Wuhan pensioner Zhong Hanneng endured every parent’s worst nightmare when COVID-19 claimed her son in February, and — alongside other bereaved relatives — she wants to sue the local government she blames for his death.
However, the relatives have had their lawsuits abruptly rejected, dozens of others face pressure from authorities not to file and lawyers are being warned against helping them, people involved in the effort said.
The families accuse the Wuhan City Government and the Hubei Provincial Government of concealing the outbreak when it first emerged there late last year, failing to alert the public and bungling the response, allowing COVID-19 to explode out of control.
Photo: AFP
It has killed nearly 3,900 in the city and more than 940,000 globally so far.
“They say the epidemic was a natural calamity, but these serious outcomes are of human origin and you need to find who is to blame,” Zhong, 67, said. “Our family is shattered. I can never be happy again.”
At least five lawsuits have been filed with the Wuhan Intermediate Court, said Zhang Hai, whose elderly father died of COVID-19, and who has emerged as a vocal advocate and spokesman for families of the victims.
Plaintiffs are each seeking about 2 million yuan (US$295,500) in damages and a public apology, but the court has rejected the lawsuits on unspecified procedural grounds, said Yang Zhanqing (楊占青), a veteran Chinese human rights advocate now in the US.
Yang, who is coordinating two dozen lawyers in China who are secretly advising the families, said that the rejections have come via curt telephone calls — not through official written explanations, as legally required — apparently to avoid a paper trail.
Staff at the Wuhan court refused requests for comment.
The coronavirus emerged in Wuhan late last year, but city authorities initially dragged their feet, pressuring whistle-blowing doctors to keep quiet.
The Chinese Communist Party continues to downplay responsibility, even questioning whether the pathogen originated in China, while trumpeting its later success in suppressing domestic infections.
It held a grand ceremony in Beijing last week, where Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) declared the nation had passed an “extraordinary and historic test” through a swift and transparent response.
Zhong tells a different story.
By late January, COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in Wuhan, but officials had still not issued a citywide alarm.
With the Lunar New Year holiday approaching, Zhong and her son, Peng Yi — a 39-year-old schoolteacher — happily shopped at jam-packed stores. Millions of others left Wuhan for the holiday, taking the infection global.
“We had no idea the buses were full of the virus... So we went out every day. We didn’t even know about masks,” Zhong said.
On Jan. 24, as Wuhan finally began locking down, she and Peng fell ill. She soon recovered, but he worsened.
Fear gripped their household, which included Zhong’s husband, Peng’s wife and his seven-year-old daughter.
For the next two agonizing weeks, they spent long hours in overwhelmed hospitals begging to get him admitted, but without a positive result — and with testing kits scarce — he was repeatedly turned away.
Peng was finally hospitalized on Feb. 6.
His family never saw him alive again. He died on a respirator two weeks later.
“He must have been so scared, so unhappy, with no family around. I can’t imagine how sad he was,” said Zhong, breaking down repeatedly. “Did he call out mother, father? I don’t know.”
Zhang believes that his father was infected at a Wuhan hospital during treatment for an unrelated ailment.
He said that the authorities are waging a campaign to discredit him, suspending his social media accounts and circulating disinformation that the legal efforts are a scam to bilk families.
Others have also reported official intimidation and next-of-kin chat groups have been infiltrated by police, Zhang said, blaming the Wuhan City Government.
“They know if I succeed in filing a case, many other families will sue, too,” he said.
The Wuhan City Government did not respond to requests for comment.
Zhang said that dozens of bereaved relatives have coalesced in chat groups, but most are fearful of taking action.
With his initial suit in Wuhan rejected, Zhang then filed with a provincial-level court. Zhong plans to do the same.
Yang believes it is “very likely” that the authorities would eventually quietly meet some of the families’ demands, though a public apology is inconceivable.
Until then, Zhang intends to appeal all the way to China’s highest court in Beijing, regardless of the personal risks.
“My father is my motivation,” he said.
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