Calls are growing for the release on medical parole of former property mogul Ren Zhiqiang, who is serving an 18-year jail term for corruption after he criticized ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
In September 2020, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Ren to 18 years' imprisonment after finding him guilty of "corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power" as a high-ranking leader of a state-owned enterprise, in a move analysts said was about Xi removing any public challenge to his authority.
Four years later, his daughter Ren Xinyi has written to Xi asking for her father to be released from prison on medical parole to receive treatment overseas, citing his deteriorating health due to untreated asthma and prostate disease.
"He is a seriously ill man in his 70s who is no longer capable of causing trouble for you or for China," read the Oct. 2 letter, which was initially posted to the X account @AnnaWruiqin, then verified as genuine to RFA Mandarin by people familiar with the situation.
"I am willing to promise that my father will never make any public comments after he goes abroad for treatment," the letter said, adding that the family had already "made several requests through the usual channels," but to no avail.
Some fear Ren could wind up dying of untreated illnesses in prison like Liu Xiaobo, or rights activist Cao Shunli. Liu, the 2010 Nobel Peace laureate, died in prison in 2017 of liver cancer following repeated, unsuccessful attempts to have him released on medical parole.
Independent political journalist Gao Yu commented via her X account: "Seeing this heartfelt and tearful appeal for Ren Zhiqiang, I just hope China won't repeat the tragedy of Liu Xiaobo."
Accused of embezzling
Ren was accused of “taking advantage of his position to embezzle more than 110 million yuan in public funds, receiving more than 1.25 million yuan in bribes, abusing his power and causing particularly heavy losses of more than 100 million yuan to a state-owned holding company,” according to the court judgment.
Ren had earlier been expelled by the ruling party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which launched an investigation into his affairs in the wake of an online essay he wrote criticizing Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and likening the Chinese leader to a “clown.”
“Ren was found to have failed to keep in line with the party Central Committee on major issues of principle and published articles in violation of the four cardinal principles, defaming the party and the country, as well as distorting party and military history,” the Commission said in a statement at the time.
Former Party School professor Cai Xia, who now lives in the United States, wrote that Ren has been in poor health for years.
"Ren Zhiqiang has suffered from multiple diseases for many years," Cai commented on the letter via her X account. "Yet he hasn't been allowed to receive treatment in the four years since his imprisonment, so his health is worsening."
"This is naturally arousing huge concern," she wrote.
Crossing a ‘big red line’
Overseas-based political commentator Cai Shenkun said Ren is widely regarded as a political prisoner.
"When Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2020, it was because he had directly criticized Xi Jinping at the time, basically violating Xi Jinping's holy status and crossing a big red line," Cai told RFA in a recent interview.
As a result, nobody inside China dares to speak out for him, he said.
Teng said Ren had been an outspoken current affairs commentator on social media, something that was almost unheard of under Xi's rule.
"Since Xi Jinping came to power, pretty much all of China's intellectuals fell silent," Teng said. "What impressed everyone the most [about Ren] was that ... he still had the courage to make public criticisms, which was very rare."
Teng said Ren meets the conditions for medical parole under Chinese law, on paper at least.
But he said he wasn't optimistic that the law would be implemented.
"China isn't ruled by law -- it totally ignores the rule of law, and the most basic principles of humanitarianism," he said. "It has refused to approve medical parole for many prisoners of conscience in the past."
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.