As this release from HK based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group explains, essentially he’ll be exchanging one form of imprisonment for another as it is most likely he’ll immediately be put under house arrest.
Here’s what we know so far
Hong Kong, 3 April 2020 – Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, in the custody of Chinese authorities since 2015, is expected to be released from prison on 5 April 2020. ISHR and other activists caution, however, that his ‘release’ will be far from unconditional.
If Wang is freed, his family expects him to be forcibly removed to his hometown, far from support networks and diplomats in Beijing, and to face serious restrictions to his personal liberties, including freedom of movement. This is in line with treatment of other ‘released’ lawyers, and has been roundly criticised by international human rights experts.
‘Quanzhang must come home to Beijing to be with me and our son,’ said Wang’s wife, Li Wenzu. ‘I am worried that he might encounter similar treatment to Lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who is still being watched by state agents around the clock’.
The non-profit Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyer Concern Group, who has been working to publicise the case and assist Ms Li, emphasises that ‘it is imperative that Lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was held incommunicado for over three years without any form of due process, retain all the freedoms and rights to which he is entitled upon release.The Chinese authorities should stop any form of harassment against his family members.’ The NGO has prepared a joint statement together with ten other organisations drawing attention to his release (copy attached here, embargoed until 12pm CET on Saturday, 4 April 2020).
‘Beijing’s insistence on prosecuting Wang – despite concerns raised by UN experts, other governments and their own citizens – reinforces a dangerous mindset: that stability trumps free speech, and a “harmonious society”, human rights,’ says Sarah M Brooks, Asia Advocate at ISHR. Brooks has been closely following the evolution of his case as part of her work to support human rights defenders in China.
‘With many governments viewing China as a partner in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperation should move forward. But it is important they not put their heads in the sand when it comes to human rights. Miscarriages of the law and attacks against those defending human rights in the country remain pervasive, and unacceptable’, she adds.
Recent coverage of China has focused on its role in identifying, containing, and now assisting other governments to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Attention to human rights concerns can therefore end up a lower priority, including for governments and the UN. This approach, while understandable, risks undercutting those activists who are working for a more transparent and accountable government in China.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
- Cheung Yiu-leung, Vice-chairperson at CHRLCG, +852 2801 7338 or Francine Chan, Executive Director at CHRLCG, +852 2388 1377 or info@chrlawyers.hk (EN/ZH)
- Sarah M Brooks, Asia Advocate at ISHR, +41 78 659 73 37 or @sarahmcneer (EN/FR)
Background:
Mr Wang was detained as part of a sweeping Chinese government crackdown, begun on 9 July 2015, on lawyers and legal advocates fighting for social justice and government accountability. Mr Wang had a track record of taking cases of civil rights activists, victims of forced eviction, and persecuted religious minorities.
For nearly three years following this ‘709 crackdown’, Mr Wang was held incommunicado, presumably in the Chinese city of Tianjin. His wife, Li Wenzu, and other lawyers and activists have campaigned tirelessly for information about his location, health and well-being. As a result, Ms Li has been harassed, surveilled and forced to change apartments. Her young son, who she has been raising alone, has been denied access to education, as both public and private kindergartens have refused to enrol him.
UN experts first requested more information on Wang’s case in 2017, after receiving information from Chinese human rights defenders. Michel Forst, appointed by the UN to document the situation for human rights defenders, said the official response to inquiries about Mr Wang’s and related cases:
‘merely stipulates the charges against the human rights lawyers without dealing with the substance of the allegations against them… [I have] concerns that prolonged incommunicado detention, the allegations of torture and denial of their access to legal counsel is in retaliation against their human rights activities, with the aim of silencing dissenting voices in China.’
In August 2018, UN experts declared Mr Wang’s detention arbitrary under international law, and urged China to immediately release him, offer enforceable remedy, and take steps to hold officials accountable.
Despite efforts by Ms Li, civil society actors and international experts, Chinese authorities announced his secret trial on 26 December 2018, and in January 2019, sentenced him to four and a half years’ imprisonment, with an additional five years’ deprivation of political rights. He is currently being held in Linyi prison, in eastern China’s Shandong province. Including time already served in policy custody, his sentence will conclude on 5 April 2020.