Jailed Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng receives prestigious human rights award
Lawyer Yu Wensheng has been detained since 2018 by Chinese authorities.
Here, demonstrators hold up his photo during a rally in Hong Kong in 2018. AFP - PHILIP FONG
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
Harassed, arrested, struck off the bar and sentenced to heavy prison terms: this is the lot of many lawyers in China who dare to defend human rights and demand the rule of law, like Yu Wensheng.
Thursday, February 11, the Martin Ennals Foundation in Geneva awarded him its prestigious prize to pay tribute to the courage of this lawyer detained in Nanjing.
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Yu Wensheng was never afraid to challenge the Communist regime.
The lawyer rose to prominence in 2014, when he was arrested and tortured in prison after supporting the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
He becomes the evening guest of several foreign embassies in Beijing, to talk about his fight against the death penalty and human rights, flouted in an increasingly authoritarian China.
So this jovial, but determined man once again attracted the wrath of the government in 2015, when he dared to defend his colleagues who were victims of the “
709
”
wave of repression
, when
several hundred lawyers
were arrested.
On January 19, 2018, Yu Wensheng was arrested again in the middle of the street.
He has just published an open letter in which
he calls for free elections
.
Removed from the bar and tried behind closed doors in 2019, he was then
sentenced to four years in prison
for “
inciting the subversion of state power
”.
Concern for relatives
Today, Yu Wensheng
is detained in Nanjing
, over a thousand kilometers from his family who are concerned about his health.
For his wife Xu Yan, this 2021 prize from the Martin Ennals Foundation is an "
encouragement for all other Chinese human rights defenders to continue their work despite the hardships,
" she said in a message to RFI.
For her, his arrest “
is a blow to a family
: deprived of his license, a lawyer can no longer exercise his profession, and his family is thus in a difficult financial situation.
"
It is a hard blow, not to mention the torture.
In the case of my husband, Yu Wensheng, his hand is so injured that he cannot even write.
He also lost four teeth.
Often, we do not let him eat his fill.
As I did my best to defend her rights, so I too was, on several occasions, either summoned to the police station or prevented from leaving my home.
Seven cameras have been installed near my home.
When I go out, I am sometimes followed and filmed.
But until he gets home, I will continue to demand justice for him.
I thank everyone who has supported us over the past three years.
Xu Yan, wife of lawyer Yu Wensheng, testifies about her fight to support her husband
Heike schmidt
►
See also: China: these human rights lawyers deprived of their license
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