中國憲政紀錄片製片人被判刑

​2014年12月31日

中國憲政紀錄片製片人被判刑

黃安偉

[YouTube上的《百年憲政》片花]

一名中國導演製作了一部有關中國憲法的紀錄片，涉及到讓執政的共產黨和政府遵守憲法的努力，他的律師說，北京市一個區級法院周二判處該導演一年徒刑，罪名是「非法經營」。

該影片的製作者沈勇平於今年4月被拘留，在6月4日被正式逮捕，那是學生領導的抗議活動1989年被軍隊鎮壓的25周年紀念日。今年的這個紀念日前後，有不少中國自由派人士被拘留，其中大多數已獲釋。

法院對沈勇平案的審理始於12月12日。他的律師張雪忠在接受電話採訪時表示，對沈勇平的有罪判決和判刑很「荒誕」，並說沈勇平製作其名為《百年憲政》的紀錄片不是為了盈利。他說，沈勇平在網上發佈紀錄片，讓人免費下載，並向出錢資助製作影片的人贈送了數百張DVD光盤。

張雪忠說，沈勇平一直被關押在北京朝陽區看守所，他很可能會留在那裡服刑。張雪忠說，如果官員把他的一年刑期從他四月份被拘留時算起，那麼他會在四個月後獲釋。

習近平於2012年11月出任黨的總書記，後來擔任了國家主席，他掌權後，當局開始打擊主張憲政的中國自由派人士。黨的主要報紙《人民日報》還發表社論批評了所有這類主張。最近，黨的領導人一直在說，中國的治理應該根據憲法，但還沒有看到任何執行憲法的明顯行動。

黃安偉(Edward Wong)是《紐約時報》北京分社社長。

Kiki Zhao對本文有研究貢獻。

翻譯：Cindy Hao

December 31, 2014

Prison Sentence for Maker of Documentary on Chinese Constitutional Rule

By EDWARD WONG

[Link to the trailer of "A Hundred Years of Constitutionalism": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIeMzDWQTEU#t=170]

A Chinese filmmaker who made a documentary on the Chinese Constitution and efforts to get the ruling Communist Party and the government to abide by constitutional law was sentenced on Tuesday by a Beijing district court to one year in prison for running an "illegal business," his lawyer said.

The filmmaker, Shen Yongping, was detained in April and formally arrested on June 4, the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on student-led protesters in 1989. Many Chinese liberals were detained around that time this year, and most have since been released.

The court hearing for Mr. Shen began on Dec. 12. In a telephone interview, his lawyer, Zhang Xuezhong, called the verdict and sentencing "nonsense" and said Mr. Shen had not made his documentary, titled "A Hundred Years of Constitutionalism," for profit. He said Mr. Shen had posted the video online to be downloaded for free and had given away hundreds of DVDs to people who had contributed money for the documentary's production.

Mr. Shen has been kept in a detention center in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, and Mr. Zhang said he was likely to remain there. If officials count his one-year sentence as having started with his detention in April, then he could be released in four months, Mr. Zhang said.

After Xi Jinping assumed power in November 2012, as the Communist Party chief and later the nation's president, the authorities began a crackdown on liberal Chinese advocating constitutional rule. People's Daily, the main party newspaper, published editorials criticizing any such calls. Lately, party leaders have been saying China should be governed according to constitutional law, but there have been no noticeable moves to enforce the Constitution.

Kiki Zhao contributed research.