【人物】澳大利亚一家人力争为父亲在文革期间被戴上的苏联间谍罪名平反昭雪
撰稿：澳大利亚广播公司驻北京记者Matthew Carney
Mon 29 Jan 2018

文革期间，谭自强一家亲人被迫妻离子散。 (Supplied)0

中国当局在1949年执政以来，很大程度上粉饰了在他们建政历史上更为残酷与惨痛的事件。

文化大革命发生在1966 - 1976年间，它使中国陷入到了极度混乱之中。3000多万人遭受迫害、折磨或致死。

它被称为是一个错误，但文革的错误却从未被正式讨论或调查过。

大多数中国家庭都遭受过文革之苦，但是他们却没法公开谈论。

现在，一名妇女正试图找回这段历史，让中国政府平反对她父亲的错误定罪。

现年93岁的谭自强，又名尼古拉·谭金（Nicolai Tankin）在文革的高潮时期被扣上了苏联间谍的罪名。

谭自强（后排最高的那位）在上世纪50年代毕业于北京外国语大学，这是他与同事们的照片。 (Supplied)

他的女儿露西尔·谭金（Lucille Tankin）现在居住在澳大利亚，但她多次返回北京，与中国的法院和一个拒绝面对丑恶过去的政府作斗争。

她知道这是一场艰苦的战斗，但她下定决心要奋战到底。

“文革期间，他们对很多人做了很多事情，我不是第一个也绝不是最后一个。我想知道到底发生了什么，我想要获得答案，” 她说。

革命中容易被击倒的靶子
谭自强是20世纪50年代北京外国语大学俄语系的创办人之一。

他是中国和俄罗斯的混血儿，他的妻子丽迪雅（Lydia）则是俄罗斯人。他们一共有五个孩子。

对谭自强最初的判决书指控谭自强是苏联间谍。 (Supplied)

20世纪50年代末，当中苏关系开始恶化时，这个家庭就已受到了怀疑。但随着文化大革命的到来，他们变成了一个容易被攻击的靶子。

与中国社会的方方面面一样的是，当时北京外国语大学也其实处于关闭状态，并被学生接管。

这一家人曾居住在校园里，露西尔说她对那段经历与生活仍然有记忆犹新。

“那时，无法无天，学生们接管了大学，那是绝对的混乱，” 她说。

“[派系之间会]发生武斗，他们还打人。”

这个家庭被戴上了坏分子的帽子，正是因为他们知识分子和外国人的背景而使得他们成为了“阶级敌人”。这些人在当时是要被消灭的，以恢复“意识形态的纯洁性”。

谭自强被控向苏联大使馆提供情报，因此他被判间谍罪成立。并在1969年被判处13年有期徒刑。

露西尔说，他们全家被迫戴上了反革命的帽子。她的母亲被带走，然后中国当局将五个孩子纷纷带走。

“他们一个接一个地把我们带走”
这个家庭的成员被迫分离，而这个家也支离破碎。

“他们把我的兄弟带到了我也不知道的地方，” 她说。

“两个月后，他们带走了我的大姐，又几个月后他们带走了我的二妹。”

露西尔被带走时年仅七岁。 她失去了属于她的童年时代。

“这几乎像是一个监狱，与其他15个女人和女孩在一起，” 她说。

“我们呆在那里，每天我们必须说出我们做了什么坏事，以及我们将如何改错。”

“我就说我不够努力地学习毛主席语录。我要好好补上，就是这样一些愚蠢、没有任何意义的事情。”

“那里有一个信奉耶稣基督的女孩，他们把她放在一把椅子上，让她站上好几个小时，然后向她指控她的罪行。”

“然后，由于她站得太久，她的腿一抖就从椅子上摔了下来。他们不理会她流着血的脑袋，他们就是一群畜生。”

逃到澳大利亚


谭自强和他的妻子丽迪雅在1978年前往澳大利亚前拍摄的照片。 (Supplied)

