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06 Aug 2018
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Forced TV Confessions database

UPDATED: An updated version of the database on China's use of Forced TV Confessions is now available. Easier, better looking and more informative, the spreadsheet database can be downloaded below. Bilingual (dual-tab) excel.

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Following China's continued use of Forced TV Confessions, most recently with journalist Chen Jieren and his brothers, and the increasingly political nature of those cases where these confessions are forced out of victims, and following Safeguard Defenders groundbreaking report on the reality behind these TV appearances, RSDLmonitor is now making available its full database on Forced TV Confessions, going back to 2013 - the year these TV appearances started becoming institutionalized as part of the government's attack on lawyers, journalists, and rights defenders.  

 

Download full database (excel file): 

 

  Any entry/case into this database marked with blue highlight indicates detailed information, either as a testimony or as part of extensive interview with the victim, can be found in 'Scripted and Staged' or other material on RSDLmonitor website. This does not include many interviews done with people in this database conducted anonymously. Those marked in purple indicates detailed information or testimony exist, and is being prepared for release with Safeguard Defenders next book, set for release in October, on China's use of Forced TV Confessions, the media's role as collaborates in gross human rights violations, and the current and planned expansion of Chinese party-controlled media internationally.

Check back with RSDLmonitor in September for more information on the upcoming book, our second book following 'The People's Republic of the Disappeared', the book that exposed the RSDL system and which received widespread acclaim.  

Legend to reading the spreadsheet Main confessor or target. In most cases, the name of the main confessor of any specific broadcast, sometimes more than one person. On a few occasions, the main target is 'off-screen', for example "709 lawyers", Guo Wengui, or Taiwanese Telecom fraud case). Supporting confessor. People used to attack the Main confessor or off-screen target. Setting. Jailhouse or Neutral. The setting in which the victim is displayed. Use of neutral setting being more common for political cases, and also being a trend in that neutral setting has become more common over time.

Victim. HRD being 'political cases', Media for writers, journalists or bloggers, with 'Other' denoting those accused of regular crimes - drug use, bribery, murder, etc. Legal status when FC. Where in judicial process the victim was in at time of broadcast. Most TV confessions take place when people are either in detention or in RSDL - before being arrest. Sentence or Imprisonment. Whether the person was actually sentenced for the crime. In many cases, people are not. In some cases, people are sentenced for different crime than the one they admitted to during their Forced TV Confession. Other categories are self-explanatory. Any empty field indicates the information is not available.