A/HRC/7/10/Add.1 page 10 the original judgment. The Chinese Constitution and law guarantee the exercise by all citizens of their lawful rights. The Government emphasized that any conduct which harms citizens’ lawful rights and interests will be punished under law. Observations 25. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the Government’s response and for providing details of the investigations and conviction of a police officer in that case. She would like to reiterate that women and detainees are in a particularly vulnerable situation and it is of the utmost importance to ensure that the States’ legislative and administrative systems provide adequate protection to victims and effective remedies. The Special Rapporteur would also appreciate further information about the allegation that the two rapes took place in the presence of another police officer, who reportedly made no attempt to intervene or prevent the incidents. Urgent appeal sent on 31 August 2006 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture 26. The Special Rapporteurs received information concerning Bu Dongwei (also known as David Bu), aged 38, and Falun Gong practitioner. According to the allegations received, on 19 May 2006, he was detained by around seven police officers at his home in the Haidian district of Beijing. On 19 June 2006, he was assigned to two and a half years re-education through labour in connection with his activities as a member of the Falun Gong spiritual movement by Beijing’s Re-education through Labour Committee, which has the power to impose periods of arbitrary detention without charge or trial. He was accused of “resisting the implementation of national laws” and “disturbing social order” on the basis of evidence including a verbal confession he made to the police and 80 copies of Falun Gong literature discovered in his home. He is due to be released on 18 November 2008. 27. Despite repeated requests to the authorities, his family has not been told where he is being detained although unconfirmed reports have been received that he may have been transferred to Tuanhe Re-education through Labour facility in Beijing on 21 August 2006. There are concerns that he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Bu Dongwei had previously served a term of ten months re-education through labour from August 2000 to May 2001 in Tuanhe for “using a heretical organization to disrupt the implementation of the law” after he petitioned the authorities asking them to review their ban on Falun Gong. During this period, he was reportedly beaten and made to sit all day in a small chair. He was also subjected to sleep deprivation aimed at forcing him to renounce his belief in Falun Gong. Response from the Government dated 28 November 2006 28. Bu Dongwei, born on 11 March 1968, is an ethnic Han Chinese and university graduate. In July 2000, he was ordered to serve a term of one year’s labour re-education for using a heretical cult to disrupt law and order. On 13 June 2006, Bu Dongwei was ordered by the Beijing city labour re-education committee to serve a further two and a half years’ labour re-education, to run from 19 June 2006 to 18 November 2008, for using a heretical cult to disrupt law and order. Bu Dongwei is currently serving this term in the Tuanhe labour re-education facility in Beijing. 29. Inquiries have established that, while being held in the Tuanhe labour re-education facility, Bu Dongwei has not been subjected to any ill-treatment. The accusations in the letter that we