
Image via YouTube user: Hong Kong Free Press
Image via YouTube user: Hong Kong Free Press
Tienchi Martin-Liao: The Muppet Show in Court已关闭评论
Posted in Human Rights Lawyer, Tienchi Martin-Liao
Tagged confession, court, Hu Shigen, Tienchi Martin-Liao, trail, Wang Yu
A screen shot from the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group’s Facebook page showing detained family members and attorneys, June 7, 2016. RFA
Concerns are growing for the safety of dozens of human rights lawyers and associates locked up in an unknown location by the Chinese authorities in a crackdown that started in July 2015, as the international community marks a day of concern for the victims of enforced disappearances. Continue reading
Concerns Mount For Detained Chinese Lawyers on ‘Disappearance Day’已关闭评论
Posted in Human Rights Lawyer
Tagged disappearance, Lawyer, Wang Yu, Xie Yanyi, Zhao Wei
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
A photo of Chinese lawyer Wang Yu is seen on a screen during the first ABA International Human Rights Award ceremony at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Photo by Tony Avelar.
ABA leaders and members of China’s community of dissidents-in-exile living in the United States packed a meeting room at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco on Saturday morning for the presentation of the ABA’s inaugural International Human Rights Award. Continue reading
Chinese lawyer Wang Yu given ABA International Human Rights Award in absentia已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer
Tagged ABA, inaugural International Human Rights Award, Wang Yu
On June 4, 2014, a jury of 24 European lawyers, representing bars from Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Bordeaux, Geneva, Rome, Luxembourg, Paris, and members of the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE – l’Institut des Droits de l’Homme des Avocats européens) and the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA – International Association of Lawyers), awarded the 21th Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize to Ms. Wang Yu, a Chinese lawyer. Continue reading
The Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Prize 2016 Awarded to Chinese Lawyer Wang Yu已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer
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
Sex Female
Birth date 1971-05-01
Birth place Wulanhaote City, Xing’an League, Inner Mongolia
Resident place Chaoyang District, Beijing
Education Graduate from Law Division, Department of Adult Education, China University of Political Science and Law (1994) Continue reading
Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu poses during an interview in Hong Kong, March 20, 2014. AFP
One year after Beijing police raided the homes of prominent human rights attorneys with the Fengrui law firm, China’s legal profession is still reeling from the shock of what was to be a coordinated and nationwide campaign to silence them. Continue reading
One Year After Crackdown, China’s Lawyers Face ‘Complete Powerlessness’已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, honorary Members, Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
Tagged Lawyer, Subversion, Wang Yu