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Minnie Chan

When Xiong Yuguo was told last Tuesday that his wife had been held for alleged 'illegal possession of state secrets', he was shocked.

How could this be possible? His wife, Liu Guiqin, had just been appointed as a mediator by a township party secretary three weeks ago.

'My wife is an open and upright person who is eager to help the underprivileged,' Mr Xiong said.

'What she has done is just to help make our society more harmonious and stable.'

Although Ms Liu  has the trust of petitioners and even township party secretary Zhao Hongfu, it was not enough to save her from the trouble she faces.

According to Mr Xiong, his wife, a 52-year-old veteran campaigner, was visited by petitioners who had just returned from Beijing. They had given her some documents which apparently contained 'state secrets', he said. Petitioners in Yunxi county in Hubei Province believed Ms Liu was someone to be trusted.

'She even gave money to poor people so that they could go to Beijing to petition,' said Zheng Dajing, a petitioner from Yunxi county who has stayed in Beijing. 'She works long hours every day although she has heart disease and backbone spurs.'

When she officially received her appointment as a mediator late last month, Ms Liu made clear that she wanted to be a bridge between the authorities and disgruntled petitioners who believed they have been wronged.

When she was interviewed earlier this month - three days before her arrest - Ms Liu was optimistic  about her role in the future.

She said she hoped that petitioners who sought her advice would no longer have to take their problems to the central government. She was confident that local authorities who enlisted her help were not just trying to silence her.

Without an independent judiciary, Beijing is beset by a constant steam of petitioners - from victims of official corruption  to anyone who believed justice had not been served in their cases. They  hope the nation's leaders will intervene and right the wrongs, even though statistics show only a small number of petitioners have actually succeeded.

Afraid of  losing face, local officials often try to intimidate petitioners to stop them taking the problem to Beijing. As top leaders repeatedly stress the importance of a 'harmonious society', officials are under pressure to deal with problems at a local level.

Ms Liu was no stranger to the process. She had petitioned provincial authorities and Beijing more than 30 times between 2002 and 2005, after her house was torn down by authorities without proper compensation.

Ms Liu said both local officials and petitioners were engaging in no-win tactics.

She explained that local governments were spending vast sums of money to stop petitioners from reaching Beijing, while the petitioners were going bankrupt and exhausting themselves in their efforts. 'I hope I can alleviate burdens for both parties,' she said.

She said she had taken the job of mediator because she believed in Mr Zhao, the township party secretary. 'I took the job because I appreciate our secretary, Zhao Hongfu, who is really willing to listen to petitioners,' she said.

But  Mr Zhao was promoted  to vice-director in charge of the petition office in Shiyan city , which took him away from local issues,  and she was arrested.

Human rights activist Huang Qi ,  a friend of Ms Liu, said her arrest did not surprise him.

'Ms Liu and Mr Zhao's experiences reflect that the Communist Party won't tolerate interaction between officials who are upright and human rights activists because that kind of interaction would expose more indecency of corrupt cadres inside the organisation,' he said.

Hu Xingdou ,  a political analyst from the Beijing Institute of Technology, said it was unreasonable to charge civilians for 'illegal possession of state secrets' because they were not the source of the leak.

'The secret document must be leaked by officials ...It's just an excuse for officials to deal with Ms Liu,' Professor Hu said.



Woman who helped the powerless seek justice charged with having state secrets