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Thirteen people who describe themselves as the “victims of forced confessions broadcast on Chinese television” wrote an open letter to Europe’s largest satellite operator, Eutelsat, asking it to review the policy of the Chinese broadcasting company CGTN and CCTV-4.
In an open letter dated March 30, a group of 13 people, describing themselves as “victims of serious human rights violations perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China,” asked French satellite television company Eutelsat. , to reconsider its policy of carrying the Chinese state. media.
The signatories claim that they “were forced by Chinese police to record confessions of alleged crimes and these were then broadcast by Chinese state-run Communist Party-controlled television stations – CGTN and CCTV- 4 – which are both broadcast in France via Eutelsat “.
Asked to respond to the allegations, Eutelsat told RFI that “it is not its responsibility to judge the content and suspend the broadcasting of a channel under contract without an injunction from a competent authority”.
The Paris-based European Satellite Television Organization (Eutelsat) is the world’s third largest satellite operator in terms of revenue. Its 39 satellites broadcast nearly 7,000 television channels, including Sky, Fox News, the sister channel of RFI, France24, BBC World and CNN International, covering most of Europe, but also in Africa, Asia and the Americas. .
The 13 signatories include 11 Chinese citizens and two non-Chinese, representing dozens of people who have been detained or imprisoned by Chinese authorities, and who have been forced to publicly admit their alleged wrongdoing.
Public shame
Publicly shaming those accused of wrongdoing has a long tradition in Communist China. It is not uncommon for people who are caught breaking the rules to write a self-review. Public shame came to a head during brutal political campaigns such as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when the culprits paraded in front of a large audience, often wearing oddly shaped hats or bearing plaques with their names written on them. backwards, or crossed out with red ink.
One of the trials that may have inspired the shame of the public today through the modern media was the 1980 show trial of the widow of Mao Jiang Qing, accused of leading the “ gang of four which ruled China after Mao’s death in 1976.
Today, the public shame of criminals continues and still includes political prisoners: people who have expressed doubts about the CCP’s supremacy or who have violated one or more of the party’s “ red lines ” such as the promotion of the independence of Taiwan, Tibet or Xinjiang.
Torture
“As the direct victims of this practice, we ask you to carefully consider the information provided below and determine whether television providers in democratic societies should continue to be morally complicit in the dissemination of intentionally distorted information obtained. through torture, threats and deprivation “. wrote the thirteen.
The open letter is supported by the Spanish human rights organization Safeguard Defenders, whose founder, co-signer Peter Dahlin, himself paraded in front of millions of viewers on Chinese central television. Dahlin says the defendants were “denied the right to a fair trial, the right to see a lawyer and the right not to be tortured” as they found themselves coerced by threats to their families, themselves. themselves “and by torture”, to agree to appear in front of the cameras and “confess” their crimes.
According to the signatories, Chinese state television has broadcast forced confessions from more than 100 people since Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, stressing that “most of the victims are rights lawyers, NGO workers. and journalists “.
The letter notes that Australian public broadcaster SBS temporarily ceased using CGTN content in March pending a review of human rights concerns. Also in March, UK broadcast regulator Ofcom pulled CGTN off the air for bias and breach of privacy. The Chinese channel then succeeded in obtaining a European broadcasting license via the French regulator CSA.
Just weeks after the CSA determined that CGTN met the technical criteria required for broadcast, Safeguard Defenders filed two complaints against the channel.
China has retaliated against the expulsion of the UK’s CGTN by banning the BBC from broadcasting in China – even though the BBC’s reception in China is limited to foreigner resorts and 5-star hotels. In response to complaints from Safeguard Defenders, CGTN said the rights group intends to “distort and harm the image and interests of China.”
At the same time, Eutelsat underlines that the responsibility for the content “in the case of non-European channels” lies with the regulator of the country where the uplink is located, “in this case the CSA based in France”, which also has the capacity to take decisions. legal measures “.
Eutelsat insists that it “will immediately comply with any subsequent decision of the CSA or the French courts, as it systematically does”.
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