The French and German ambassadors to Beijing have granted a human rights award to detained Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng (余文生), with his wife picking up the prize on his behalf on Monday.
Yu — best known for suing the Beijing city government over the city’s once chronic pollution — was detained in January last year and charged with “inciting subversion of state power.”
Prior to his arrest, Yu had circulated an open letter calling for five reforms to China’s constitution.
Photo: AP
His wife, Xu Yan (許艷), received the award at an event organized by the German embassy in Beijing.
The prominent attorney was among 15 winners of the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, announced in November.
Yu “has lost his freedom for a year and not allowed to meet with a defense lawyer,” Xu said at the event attended by the German and French ambassadors to China, according to a transcript she posted on WeChat.
“His case has been postponed three times and referred back to the police for further investigations twice,” Xu said.
“I learned about this situation when I went to the Xuzhou City Procuratorate on Dec. 24,” she said. “No matter how difficult it is, I will continue to defend the rights of Yu Wensheng, because I believe Yu Wensheng.”
For several days beginning on July 9, 2015, more than 200 Chinese human rights lawyers and advocates were detained or questioned in a police sweep that rights groups called “unprecedented.”
The “709 crackdown,” as it was later dubbed, marked the largest clampdown on the legal profession in recent Chinese history.
However, Yu was not arrested during the sweep and had continued to express his opinions on legal issues.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel in May last year met with Xu and Li Wenzu (李文足) — the wife of another detained rights lawyer, Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) — during her trip to Beijing in a rare move for a visiting leader.
SCHEDULE: The delegation is due to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen this morning and witness the signing of an MOU on bilateral health cooperation in the afternoon US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar yesterday arrived in Taipei aboard a US government plane at the head of a delegation that is the highest-level visit by a US official since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979. Azar’s flight landed at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 4:48pm, nearly one hour earlier than scheduled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The apron where it landed is reserved for military aircraft, the Songshan Air Force Base Command said. The members of Azar’s delegation included HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, HHS Chief of Staff Brian
ALEX AZAR: The first visit by a head of the Department of Health and Human Services would strictly observe the CECC’s special regulations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar is to lead a delegation to Taiwan — the highest-level visit by a US Cabinet official since the two sides cut formal relations in 1979. The plan was announced yesterday morning by the US Department of Health and Human Services and confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Beijing has expressed its concerns to Washington, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said later yesterday. Taiwan and the US only issued statements saying that the visit would happen “in the coming days.” MOFA said that due to security concerns, it would
‘CROSS-STRAIT CONSIDERATIONS’: Groups said that the Ministry of Education’s policies excluded Chinese and students should not be blocked over political issues The Taiwan International Student Movement yesterday said it would protest today outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei against a policy that excludes some Chinese students from returning to Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since June 17, the ministry has allowed foreign students from 19 “low risk” and “medium-low risk” countries and regions to enter Taiwan. On July 22, it announced that it was relaxing restrictions to include students from all countries and regions who are graduating this semester and on Wednesday it further expanded entry to students enrolled in degree programs. A letter sent by the ministry on Wednesday to universities did
The military last week sent “no small number” of Marine Corps officers to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) following reports of a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) drill targeting the islands scheduled for this month. In an interview with Hong Kong’s Bauhinia Magazine published on Saturday last week, PLA National Defense University professor Li Daguang (李大光) confirmed that the Chinese army was planning to stage a simulated invasion of the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea this month. The islands comprise three atolls, with Pratas Island, at 1.74km2, being the largest. They lie southwest of Taiwan proper in the South
RSS