Wife of Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng: (My) Husband Was Secretly Sentenced and Inter-Provincially Imprisoned. The Law in China Is Merely “On Paper”.

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(24 Jun) Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, who assisted the arrestees of "709 Mass Arrests," was sentenced to four years in prison by the Xuzhou City Intermediate People's Court in China for "inciting subversion of state power”.

In an interview with The Stand News, Xu Yan, the wife of Yu Wensheng, criticized Chinese law is merely well-developed “on paper”, while it breached the legal system to “secretly sentence” her husbandwithout even noticing his family and defence attorney in advance. Xu has met with officials from seven countries to ensure her husband's right to appeal and his right to see his family.

As a Beijing native, Xu was detained in Jiangsu Province in Xuzhou, which is 1600 km away from Beijing. Since Yu was arrested the year before last, Xu has been going to Xuzhou once every 20 days to petition and defend human rights, spending more than 100,000 Chinese Yuan on train tickets, food and accommodation, but she has not been able to see her husband. Despite facing all kinds of hardships, she persevered, “because I believe that my husband is innocent”.

Due to the political issue of “Citizen Proposal for Constitutional Amendment” (“The Proposal”), Yu was arrestedin January 2018 after his Attorney’s Card was cancelled by the Ministry of Justice in China. “The Proposal” makes a series of demands for a democratic and constitutional government, including demanding the Chinese President to be elected by competitive election, as well as the cancellation of the post of Chairman of Central Military Commission (CMC) and the whole CMC system. Consequently, he was arrested on 19 January 2018 while dropping his son off at school and later charged with "inciting subversion of state power”. The case was heard secretly last year without the family being notified, whereas Yu was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights in a trial held on the 17 June 2020.

Xu quoted the procuratorate that after the verdict, Yu did not accept it and insisted on appealing. Yet,  27 June would be the 10-day deadline for appeal, while Xu did not yet know if Yu can appeal, she was worried that her husband would be deprived of his right to appeal, and that Yu would face further suppression.

Xu stated that, according to the law in China, as a Beijing native, Yu was supposed to be detained at the Beijing police station, but for over 2 years he has been imprisoned 1600 km from Beijing, “by shifting him to a prison in Xuzhou, much farther away from, (they) have created a barrier that makes it financially impossible for me to defend his rights.” Since her husband’s arrest, she travelled to Xuzhou once every 20 days trying to advocate for her husband’s rights. About 60 visits and 300 letters to various departments at various levels in China had cost more than $100,000(CYN) in train fares, food and accommodation alone, not including legal fees. Xu had spent most of her money to defend her husband rights, and had asked herself, “Will I give up when I have no money to defend our rights?” The answer in her heart, she said, was, “I'll continue to go even if I have to beg for the travel fare because I believe my husband is innocent.”

Xu stated that the law in China “on paper” is well-developed, where the constitution provides human rights such as freedom of speech, but since the case of Yu, she has not received any indictment and verdict, even a trial was held without informing his family or lawyers. She said she was "utterly disappointed" with the law in China and feared "even more difficult" conditions ahead for Yu.

The other day, Xu met with officials from the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United States to appeal for assistance in five aspects: condemnation and sanction of illegal secret judgments in the Chinese justice system, protection of Yu's right to appeal, protection of Yu's right to meet his family members, demanding that the Chinese government arrange for Yu to serve his sentence in the Beijing prison that corresponds to his account, continuing to be concerned whether Yu was tortured, his health condition and his safety while returning home after serving his sentence. She expects international attention to correct and sanction China's judicial system, stressing that China's Ministry of Justice must abide by legal procedures and return Yu to "the most basic right and the right to be imprisoned in his region of residence”.

She was also being held in custody for 19 hours.

Before her husband’s arrest, she would get lost even inside a train station under the long term protection of her husband, "when a big thing happens, many problems become small, and people grow up gradually even through the hard times.” Xu said she was the only Chinese human rights lawyer's wife to be arrested on charges of inciting subversion of state power against her husband, she was held in a police station for 19 hours without food or water, and was once interrogated in a torture "tiger chair",unable to move for nine hours. During the custody, she was asked to strip naked for inspections and were repeatedly restricted from leaving the house, “even when I went to the supermarket, they sent national security guards to stay one meter from me and record the whole process.” Even though the road to human rights protection is very difficult, seeing the situations of many human rights activists such as Li Wang-yang and Liu Xiao-bo, Xu stated that only through perseverance of defending human rights and telling the world about China's violations of human rights could prevent similar incidents from happening to others.

The couple has one teenage son who witnessed his father being arrested by dozens of Chinese police officers. Talking about her son, Xu choked up, saying that what happened at home has hurt her son deeply, “He locks the door as soon as he gets home and sleeps in a tent, feeling insecure”. But Xu said her son is strong and has a strong bond with his father. In the past two years, whenever her son missed his father, she would take her son to places where his husband used to take him to play. After Yu's conviction, Xu planned to take her son to ask for seeing Yu. She says to her son, "If I can let you see your father this time, I'll bring you to him”, her son nodded. She hoped her son understand the situation of Yu, saying that “everyone's life is different, while his life of tribulations is not necessarily bad.” She pleaded for pressure from the world so that China would "let her son see his father" after he has not seen his father for over two years.

As the Hong Kong National Security Law is approaching, Xu also expressed her concern that Hong Kong is facing a more difficult situation than before, and expressed admiration and respect for Hong Kong people who defended their rights, hoping Hongkongers “care and help the people in times of trouble to the extent allowed”.

Source: Stand News

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