十年后谭自强得到了释放。

这一家人只有了一个月的时间离开中国，而澳大利亚则给予了他们政治庇护。

“在10年后，当我看到他[父亲谭自强]时，他衰老了很多，头发也白了，” 露西尔说。

“他很消沉，他的内心受到了极大的打击，他讲话声音很小，就好像在低声窃窃私语，生怕任何人能听到他一样。”

谭自强一家在经历了十年监禁后重聚时拍摄的照片。 (Supplied)

在澳大利亚开始新生活之后，露西尔便开始寻求为她的父亲和家人伸张正义的行动。

她曾多次前往北京，并于2016年成功取得了在1975年对父亲作出的法庭判决书原件。

这家人在北京的律师张大卫（David Zhang，音译）检查了原来的判决书，并表示法院没有给出任何针对谭自强的论点或证据。

张律师在此基础上向中国全国高级人民法院提起了上诉。

他说，他们可能会有一个机会，因为在上世纪70年代后期，谭自强所在大学一些同事的审判得到了推翻，以作为对知识分子平反昭雪的一部分。

“从目前为止我们所知道的情况来看，谭自强被控的两项罪名，他的其中两名同事的名誉也得到了恢复，正义得到了恢复，” 他说。

“我们认为，对于谭自强来说，如果他们能够重新对此展开调查，那么就有希望去推翻以前的裁决。”

“但是，前提是他们能够开始对这一重新开始调查的程序。”

“没有人愿意承认他们错了”
张律师说这是个政治问题。

最大的障碍是当局不想在法庭上承认他们错了。

律师张大卫（音译）说，困难是让什么人为所发生的一切负责。 (Reuters: Thomas Peter)

这将迫使他们面对文革时期成千上万得到不公正待遇的人，这可能会开始一个法庭上诉的新浪潮。这样一来可能会增加对中国共产党的不满情绪。

张律师说，另一个困难是要让任何人为此来承担责任。

“很多人在推卸责任，但我们将继续为正义而战，” 他说。

在文革的大背景下，外国人或有着海外关系的人都遭到了迫害和打击。

“在北京外国语学院，那里有很多外国专家或学者在教书，” 张律师说。

“他们中的很多人都有着类似的经历，被揭发、被批斗，其中一些人还被关了很长一段时间。”

谭自强的中国和澳大利亚护照。 (Supplied)

露西尔将很快重返北京，继续她的“战斗”，并希望最终为她的父亲带来一丝内心的平静。

“[如果是那样]，我想他就算是走进了坟墓也会是一个快乐的人，” 她说。

“所有这些负担都会消失，因为就连现在我看到他，他都有着被这个重负压在身上的感觉。”

“有些事情他是不会去谈的，但是他会非常高兴的。如果能推翻对他的判决，他会对此感激不已。”

去年圣诞节，露西尔·谭金与她的家人和父亲在一起。 (Supplied)

https://www.abc.net.au/chinese/2 ... russian-spy/9370412

Family fights to clear name of father labelled a Russian spy during China's Cultural Revolution



China correspondent Matthew Carney
Correspondents Report

Topic:Courts

Sat 27 Jan 2018



Chinese authorities have largely whitewashed the more brutal and tragic episodes in their history since the Communist Party took power in 1949.

The Cultural Revolution took place between 1966-1976 and plunged China into utter chaos, with more than 30 million people persecuted, tortured or killed.

It has been labelled a mistake, but it's never been officially discussed or investigated.

And while most Chinese families suffered, they don't openly talk about it.

Now one women is trying to reclaim a part of that history and get the Chinese Government to overturn the false conviction of her father.

Nicolai Tankin, now 93, was labelled a Russian spy at the height of the Cultural Revolution.



His daughter Lucille Tankin now lives in Australia, but she has returned to Beijing several times to fight the Chinese courts and a Government that refuses to confront its ugly past.

She knows it's an uphill battle, but she is determined to wage it.

"[During the] Cultural Revolution they did a lot of things to a lot of people. I'm not the first or the last. I'd like to know what happened and I want some answers," she said.

