Six-month-old baby girl with U.S. citizenship forcibly taken from father by Shanghai court; Father severely beaten and hospitalized

China Aid Association                 August 16, 2013

ChinaAid has learned that a six-month-old baby girl with American citizenship was taken forcefully from her father’s arms by a Shanghai court. Her whereabouts are unknown. Additionally, her father was violently beaten and has been hospitalized.

On Aug. 7, Yuan Jianbin brought his six-month-old daughter, Chris Yuan to China from America to visit his relatives. Little did he anticipate that he would be brutally beaten by the people associated with Shanghai Second Intermediate Court because he tried to defend his rights. He was pushed down a staircase from the second floor and suffered severe injuries to his vertebral column, ribs and head, which left him in need of surgery. What is more serious is that for several days now, the whereabouts of Yuan’s daughter are unknown.

In June 2012, Yuan’s wife, Wang Lingling, was working in the Business Operation Section of Qilu Securities Company and encountered resentment from the CEO of the company because she defended the interests of the clients. When the time came to renew Wang’s contract, the company refused to do so under the excuse that her job performance failed the requirements of the company. The company ignored the fact that she was pregnant and disregarded the laws protecting the rights of women.

Additionally, the company didn’t give Wang any severance pay as stipulated by the law. Yuan, as the universal agent of his wife, sued the company through the Hongkou District Labor Arbitration Committee of Shanghai. The Labor Arbitration Committee ruled that the company was required to pay Yuan’s wife over 40,000 yuan. However, neither side accepted the ruling and instead brought the case to Hongkou District People’s Court.

In early December 2012, Hongkou District People’s Court ruled that Qilu Securities be required to restore the labor relations with Yuan’s wife and pay her the salaries that were withheld as well as the severance pay owed to her. Qilu Securities had objections to this ruling and appealed at Shanghai Municipal Second Intermediate People’s Court. So far, nine months have passed and there have been no results.

When Yuan came back to China recently, he wanted to learn the results of the trial on his wife’s labor dispute. The judge in Shanghai Second Intermediate Court had an appointment to meet with Yuan in the court on the morning of Aug. 12. Yuan brought his daughter and arrived at the court on time.

In the reception room of Shanghai Second Intermediate Court, Yuan wrote an application statement for advance execution in which he requested that Qilu Securities pay two months salary to his wife. He also handed his wife’s bankcard number to the judge, Qiao Beihua. Then, Yuan asked the judge three questions: when the court would rule on the case, why the court wouldn’t rule at that time given that the case had been delayed beyond the legal limit, and why the executives in the defendant’s company had already announced the verdict before the court had ruled.

The judge not only refused to answer Yuan’s questions, she simply went away in anger. Given this situation, Yuan prepared to go home with the baby, but the employees of the court asked him to wait, saying that the leaders of the court would receive him. Yuan waited until it was after 12 p.m. and the security guards had changed shifts. Suddenly, seven or eight “stout and husky” men in black uniforms came to the reception room. When Yuan saw this, he knew immediately that things were not going well for him, so he said to them: “My baby is hungry and I don’t have the purified water for the milk powder. I’m also hungry and two friends are waiting for me downstairs. I’m going to ask them to buy me some food and water.” The men wouldn’t let Yuan go and wouldn’t let him buy the purified water for the baby’s milk powder.

When their attention was elsewhere, Yuan climbed to the staircase exit of the second floor and tried to ask his friends to help him buy some food and water. At this moment, the guards noticed Yuan’s actions. Some of them began attacking him and others tried to pry open his hands. Yuan fell from the second floor directly to the first floor landing on his head and back, knocking him unconscious. The result of the examination at the hospital showed bone fractures in the eighth and ninth ribs, a compressive bone fracture to his fifth vertebrae and cerebral concussion. Yuan required five stitches on his head.

Yuan‘s friend saw him on the floor with blood all over his head and called the police. Only with police intervention did the court allow Yuan to be taken to the hospital. When the ambulance arrived, Yuan, who was in and out of consciousness, demanded that he go to the hospital with his baby, but the employees of the court wouldn’t let him do so. They said that they would find a maid to take care of the baby and they would bring the baby for him to see whenever he wanted.

After Yuan was hospitalized, he began to ask to see his daughter. Approximately 30 hours passed and there was still no word on when Yuan would be able to see his child. After calling the police three times, the police came and took Yuan’s statement, but the court still didn’t bring the baby to him. At times the court told him that the baby had been sent to an orphanage. Other times, they said the baby is under the good care of a maid. Yuan requested that the court provide to him the address of the baby, but they refused.

Yuan, in response, went to the gate of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and requested that he see his baby. Achieving no results, he went to the U.S. Consulate in China. By this time, the consulate had closed for the day and the employees, Chinese nationals, working at the gate of the consulate called the police. The police brought Yuan to Xuhui District Police Station and again took his statement.

By this time, Yuan was very weak, dizzy and had a piercing headache. According to Yuan, he couldn’t stand up straight due to pain in his midsection. Yuan’s friends brought him back to the hospital because of the pain and told him that they would continue to look for the baby.

In the early morning of Aug. 13, doctors told Yuan they would arrange for the surgical operation as soon as possible and they were preparing for the operation step by step. However, at about 10 a.m., “over a dozen stout men” arrived at the hospital and kept watch over Yuan. According to Yuan, the men were all over the wards and the corridors. As a result of this, the order in the hospital was broken and no arrangements were made for Yuan’s operation.

“Now, these stout men are watching me both inside the ward and outside the ward,” Yuan said. It has been over 80 hours since Yuan last saw his baby.

Yuan calls on people of all walks of life and the international media to show concern regarding the whereabouts of his baby. He also hopes the U.S. Consulate in China will help him find his infant child. Yuan said he hopes the U.S. government will protect the safety of its citizens staying overseas.

“We urge the U.S. government to take immediate action to rescue this American citizen baby girl back to her parents,” Bob Fu, ChinaAid founder, said after speaking to both parents of Chris Yuan. “This baby girl does not deserve this kind of punishment simply for her father’s legitimate pursuit of human rights and justice inside a Chinese court.”

Contact information for the family is below:
Ms. Wang(girl’s mother) in California:
Home- (626)593-5872, Cell- (626)283-7126


China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Website: www.chinaaid.org
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Six-month-old baby girl with U.S. citizenship forcibly taken from father by Shanghai court; Father severely beaten and hospitalized

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