In an effort to keep the Chinese regime honest and to set the record straight in case of untimely death, dissidents in China have begun posting statements online saying they will not commit suicide.
The statements were prompted by the suspicious death of Li Wangyang, a democratic activist in Hunan Province who died on June 6 under unusual circumstances in a Shaoyang City hospital. Local police said Li “committed suicide by hanging himself.”
After media reported the incident, democratic and rights activists within and outside China suggested Li’s case may more likely have been a murder. What the activists say was another typical case of “death labeled as suicide,” according to a report from VOA’s China bureau.
Dissidents have posted “I won’t commit suicide” announcements one after another on Twitter and in microblogs. The announcements say that if something happens to them, it’s not suicide or an accident, but murder by the Chinese Communist regime.
Rights activist Hu Jia, who was jailed for “instigating subversion of the regime,” said via Twitter on June 6, “It looks like it’s time to set up a notarized statement in my lawyer’s office: I, Hu Jia, will not commit suicide at any time, facing anyone, or under any circumstance, or for any matter. If you are a dissident, rights activist, and are often harassed or illegally detained by national security guards, I suggest you keep a written statement or notarized letter [to this effect]. There are too many ‘death labeled as suicide’ cases in this country.”
Economist Xia Yeliang also tweeted a “never commit suicide” statement, saying “I am prudent yet optimistic. I am healthy and have strong beliefs.” Xia said he would never commit suicide, even in the face of illness, political oppression, or economic difficulty. “Except for the totalitarian regime, I do not have any other enemy,” he declared at the end of his statement.
A Fujian dissident using the Internet name “Butcher” published a similar announcement on Twitter. He said in his statement: “I am full of hope, so I am waiting for the daylight, for the day to come to bring them to justice.”
“Everybody is worried about the future,” Butcher told a VOA reporter. “After Li Wangyang’s unusual death was labeled a suicide, everyone is very concerned, especially people like us who pay close attention to people like him and to this type of thing.
“So, I‘d better publish an announcement stating I’ll never commit suicide in case something similar happens to me, to let people know it’s not suicide. ”
Butcher said in China, “death due to suicide” is no longer just a few individual cases, it is very common.
“The ‘never commit suicide’ announcements are to let others know that we live in terror of being killed and labeled as suicides,” Butcher said. “In the current situation, the same thing could happen to anybody.”
Some Internet users in China receive “special attention.” When they have posted online statements saying, “I will never commit suicide,” the posts have been deleted or the accounts closed.
Rights activist Wang Lihong tweeted, “I posted an ‘I’ll never commit suicide' announcement on Sino.com and my six-month-old account there was killed.”
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