On Wednesday June 4th, 1997, Li Song and Lin Guo hui, both Chinese pro-democracy activists living in Tokyo, were arrested in front of the Chinese Embassy in Japan. They were among those, including Wu Er Kaishi, leading figure in Tiananmen Square in 1989, who participated in a demonstration commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre.
Messrs. Li and Lin were heading for the embassy with the purpose of delivering their message to the Chinese government and expressing their respects in memory of the victims of the incident of eight years ago. Unlike in past years, however,the embassy was heavily guarded for the day, leading to a degree of confusion which regrettably led to their arrest. Mr Li's car ran against a barrier that the police had erected in the road, and Mr Lin struggled with police officers who tried to prevent him from approaching the embassy. Messrs. Li and Lin did not provoke this confusion, however, but found themselves caught up in an un-premeditated and unexpected conflict. The situation resulted rather from the unnecessarily heavy-handed measures used by the police against a peaceful demonstration. Neither had ever committed a crime of violence.
These two have been detained for investigation into the offence of "komushikkobogai", or resisting an officer. Japanese law states that it is up to the office of prosecutions to determine whether there is a need to bring such a case to court. In other words they have the authority to drop the prosecution.
A petition is currently being gathered to request that the case against them be dropped. We sincerely urge you to join our petition as soon as possible since prosecutors are due to make a decision by June 25th. Your message will be conveyed to the prosecuting authorities.
If Messr. Li and Lin are forcibly returned to China they face political persecution. It is therefore imperative that deportation be prevented.
Jun. 16th, 1997
Support for Li and Lin
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