisoners in China runs into the thousands. Some individuals have been the subject of European parliament resolutions, but are yet to be released. Find attached Daniel Cohn-Bendit's letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, together with a list of prisoners drawn up by the Greens/EFA Group. The attached names also include the list of prisoners drawn up by the "China Olympics 2008 Collective", an association of nine human rights groups, as well as the list of the NGO "Human Rights in China".

The Greens/EFA Group has launched an information campaign and blog on human rights in China:

Press Service of the Greens/EFA Group
in the European Parliament

Christopher Coakley,
Press Officer,
The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament
Tel: Brussels +32 2 2841667 / Strasburg +33 3 88174375
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email: christopher.coakley@europarl.europa.eu