Yu Wensheng released after completing sentence

On 1 March 2022, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng was released from Nanjing Prison after completing a four-year sentence. He traveled back to Beijing immediately and reunited with his wife Xu Yan.

On 15 April 2021, the Nanjing Prison authorities arranged a 30-minute video meeting between Yu Wensheng and his wife and older brother. The prison authorities informed the family that they had taken the human rights defender to a hospital for an orthopedic and neurosurgical examination, with the orthopedic surgeon concluding that Yu Wensheng's right hand trembles due to nerve damage from an external injury. The doctor has prescribed medication accordingly. Yu Wensheng also told his family that he was beaten up by several other prisoners when he was first transferred to the Nanjing Prison, but did not suffer serious injuries.

He further informed his family that he had recently been transferred to a ward designated for elderly prisoners, where there is no air conditioning. His family is concerned about the heat during the summer months and has asked the prison authorities to transfer him back to a ward with air conditioning. Yu Wensheng also told his family that he still has not been given paper and pens to write with.

The human rights defender's family have submitted another formal request to the authorities to ensure they are allowed to see him once a month, that he is granted medical parole so he can receive adequate treatment for his hand condition, and that he is given paper and pens and is permitted to make regular phone calls to his immediate family. The family also asked the authorities to launch an investigation into the causes of and circumstances surrounding the injury to the defender's right hand, and to ensure accountability.

On 3 February 2021, after multiple calls to various authorities, Xu Yan eventually received confirmation that her husband Yu Wensheng was transferred from the Xuzhou Detention Centre to the Nanjing Prison, both in Jiangsu province, on 26 January 2021 to serve his four-year sentence. Nanjing Prison is over 1000 kilometres from Beijing, where Yu Wensheng had been living with his wife and child for years before his detention, making family visitation very arduous. The Nanjing Prison informed Xu Yan over the phone that it will not allow her to visit him, citing the need for epidemic prevention.

Xu Yan has repeatedly called on the authorities to release Yu Wensheng or at least transfer him to a prison in Beijing so that she could visit him more easily. On 4 February 2021, she travelled to Nanjing Prison but was not allowed to see her husband.

On 26 December 2020, one of Yu Wensheng's defence lawyers received the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court's appeal decision upholding the original verdict and sentence against the human rights defender. The appeal decision was reached before the defence lawyers had the opportunity to submit their defence statement to the court and before they were able to make copies of and review all the case files.

The appeal decision was dated 13 December 2020, but when Xu Yan, Yu Wensheng's wife, phoned the Court on 16 December, a court official told her that the Court had yet to reach a decision.

It is not yet clear when, or if, Yu Wensheng, who is currently detained at the Xuzhou Detention Centre, will be transferred to a prison. Detention centre officials have rejected Xu Yan's requests to visit him, on the pretext of COVID-19 regulations. Xu Yan has requested the authorities to; allow family visitation as soon as possible, transfer him back to Beijing where she and their child live, and guarantee him access to adequate treatment for medical conditions affecting his right hand and his teeth.

Last week, the two defence lawyers representing Yu Wensheng submitted four requests to the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court. Yu Wensheng is appealing his first-instance guilty verdict handed down in June 2020 by the Xuzhou Intermediate People's Court.

Among their requests, the lawyers first asked the Higher Court to hold a public hearing and to broadcast it live on the internet to ensure transparency over the proceedings.

Second, they asked the Higher Court to exclude testimonies collected during Yu Wensheng's detention under "residential surveillance in a designated location" (RSDL) in Xuzhou. While under interrogation in RSDL, local police officers put undue pressure on the human rights defender by making threats against him, his wife and son.

Third, the Higher Court informed the defender’s lawyers in a telephone call in August 2020 that it had rejected their request to examine audio and video recordings of Yu Wensheng's interrogation while in police custody; the lawyers are now asking the Court to provide that earlier decision in writing and to issue a new written decision ordering the relevant public security authorities in Beijing and Xuzhou to turn over all such recordings they made while interrogating Yu Wensheng.

Finally, the lawyers asked the Higher Court to summon all officers in Beijing and Xuzhou, who were involved in investigating the case and interrogating Yu Wensheng, to appear in the appeal hearing so that they can be cross-examined, including over their alleged role in making threats against him, his wife and son.

On 14 August 2020, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, sentenced in June 2020, was permitted to meet a lawyer of his choice for the first time at a detention centre in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province. Yu Wensheng was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in June 2020 and is appealing the verdict. Yu Wensheng reported that the previous lawyer, appointed by the government, did not provide adequate defence for the defender during the first-instance trial and did not visit him after he was secretly tried in May 2019.

His current lawyer reported that Yu Wensheng's right-hand, which had suffered nerve damage during a previous period of detention, has been trembling so much that he can no longer write with that hand, and has had to learn to write using his left hand. He also said that he cannot chew food on the left-side of his mouth, and that a tooth on the right-side has come loose, making it difficult to consume food. Yu Wensheng also said that during the initial period of "residential surveillance in a designated location" in the months after he was first detained in January 2018, he was subjected to ill-treatment, including being forced to sit in a metal chair for an extended period of time. Following his secret trial in May 2019, Yu Wensheng also suffered heat stroke once and fainted in the detention centre.

Xu Yan, Yu Wensheng's wife, has formally petitioned the Jiangsu Provincial High Court to release him on bail and allow him to return home to receive medical treatment for his right hand.

