Human Lives Human Rights:The International Olympic Committee’s calls with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai sound a bit staged, the human rights activists believe.
Popular Chinese Tennis star Peng publicly accused a former top Communist Party official, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, of coercing her into sex at his home three years ago in a since-deleted social media post dated November 2.
Peng was immediately muffled by blanket censorship and disappeared from public view for more than two weeks.
Meanwhile, the IOC says it has held two calls with Peng.
The president of the Olympic organization Thomas Bach, is said to have held a 30-minute video call with three-time Olympian Peng, alongside a Chinese sports official and an additional IOC representative on November 21.
On Wednesday, the IOC held a second call with Peng and said that the Chinese tennis star “reconfirmed” that she was safe and well given the “difficult situation” she is in.
The practice of stage-managed appearances is most often referred to as forced televised confessions, though recently PRC [People’s Republic of China] police will more often resort to posting such videos on their social media channels or have newspapers carry them on their websites.
The purpose remains the same: to either attack the person her — or himself — or to counter international criticism.
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