Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), the wife of jailed human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), on Friday last week met with German lawmakers in the hopes of testifying about her husband at a parliamentary hearing in Germany.
Lee Ching-yu has testified before the US House of Representatives and the British parliament to appeal for assistance in her husband’s case, as well as other instances of human rights abuses by China.
Lee Ming-che went missing in March last year after entering China. In November, he was sentenced to five years in prison by the Yueyang Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan Province on charges of “subversion of state power” and is currently serving his sentence.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights
Lee Ching-yu was accompanied in Germany by Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) and US-based China Aid Association president Bob Fu (傅希秋).
She met with members of the German Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid and other German lawmakers, Yang said.
Lee Ching-yu told the committee that she hopes Germany can ask China to immediately release Lee Ming-che and guarantee visitation by family members, he added.
As Lee Ching-yu’s requests were based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Germany has expressed a willingness to assist her, Yang said, adding that the meeting went better than they had expected.
Although German lawmakers had heard about China’s suppression of human rights, they did not know the details of Lee Ming-che’s situation, he said.
Their meeting with Lee Ching-yu provided them with an actual example of China’s suppression of human rights, he added.
While the Bundestag is in session and the lawmakers are very busy, they found the time to meet with Lee Ching-yu to express Germany’s serious concern over China’s suppression of human rights, Shieh said.
It was the first time a Taiwanese victim of human rights suppression met with lawmakers in Germany, he said.
Lee Ching-yu received significant support, praise and encouragement in Germany, because the European country can no longer tolerate China’s suppression of human rights, he added.
She is to visit the Netherlands and EU headquarters in Brussels next week to seek their support.
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