
Xie Yanyi. Photo: New Citizens Movement.
A lawyer detained in China’s sweeping crackdown in 2015 has been released on bail, but has not yet returned home, according to his wife. Continue reading
Xie Yanyi. Photo: New Citizens Movement.
A lawyer detained in China’s sweeping crackdown in 2015 has been released on bail, but has not yet returned home, according to his wife. Continue reading
Lawyer detained in China crackdown released on bail but still under police surveillance, wife says已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
Tagged Inciting Subversion, on bail, Release, surveillance, Tianjin, Xie Yanyi
Today, on World Human Rights Day, our Pen International community of writers, readers, activists and publishers condemn the Chinese authorities’ sustained and increasing attack on free expression and call for an immediate end to China’s worsening crackdown on fundamental human rights. Continue reading
PEN International’s Open Letter: Time for China to release writers, journalists and activists已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, PEN International News
Tagged Liu Xiaobo, open letter, Release, World Human Rights Day
Petitioners whose children have been been denied access to school protest in Beijing’s Fengtai District, Aug. 20, 2016. Photo courtesy of Ran Chongbi
As millions of Chinese schoolchildren and college students were back in class at the start of the new academic year on Monday, the children of some dissidents and critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party continue to be denied access to education, activists told RFA. Continue reading
Poster by Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network calling for the overturn of subversion rulings against lawyers and activists in China. CHRD
Two prominent human rights attorneys detained at the start of a nationwide operation targeting lawyers last year have yet to regain their liberty, despite having been “released” on bail, rights activists said. Continue reading
Bailed Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Have Yet to Regain Liberty已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, honorary Members, Human Rights Lawyer
Tagged Bao Longjun, detention, Lawyer, on bail, Release, Tianjin, Wang Yu
Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu poses during an interview in Hong Kong, March 20, 2014. AFP
Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin have reportedly released on bail a prominent human rights lawyer, while rights groups say the subversion trials of several others could begin soon.
Wang Yu, whose July 9, 2015 detention marked the start of a nationwide police operation targeting rights lawyers, law firm employees, and rights activists, was released on bail after making a televised “confession” on Phoenix TV, which has links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, media reports said.
The detentions of Wang, her husband Bao Longjun, and their colleagues at the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm later widened to include the detention and interrogation of more than 300 lawyers, paralegals, law firm employees, and rights activists.
Bao, Zhou, and 12 others are now under formal arrest on subversion-related charges, many of them in police-run detention centers in the northern city of Tianjin, where they have been denied access to their own lawyers.
Wang’s bail comes after she reportedly confessed to “subversion of state power,” Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily News reported on Monday.
“I received humane treatment, and experienced China’s rule-of-law culture,” she told Phoenix in an interview at an unknown location.
She also “rejected” awards from the American Bar Association and the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Prize for her work defending human rights, saying that they were intended to “blacken the reputation of the Chinese government.”
“I am Chinese. I only accept the leadership of the Chinese government,” Wang said. “I do not accept these awards, and will not accept them in future.”
Confession ‘heavily scripted’
But Henan-based rights lawyer Ma Lianshun said Wang’s confession seemed heavily scripted.
“I just saw the footage, and my feeling was that she was reading from a script, or that she had memorized a prepared script by heart,” Ma said. “I also thought it was funny that her comments sounded just like a statement by the foreign ministry.”
Beijing rights lawyer Li Fangping said the televised confession is now a regular occurrence in criminal cases where the government is trying to manipulate public opinion in its favor.
“The purpose of the so-called CCTV confession has never been to support charges, but to smear people and to manipulate public opinion,” Li said.
“It’s a very common way for them to release details on cases where they are in total control of the people concerned.”
Veteran journalist Gao Yu also made a televised “confession” before eventually being released on medical grounds. She later retracted it, saying the authorities had made threats against her son.
Wang’s teenage son Bao Zhuoxuan was detained last October in Myanmar as he tried to flee China after police confiscated his passport.
Two activists who tried to help Bao flee China through Myanmar after his parents’ arrest were handed over to Chinese police by the authorities in Shan State, and now face people-smuggling charges.
Wang’s bail follows the “release” on bail last month of legal assistant Zhao Wei, who is being held in an unknown location, possibly alongside members of her extended family. Her husband has been unable to find her, and her lawyer Ren Quanniu has himself been detained.
Other trials imminent
Meanwhile, Wang’s former boss at Fengrui, Zhou Shifeng, looks set to face trial soon on subversion charges alongside Hu Shigen, Gou Hongguo, and Zhai Yanmin, an overseas rights group reported.
The four, who have been held incommunicado since their detention, could face imminent trial at the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court on charges of “subversion of state power,” the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network reported.
“The trials may begin as soon as Monday, August 1, according to unconfirmed information,” the group, which compiles reports from rights activists inside China, said in a statement on its website.
It said the authorities hadn’t notified the detainees’ families or lawyers, however.
“Several family members were briefly detained by police on Friday and two people disappeared on Sunday night as they tried to confirm with the court where and when the trials would take place,” CHRD said.
Under Chinese criminal procedural law, the authorities must notify lawyers and families at least three days before holding a trial.
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA’s Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/confession-08012016111739.html
China Releases Top Rights Lawyer on Bail Following TV ‘Confession’已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, honorary Members, Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
Tagged confession, on bail, Release, Tianjin, Wang Yu
Detained legal assistant Zhou Wei is shown in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of New Citizens Movement
The lawyer for a Chinese legal assistant who was reported released last week has been detained for “spreading rumors” after he looked into reports his client was sexually assaulted during her year in detention. Continue reading
Lawyer for Legal Assistant Zhao Wei is Detained Over Sexual Assault Rumors已关闭评论
Posted in Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
Tagged detention, Inciting Subversion, Lawyer, Release, sexual assault, Zhao Wei
The defense attorney for jailed rights lawyer Li Heping discovered he was relieved of duty when he visited his client in detention, Feb. 18, 2016. Photo courtesy of an RFA listener.
Chinese authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin said on Thursday they have released a legal assistant detained in last year’s nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers, after unconfirmed reports that she was sexually assaulted in custody. Continue reading
Tianjin Police Release Legal Assistant Zhao Wei on ‘Bail’已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, honorary Members, Subversion
Tagged Inciting Subversion, on bail, police, Release, Tianjin, Zhao Wei
Peter Dahlin, who worked with Chinese human rights lawyers, had been held on suspicion of endangering state security
Peter Dahlin appearing on China state television after he was taken into custody earlier this month. Photograph: AP
China has released a Swedish human rights activist it had taken into custody earlier this month and accused of being a foreign agent trying to undermine the Communist party, the Swedish foreign ministry has said. Continue reading
China frees Swedish human rights activist已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer
Tagged bookseller, Gui Minhai, Hong Kong, NGO, Peter Dahlin, Release, Swedish