2023-04-16 20:17:33
Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained in Beijing on Thursday on their way to meet a European Union delegation.
Yu is one of China’s most courageous human rights lawyers, active in defending the rights of dissidents and ethnic and religious groups. He won the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in 2018 and the Martin Ennals Prize in 2021 for his achievements.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited China from April 13 to 15. She told reporters that she was concerned that “the scope of civil society participation in China continues to shrink and human rights are being restricted” after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Lin Xin (a pseudonym for security), a family friend, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on April 15 that he learned of the arrest from Yu’s son, who is a high school student.
Lin said the most urgent thing for the couple is to meet with their lawyers. Yu’s teenage son currently has no one to take care of him.
Chen Jiangang, a Chinese human rights lawyer now living in the United States, public on Twitter on April 15 that police notified Yu’s son earlier, at 1 p.m. on April 15, that Yu and his wife were detained for “picking fights and causing trouble,” a common charge under Article 293 of the Chinese Criminal Law that the regime uses to target critics.
Yu’s wife, Xu Yan, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times at 4:30 p.m. on April 13 that the two were being taken by several policemen to the Bajiao police station in the district of Shijingshan, west of Beijing.
“We are not allowed to go to the embassy [para reunirnos con la delegación de la UE]”he told The Epoch Times.
The Epoch Times called Xu Yan’s mobile phone several times on April 14, only to hear: “The number you dialed is not available.”
According to Xu’s Twitter post, at 6:13 p.m. on April 13, she and her husband were forced into a car, and the driver, the man in the front passenger seat, and several men in civilian clothes were policemen.
Take lawyer Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan to the Bajiao police station. The main reason is that it is because I have to go to the embassy. Please follow ???????????? pic.twitter.com/pfEZ8U5W1o
— Xu Yan, wife of lawyer Yu Wensheng (@xuyan709) April 13, 2023
“[La policía] he wants to take lawyer Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan to Bajiao Police Station. The main reason is that [nosotros] let’s go to the embassy [a encontrarnos con la Delegación de la UE]. Show your concern for him,” Xu wrote in his Twitter post.
The Epoch Times contacted the Bajiao Police Station on April 14. A woman who claimed to be a police officer at the police station and declined to give her name told The Epoch Times that both Yu and Xu were at the Bajiao Police Station. She declined to answer questions about why the couple had been detained and when they would be released.
More human rights lawyers in Beijing were placed under house arrest on April 14.
Wang Yu and her husband Bao Longjun are human rights lawyers. According to a video clip of Wang, several plainclothes policemen were outside her home on April 14, forbidding them to go out.
Wang asked for their names and “reasonable and legal grounds” for doing so.
“Don’t you also want to live in a normal society? We are [los que estamos bajo arresto domiciliario] today, but it could be you and your family tomorrow,” Wang is heard talking to the men outside his apartment.
Wang’s old mother-in-law was scared.
Human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang and his wife Li Wenzu were also unable to leave their home on April 14. The surveillance camera at his door was plastered over by plainclothes policemen. Several men were parked in the hallway outside her residence, forbidding them to go out.
Human rights lawyer Li Heping was prevented from walking his dog at 6:30 am on April 14. He was not allowed to leave his residence that day.
“The CCP Is Afraid”: Chinese Human Rights Lawyer
Chinese authorities prevented human rights lawyers from meeting with foreign diplomats because they wanted to hide their human rights abuses.
“The communist regime is afraid that the international communities will come to see its ugly behavior and the poor human rights situation,” Wu Shaoping, a Chinese human rights lawyer now living in the United States, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on April 15.
These lawyers who are suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are the backbone of China, Wu said. “They are brave enough to resist the CCP and dare to speak out against injustice. These are the people that Chinese society really needs.”
“These human rights lawyers are defenders of human rights. When your own rights have been so blatantly trampled on, you can imagine what the situation is for other people who do not have the direct attention of diplomats and who are not lawyers themselves,” he added.
Yu was sentenced to four years in prison in 2018 and released in March 2022. Yu and these human rights lawyers whose freedom has been taken away by the CCP are among hundreds of human rights lawyers who are victims of the “crackdown.” 709” of the communist regime. Gao Zhisheng, one of the suppressed lawyers, has been missing for more than five years.
The EU Delegation in China published a Tweet on April 14 that read “@yuwensheng9 and @xuyan709 detained by authorities [chinas] on their way to the EU Delegation”. He added that it “demands[n] his immediate and unconditional release.
Hong Ning contributed to this article.
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