{"id":8011,"date":"2017-01-15T11:55:14","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T16:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=8011"},"modified":"2017-01-16T12:36:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:36:43","slug":"an-update-on-lawyer-li-chunfus-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/an-update-on-lawyer-li-chunfus-condition","title":{"rendered":"An Update on Lawyer Li Chunfu\u2019s Condition"},"content":{"rendered":"
Latest on January 14: Li Chunfu has been diagnosed today as having symptoms\u00a0of schizophrenia and hospitalized. We learned from relatives that he was subjected to severe torture during his six months of \u201cresidential surveillance at a designated place,\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0China\u2019s term for secret detention. More details to come. Once again,\u00a0we urge the international human rights community to immediately begin an investigation into the extreme abuse that Li Chunfu, Li Heping, Wang Quanzhang, Wu Gan, Jiang Tianyong, and others targeted in the 709 arrests have suffered. <\/em>\u2013 The Editors<\/strong><\/h5>\n


\n\"Li***
\nHours ago China Change posted Wang Qiaoling\u2019s first report<\/span><\/a> of her brother-in-law, lawyer Li Chunfu, who was released \u201con bail\u201d after being detained incommunicado for 18 months as part of the sweeping \u201c709 crackdown.\u201d This is her update.<\/em> \u2013 The Editors<\/p>\n

Yesterday, January 13, at 2:00 p.m., Wang Qiaoling (\u738b\u5ced\u5cad) and Li Wenzu (\u674e\u6587\u8db3) \u2014 the wives of arrested lawyers Li Heping (\u674e\u548c\u5e73) and Wang Quanzhang (\u738b\u5168\u748b) respectively \u2014 as well as a number of lawyer peers, rushed to the home of Li Chunfu (\u674e\u6625\u5bcc) and his wife. Chunfu was able to recognize them, but couldn\u2019t form coherent sentences.<\/p>\n

Within an hour he had muttered to his wife over 20 times: \u201cBi Liping, don\u2019t hide anything from me!\u201d<\/p>\n

He recognized that I was his sister-in-law and tried to talk to me, but he trailed off before finishing the first sentence, hanging his head low as though in pain. He kept saying that he had a pain in his heart. His wife told us: \u201cLast night he was saying that he felt like insects were biting his body inside, that his heart had been eaten away by bugs bit by bit, and there wasn\u2019t much of it left!\u201d The sadness we felt as we heard this while gazing on his lifeless face is difficult to put into words.<\/p>\n

Later on I asked Chunfu: \u201cHave you called your mum and dad back home?\u201d He turned to me blankly, and, after a long pause, muttered to himself: \u201cHow could I have forgotten that?\u201d<\/p>\n

A relative who took him on a small walk through the residential compound said: \u201cChunfu didn\u2019t dare leave the apartment. I had to promise him repeatedly that I\u2019d definitely accompany him back before he agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they walked, Chunfu would dart his eyes in all directions as he spoke: \u201cWe have to make sure that we stay within the surveillance perimeter when we walk. We can\u2019t go outside the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LiThis wasn\u2019t the lawyer Li Chunfu of 18 months ago. That Li Chunfu dropped out of school at age 14, went south for work, got stabbed, slept in a cemetery, then managed to become a lawyer after six years of gruelling self-study. He had been taken into custody because of the human rights cases he had taken on \u2014 he had been locked in a steel cage, battered, and threatened, but that hadn\u2019t changed him. I never imagined that 18 months of jail would torment him to the point of a mental breakdown, leaving him broken and paranoid.<\/p>\n

Come evening when we were due to leave, he gripped his lawyer friend who came with us in a tight hug, saying: \u201cPlease, keep an eye on what they do to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought that these were his true thoughts.<\/p>\n

Shortly after we left, he discovered his wife\u2019s conversation with us and was scared, shouting at her: \u201cWho said you could tell them that I\u2019m back? The police said no!\u201d Before his wife was able to offer an explanation \u2014 \u201cI didn\u2019t\u201d \u2014 he slapped her in the face!<\/p>\n

Finally I must correct a detail in my initial report of Chunfu\u2019s return: Chunfu was not brought home by the police. Instead, his wife was called to the neighborhood police station at Jiaowang Village, Tongzhou District (\u901a\u5dde\u533a\u7126\u738b\u5e84\u6d3e\u51fa\u6240) to take him home. Why did I make this mistake? Because that was what Chunfu\u2019s friend told me, and his family was sternly warned by public security authorities not to tell the world what happened, including how he got home\u2026<\/p>\n

Family of the 709 lawyers:
\nWang Qiaoling (wife of Li Heping)
\nLi Wenzu (wife of Wang Quanzhang)<\/p>\n

On the morning of January 14, 2017<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An addendum by China Change:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several lawyer friends took Li Chunfu to a hospital in Beijing for a check up Saturday morning. This is some of what Chunfu said to them:<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d never seen you all again\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat place is this? I hope nothing will go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill something go wrong if we\u2019re seen together? Are you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill the police show up?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t leave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJiangang, I really want to cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/chinachange.org\/2017\/01\/14\/an-update-on-lawyer-li-chunfus-condition\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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