“屠夫”的网络维权战 ‘BUTCHER' TAKES WEB FIGHT TO BEIJING
Wu Gan is known to most people as “the Butcher”, the internet name he uses for blogging, tweeting and uploading articles and videos to the web. | 对于吴淦其人，大多数人熟悉的是“屠夫”这个名号。吴淦用这个网名发表博文和推特，在 网络上发帖子和上传视频。 |
From his Beijing office, which he has dubbed “the Abattoir”, he spends most days scanning online newspaper and blog reports for hints of scandals, cover-ups and official misdeeds that he can investigate and expose to public scrutiny. | 在他称之为“屠宰场”的北京办公室里，他大部分时间都在网上浏览媒体报道和博客上的传 闻，从中寻觅丑闻、黑幕和官员违法行为的蛛丝马迹，随后亲自调查并向公众曝光，使其接受公众监督。 |
He is one of the most daring of a growing band of full-time, internet-savvy, Chinese social activists who are beginning to take their calls for justice and transparency from the virtual into the real world. | 中国正涌现出越来越多精通网络的全职社会维权人士，他们开始把要求公正和透明的呼声， 从虚拟世界传递现实生活中来，而吴淦是其中最勇敢无畏的一位。 |
With his shaved head, goatee beard, burly frame and wide, disarming smile this former aviation sector official and entrepreneur resembles a warrior monk, an impression that is heightened by the Buddhist prayer beads he carries with him at all times. | 光头、留着山羊胡子、体形壮硕、笑容灿烂率真，从事过航空业工作、也做过生意的吴淦， 看起来就像一位武僧，他时时戴在身上的佛珠更强化了这种印象。 |
His zealous defence of downtrodden citizens who take on the might of the Communist party has a religious tinge to it, as does his aura of impending martyrdom when discussing the government's response to him and his fellow “netizen” activists. | 他热衷于捍卫在中共执政下受到压制的公民权利，这种行为带有一种宗教色彩；谈到政府会 怎样对付他们这些维权“网民”时，他的话语中也透出一股准备以身相殉的意味。 |
“I'm not scared for myself but I do worry about my family, my child, relatives and friends who [the government or security services] might take revenge on,” the 37-year-old says. “With the case I'm working on now I think they might retaliate.” | 现年37岁的吴淦说道：“我自己没什么害怕的。但我的确担心家人、孩子和亲戚朋友可能 会遭到（政府）报复。就我目前介入的案子来说，我想他们可能会进行报复。” |
In a case the Butcher has helped publicise widely, fellow internet activists You Jingyou, Wu Huaying and Fan Yanqiong were sentenced in mid-April to between one and two years in prison for criminal defamation of police and government officials. | 在“屠夫”的推动下，这桩案子已经广为人知。在该案中，同为网络维权人士的游精佑、吴 华英、范燕琼三人在4月中旬被判诽谤警方和政府官员，分别判处一至两年有期徒刑。 |
The three had posted online interviews with Lin Xiuying, an impoverished, illiterate woman who believes police covered up the rape and murder of her daughter while she was working as a karaoke hostess in a town in the southern province of Fujian. | 这三人此前曾把对林秀英的采访发到网上。林秀英是福建一名目不识丁的贫困妇女，她坚信 警方故意掩盖她女儿在镇上卡拉OK厅当服务生时遭到强奸和谋杀的事实。 |
The local government and police say the woman's daughter died from an ectopic pregnancy and have rejected her requests for a new investigation. | 当地政府和警方称林秀英之女死于宫外孕，驳回了她重新展开调查的请求。 |
In a rare display of public defiance and solidarity, the Butcher and a few dozen other internet activists travelled from around the country to the provincial court in Fujian for the sentencing of the three netizens and held a peaceful protest that they filmed and then posted, blogged and twittered on the internet. | 对上述三名网民宣判时，“屠夫”等数十名网络维权人士从全国各地赶赴福建，旁观法庭审 理过程，并举行了一次和平抗议。他们把抗议过程拍摄下来，然后在网上发帖子、博文和推特。此次行动展现了颇为罕见的公开对抗与团结。 |
“I got involved in this case because it is closely related with every person's rights,” the Butcher says. “We are all ordinary netizens and if these three people are criminals, then any time we post an article online we could be committing a crime.” | 吴淦表示：“我介入了这起案件，因为它与每个人的权利紧密相关。我们都是普通网民。如 果这三人是罪犯，那么我们每次在网上发帖子，都有可能构成犯罪。” |
The Butcher first made his name last year with the case of Deng Yujiao, a nightclub employee who was held on murder charges and placed in a psychiatric hospital after fatally stabbing a government official who she said tried to sexually assault her. | “屠夫”是去年在邓玉娇一案中开始出名的。邓玉娇是一名夜总会员工，用刀刺死了一名政 府官员，因此被控谋杀，并被送进精神病院。邓玉娇本人称该官员企图强奸自己。 |
In response to overwhelming public condemnation whipped up by the efforts of netizens led by the Butcher, Ms Deng was convicted last June of intentionally causing bodily harm but was then set free. | 在以“屠夫”为首的网民们的努力下，民众对此案的谴责声浪势不可挡。在这种形势下，去 年6月被判故意伤人罪的邓玉娇随后被释放。 |
The Butcher dismisses criticism that the outcome of the case was tantamount to mob justice or trial by uninformed public opinion. | 对于此案结果等同于“暴民正义”或无知舆论左右审判的批评，吴淦不以为然。 |
