Authorities in China on Tuesday handed down a three-year jail term to prominent human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and a one-year, nine month sentence to his wife Xu Yan after the couple were detained en route to meet with European Union officials in Beijing.
“We have learned that [Yu and Xu] were sentenced this morning at the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court,” the Weiquangwang rights website reported. “Yu Wensheng was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and his wife Xu Yan got one year and nine months.”
The court found the couple guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” following their Aug. 28 trial, which was observed by diplomats from more than 10 countries.
Yu and Xu were initially detained in April 2023 on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” – a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the Communist Party – en route to a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing. Brussels lodged a formal complaint over the incident.
The charge was later upgraded to the more serious “incitement to subvert state power.”
Meanwhile, authorities in the northern province of Hebei have detained prominent rights lawyers Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong after they showed up at a local court in a bid to represent a client.
Wang, Jiang and several other lawyers arrived at the Wei County People’s Court near Hebei’s Handan city on the morning of Oct. 23 to defend their client Liu Meixiang against charges of corruption.
A scuffle ensued after police snatched away the camera of a family member who tried to take photos of them, according to a lawyer at the scene who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Jiang, 53, stepped in to protect the client’s relative, but was later accused of attacking Xiao Junfei, whose identity was unclear, a police document showed.
“Jiang Tianyong was involved in a scuffle while trying to stop them, but he didn’t fight back,” the lawyer said.
Police also shoved and hit Wang Yu, after she told them they were breaking the law by taking the person’s camera, the lawyer said.
“They took her into their room where they hit her and shoved her with some force,” they said. “Wang Yu called them hooligans, so they said she had a bad attitude and detained her for nine days.”
“She went on hunger strike in detention,” the lawyer said.
‘Forcibly restrained’
Jiang Tianyong, 53, is being held under an eight-day administrative detention order after being detained by police outside the Wei County People’s Court on Oct. 23, according to a copy of the detention notice shared with RFA Mandarin, which accused him of “beating” another person outside the court.
“Jiang Tianyong will be detained for eight days under the Public Security Administrative Punishment Law, and fined 300 yuan (US$42),” the notice issued by the county police department said, adding that Jiang would be held in the Wei County Detention Center near Handan city.
Liu Meixiang’s husband Qiu Bin was also put in administrative detention, while a fourth person was detained briefly and released on the same day.
Lawyers Peng Peng, Duan Hanjie and Shi Yu tried to meet with the three detained lawyers on Oct. 25 at the Wei County Detention Center, but were denied permission by the authorities and later filed a complaint with the local police department about it.
Wang Yu’s husband Bao Longjun told RFA Mandarin that the three were eventually permitted to meet with their lawyers on Oct. 26.
“We met with Wang Yu, who was on hunger strike,” Bao told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. “The authorities are accusing Wang Yu of disrupting the work of the Weicheng police station, but she did no such thing.”
In fact, Wang was assaulted and humiliated by the police, he said.
“More than a dozen police officers came and forcibly restrained Wang Yu, pushing and shoving her into an iron-barred cell and stripping her top off,” Bao said.
According to Wang’s account cited by Bao, police officer Cao Ran twisted her arm and treated her “improperly” as she was being taken away.
Repeated calls to the Weicheng police station rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.
Wang told Bao she was finding it hard to get hold of drinking water in the detention center.
Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.