In May 2019, Yu Wensheng’s wife, Xu Yan, revealed that her husband had been secretly tried on 9 May at the Xuzhou Municipal Intermediate Court, and that the authorities informed neither her nor the two lawyers she had retained. The Court also failed to publish a notice about the trial on its website as required by regulations. No verdict has been announced. Earlier in February 2019, prosecutors indicted Yu Wensheng on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” and dropped the second charge of “obstructing official duties.”

On 19 April, Yu Wensheng was formally arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “obstructing public service”. He had been kept in incommunicado detention since his arrest on 19 January 2018. Repeated attempts by his wife, legal counsel, and supporters to visit him in detention have been unsuccessful. On 16 April, police gave the human rights defender’s lawyers a statement signed by Yu Wensheng, which dismissed them from acting as his legal counsel.

Yu Wensheng is a human rights lawyer who works in Beijing. He has legally represented   petitioners, civil rights activists, and his fellow human rights lawyers, who have been victims of China’s crackdown on civil liberties. Yu Wensheng has also advocated for change in multiple areas of Chinese society. In 2016, he was one of a small group of lawyers to sue the Chinese government over air pollution in the country. Yu Wensheng’s formal arrest marks the end of his “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL), under terms of which authorities were able to keep Yu Wensheng in detention in an undisclosed location. In issuing a formal arrest document, authorities have also confirmed the location of his ongoing detention as the Xuzhou City Detention Centre.

On 18 April 2018, Yu Wensheng’s lawyers Chang Boyang and Xie Yang travelled to the Tongshan District Public Security Bureau in Xuzhou to request permission to visit Yu Wensheng in detention. Authorities denied their request and presented the lawyers with a note dated 16 April 2018, written and signed by Yu Wensheng, expressing his intention to dismiss his counsel and requesting his wife not to appoint any other lawyers in their place. Chinese authorities have a history of compelling detainees and their families to dismiss independent legal counsel in order to assign government-allied lawyers instead. Prior to his arrest, Yu Wensheng prepared written and video testimony stating that he would not voluntarily dismiss his legal counsel in the event that he should be detained.

On 19 April 2018, Yu Wensheng’s wife, Xu Yan, was granted a video conference with her husband. Xu Yan reported that her husband looked skinny, his hair long and unkempt. When Xu Yan asked the defender whether he had written the note dismissing his lawyers, his answer was unclear.

On 17 April the lawyers of human rights defender, Zhen Jianghua, were also dismissed after having received a notification similar to that which was given to Yu Wensheng’s lawyers. He had also shared with friends and colleagues a written testimony confirming that he would not voluntarily dismiss his lawyers or accept state-appointed lawyers while in detention. Zhen Jianghua, a human rights activist with over 10 years’ experience working in defence of human rights in China. He is the executive director of Human Rights Campaign in China, an organization that campaigns on behalf of arrested human rights defenders and helps the victims of human rights violations to record and publicize their experiences. Zhen Jianghua has been kept in incommunicado detention since he was first arrested him in his home on 2 September 2017. He was formally arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” on 29 March 2018. Following intense intimidation from the authorities, the human rights defender’s family has been very hesitant to speak out about his case.

Front Line Defenders reiterates its request that the Chinese government immediately release Yu Wensheng and Zhen Jianghua and desist from acting in retaliation of the human rights defenders’ peaceful work in promoting human rights.

On 19 January 2018, human rights defender and lawyer Yu Wensheng (余文生) was detained by several police officers as he accompanied his son to school. On 20 January 2018, Yu Wensheng’s wife received official notice that he is being held under criminal detention on the charge of “disrupting public service” at Shijingshan District Detention Centre. The defender has not had access to legal counsel or been able to communicate with his family since being detained.

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On 18 January 2018, Yu Wensheng published an open letter recommending amendments to the Chinese constitution, calling for fair elections and an oversight system for the Chinese Communist Party, amongst other reforms.

On 19 January 2018, Yu Wensheng left his family home to walk his son to school. Yu Wensheng’s son returned home shortly afterwards, and reported to Yu Wensheng’s wife that the defender had been taken by a dozen law enforcement officers, including police and armored vehicles. Yu Wensheng was forced into a police vehicle after a physical altercation between the defender and at least one officer: a heavily edited video recorded by a police officer at the scene shows Yu Wensheng with one of his arresting officers.

Since the time of his arrest, neither Yu Wensheng’s wife nor his appointed lawyers have been allowed to see, speak to, or deposit funds for the defender at Shijingshan District Detention Centre, where the defender is reportedly held.

Yu Wensheng has faced government harassment and intimidation at several points throughout his career, such as when he was detained for ninety-nine days in 2014 for expressing support for Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement.

Additionally, in 2017, Chinese judicial authorities refused to allow Yu Wensheng to pass his annual license review, ultimately forcing him to leave his position at the Beijing Daoheng Law Firm. Lawyers in China are not allowed to practice law independent of affiliation with an established law firm. Yu Wensheng attempted to establish his own independent law firm but in January 2018, the human rights lawyer was informed that his application to establish a law firm had been denied. Yu Wensheng was subsequently informed that his legal license would be revoked, on the basis that he had not been employed by a law firm in over six months.

Front Line Defenders calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately release Yu Wensheng as it believes that the arbitrary arrest and detention of Yu Wensheng is solely an attempt to silence the defender and interfere with his work protecting the legal rights and freedoms of China’s citizens. Front Line Defenders further calls on the Chinese authorities to disclose the whereabouts of Yu Wensheng, grant him unfettered access to legal counsel of his choosing and communication with his family.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in China to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release Yu Wensheng and drop the charge against him;

2. Ensure that the treatment of Yu Wensheng, while in detention, adheres to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment', adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;

3. Reinstate Yu Wensheng’s legal license;

4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.