But he admits there is an increasing danger of this as internet activism proliferates with the rapid spread of social networking services in China. | 但他承认，随着中国社交网络服务的快速发展，网络维权行为日益增多，出现上述情况的可 能性越来越大。 |
In tacit recognition of the threat it sees in these online services, Beijing has blocked all of the most popular foreign social media including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter over the past year, and closed down smaller local equivalents. | 中国政府似乎默认在这些网络服务中看到了威胁，在过去一年屏蔽了所有最受欢迎的外国社 交媒体，包括YouTube、Facebook和Twitter，并关闭了国内较小规模的同类网站。 |
The government is also installing new layers of control to help identify those who post content on the internet and, as in the case of the three netizens in Fujian, local officials have begun using criminal defamation charges to halt criticism of the government online. | 中国政府还在网上安装新的控制工具，以帮助找到那些在网上发帖子的人。而且，正如福建 三网民案件所显示出的那样，当地官员已开始使用诽谤罪来阻止网民对政府的批评。 |
Legal experts identify a peculiar feature in Chinese criminal law as one reason for the rise in such charges. | 法律专家认为，中国刑法的一种特质，是此类罪名增多的原因之一。 |
If a defendant is found by the authorities to have “fabricated facts” in order to defame someone else and this led to “serious consequences”, a Chinese court can hand out a jail sentence of up to three years. | 那就是，如果有关部门发现被告人“捏造事实”，试图诽谤他人，就会导致“严重后果” ——中国的法院可至多判处3年有期徒刑。 |
“Under most circumstances, criminal prosecution on charges of defamation should follow a complaint by the aggrieved party made directly to the court. Only in cases involving ‘serious threats to social order or national interests' does the law authorise use of police power and public prosecution,” says Joshua Rosenzweig, a researcher with the Duihua Foundation in Hong Kong. He adds that this exception with its vague definition gives local officials the means to silence people who embarrass them. | 中美对话基金会(Dui Hua Foundation)驻香港研究员罗助华(Joshua Rosenzweig)表示：“在大多数情况下，应该由受害方直接向法院提起诽谤罪的刑事指控。只有在严重威胁社会秩序或国家利益的情况下，法律才授权警 方和公诉机关提起诉讼。”罗助华补充称，正是这种含糊的“例外”规定，让地方官员有办法让那些令他们困窘的人噤声。 |
“The government's purpose in this case in Fujian is very obvious, they want to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, to make an example of these three,” according to Wang Yong, a professor of law at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. “This sentence sets a very bad precedent for the government to use this to stifle public opinion and free speech.” | 中国政法大学(China University of Political Science and Law)法学教授王勇表示：“政府在福建网民诬陷案中的意图非常明显，他们是想杀鸡给猴看。这一判决树立了一个非常坏的先例，将鼓励政府以此扼杀公共舆论 和言论自由。” |
In Fujian, the local government has gone further and cancelled the legal licence of Lin Hongnan, a lawyer for one of the jailed netizens, and tried to block reporting on the case or access to the accused by claiming the matter involves state secrets. | 福建地方政府其实走得更远——它们取消了为被拘网民之一进行辩护的律师林洪楠的执业资 格，并试图通过宣称该案涉及国家机密，阻止有关此案的报道，或让外界接触被告人。 |
“How can the death of this girl, whether it resulted from rape and murder or an ectopic pregnancy, have anything to do with state secrets?” asked Liu Xiaoyuan, a Beijing-based lawyer for another of the jailed netizens. “They just said that to try to deny these people independent legal representation.” | 另一位被拘网民的北京律师刘晓原质问：“不管这个女孩是死于强奸、谋杀还是宫外孕，这 怎么会扯上国家机密呢？他们这样说，只是为了让这些人无法进行独立的法律陈述。” |
In the wake of the three netizens being sentenced, the Butcher says his girlfriend dumped him after she was harassed at work by state security agents. | 在上述3位网民案宣判后，吴淦表示，自己的女友由于上班时间受到国家安全部门的骚扰， 已离他而去。 |
He has now turned his attention to helping Lin Xiuying, the woman who believes her daughter was raped and murdered. | 现在，吴淦将注意力转向了帮助林秀英，就是那个相信自己的女儿遭到了强奸和谋杀的妇 女。 |
“I have no idea whether her daughter was murdered or died from an ectopic pregnancy but my role is to stand on the side of the disadvantaged individual who goes up against the power of the state,” the Butcher says. | 吴淦表示：“我不知道她的女儿是死于谋杀，还是宫外孕，但我的角色，是站在反抗国家权 力的弱势个体的一边。” |
“Once I've finished this case maybe I'll take a break.” | “一旦此案了结，或许我会休息一段时间。” |
译者/何黎 |
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