China: Release of Wang Quanzhang, lawyer and human rights activist

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The Chinese regime released Wang Quanzhang, a human rights lawyer. He was arrested in July 2015 in an operation that saw more than 2,000 human rights activists arrested.

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With our correspondent in China, Zhifan Liu

Li Wenzu is able to walk a hundred kilometers between Beijing and Tianjin to support her husband, she shaved her head in protest, but she will have to wait before finding Wang Quanzhang, just released from prison. In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, the lawyer was sent to solitary confinement for 14 days, far from Beijing, from his family and their son.

"State Subversion"

Wang had been arrested in July 2015 for "subversion of the state," a motive that the communist regime uses to silence opponents deemed too eloquent. Wang, 43, specialized in defending the weak and oppressed against the Chinese government. He had provided assistance to members of Falun Gong, a religious movement persecuted by Beijing.

Incommunicado

Charged in 2016, he will be held incommunicado until his trial in December 2018 which was held behind closed doors. The previous day, police went to Wang's wife's home to prevent her from attending the trial. Human Rights Watch, for its part, asked the Chinese government to respect Wang's basic rights and allow the family to reunite as soon as possible in Beijing.

Read also: China: lawyer Wang Quanzhang sentenced to four and a half years in prison

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• China
• Human rights