On March 1st, Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng must be fully free
15 February 2022

On March 1st, Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng must be fully free

China

In a joint statement, Lawyers for Lawyers and nine human rights organizations urge the Chinese government to ensure lawyer Yu Wensheng is able to leave Nanjing Prison and freely reunite with his family in Beijing on 1 March 2022.

A Laureate of the 2021 Martin Ennals Award, Yu Wensheng is a leading figure among human rights lawyers in China. He has fearlessly taken on a number of sensitive cases and issues, joining litigations on air pollution advocating for a constitutional government.

For this, the authorities revoked his legal license on 16 January, 2018. Three days later, he was forcibly disappeared, a day after publishing an open letter calling for constitutional reform. He was put on trial in secret on 9 May 2019, but his wife, Xu Yan, was only informed of his four-years jail sentence in June 2020.

Yu Wensheng is expected to leave prison in Nanjing on 1 March 2022, after being detained for 50 months, which should mark the end of his sentence for ‘inciting subversion of State power’. As early as May 2019, UN experts concluded his detention was arbitrary and called on the government to release him. Ever since, a number of government and UN experts have called for his release.

The signatory organisations express grave concern that Yu Wensheng may be put under a de facto home arrest, severely restricted in his movements and communication, and unable to reunite with his family in Beijing.

Human rights lawyers have endured such restrictions upon leaving prison on grounds of a supplemental sentence of ‘deprivation of political rights’, in a phenomenon known as ‘non-release release’. In September 2019, UN experts condemned the use of this practice against lawyer Jiang Tianyong as ‘gratuitously punitive and legally unjustified’.

Lawyers for Lawyers and all signatory organisations urge the Chinese authorities to:

  • Ensure that Yu Wensheng is able to reunite with his family in Beijing on 1 March, to exercise his rights to move and communicate freely, and that he is not subjected to surveillance and harassment. He must also be able to resume his legal work without restrictions;
  • Put an end to the surveillance and harassment of Yu Wensheng’s family;
  • Guarantee in all circumstances that all lawyers in China, including human rights lawyers, are able to carry out their legitimate professional duties without fear of reprisals and free of restrictions.

Read the full statement in English or Chinese.

Meer nieuws uit China

2 August 2023

NGOs Call on Governments & Lao Authorities to Ensure the Immediate Release of Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Lu Siwei

China

Lao authorities have reportedly arrested and detained well-known Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei since 28 July 2023. We are gravely concerned that he is at serious risk of forced repatriation to China where he faces the high likelihood of

Lees verder
31 July 2023

UPR Submission China & Hong Kong

China

On 18 July 2023, Lawyers for Lawyers jointly submitted a report for the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China, including Hong Kong. The next UPR of China will take place in January 2024. The UPR’s key concern is China’s

Lees verder
10 July 2023

‘709 Crackdown 2.0’: Global call against China’s renewed crackdown on human rights lawyers

China

Lawyers for Lawyers, joined by a large group of international organisations, Bar Associations, legal scholars, and Chinese human rights defenders, calls for urgent global attention to the new wave of repression against Chinese human rights lawyers in a joint statement.

Lees verder
9 July 2023

The 709-Crackdown, the alarming state of lawyers’ rights in China and Hong Kong, and a new wave of repression

China

Today, 9 July 2023, marks the 8th anniversary of a nationwide campaign using criminal laws and executive controlled courts to silence lawyers and other human rights activists through arbitrary arrests, detentions, convictions, and imprisonment. Starting on 9 July 2015 the

Lees verder