Easy targets for the revolution
Nicolai was one of the founders of the Russian Language Department at the Beijing Foreign Language University in the 1950s.

He was of mixed Chinese and Russian descent and his wife Lydia was Russian. Together they had five children.



The family was already under suspicion when Soviet-China relations started to sour in the late 1950s, but with the onset of the Cultural Revolution they became easy targets.

The university, like all others in China, was effectively shut down and taken over by the students.

The family lived on the campus and Lucille says she still has vivid memories of those time.

"There was no rules or regulations, the students were running the university. It was absolute chaos,"  she said.
"There was fighting and they were beating people up."

The family was labelled as a suspect class — intellectuals and foreigners, part of the old guard that had to be destroyed to restore "ideological purity".

Nicolai was convicted of trumped up charges of spying, providing information to the Soviet embassy and in 1969 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Lucille said the whole family was then labelled as counter-revolutionaries. Her mother was taken and then the Chinese authorities came for the five children.



'One by one they came for us'
The family was separated and broken up.

"They took my brother put him somewhere, I don't know where," she said.

"Then a couple of months later they took my oldest sister, then a few months later they took my second sister."
Lucille was only seven when she was taken. She lost any sense of a childhood.

"It was almost like a jail with 15 other women and girls," she said.

"We stayed there and every day we had to say what bad things we did and how we are going to change.

"I just said I didn't study hard enough on Mao's red book. I just had to make it up. Stupid things like that, nothing means anything.

"There was a girl in there who believed in Jesus and they put her on a chair and let her stand for hours while they threw allegations at her.

"Then she'd stand for so long her leg gave out and she fell down. They didn't bother about her bleeding head. They were just animals."

Fleeing to Australia



After 10 years Nicolai was released.

The family was given one month to leave China and Australia granted them political asylum in 1978.

"When I saw him after 10 years he was shrivelled up and had white hair," Lucille said.

"He was broken, so beaten up within himself. He spoke quietly, almost whispering, like just in case anyone could hear him."



After establishing a new life in Australia, Lucille then turned to pursuing justice for her father and her family.

She made several trips to Beijing and in 2016 she managed to obtain the original court ruling made against her father in 1975.

The family's lawyer in Beijing, David Zheng, examined the original verdict and said the court did not present any argument or evidence against Nicolai.

On this basis Mr Zhang has appealed to the National High Court.

He said they might have a chance as some of Nicolai's colleagues at the university have had their convictions overturned back in the late 1970s as part of the rehabilitation of the intellectual class.

"Seeing from what we know so far, Tankin was charged for two crimes, two of his colleagues were rehabilitated and their justice were restored," he said.

"We believe, for Tankin, if they could reinvestigate it there is a hope to overturn the previous verdict.

"However, the precondition is they could start the process of reinvestigation."

'Nobody wants to admit they were wrong'
Mr Zhang said the problem is the case is a political one.

The biggest hurdle is authorities don't want to admit in a court that they were wrong.



That would force them to confront the injustices done to millions during the Cultural Revolution and start an avalanche of claims that could increase resentment against the Communist Party.

Mr Zhang said the other difficulty will be to get anyone to take responsibility.

"There is a lot of buck passing, but we will continue to fight for justice,"  he said.
Under the background of the Cultural Revolution, foreigners or people with foreign backgrounds were attacked or cracked down upon.

"In Beijing Foreign Language Institute there were lots of foreign experts or scholars teaching," Mr Zhang said.

"Lots of them had similar experiences, they were denounced and struggled, some of them were thrown to jail for a very long time."



Lucille will return to Beijing soon to continue the fight and to hopefully and finally deliver some peace to her father.

"I think he'll go to the grave a happy man," she said.

"All of this burden would be lifted because I see him [and] even now it's weighing him down.

"There's certain things he won't talk about. But he will be extremely happy, grateful if they could overturn his verdict."


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018 ... py-by-china/9360560