Several human rights organizations say China has intensified persecution against human rights lawyers and their family members in recent months, as the ailing wife of a lawyer is denied access to her pension and medical insurance, while the children of two lawyers are repeatedly forced by local authorities to drop out of schools.
VOA has reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Prominent Chinese lawyer #XieYang detained 813 days without trial, facing charges of "Inciting subversion of state power”. Lawyer was denied access to files. Xie was subjected to torture in detention in 2022. #?? #?? #China #HumanRights #Lawyer #709crackdown #RuleOfLaw pic.twitter.com/T5mYYFEo7q
— The 29 Principles (@the29principles) April 5, 2024
On March 31, 16 human rights lawyers and dissidents in China called for donations to Chinese human rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng, whose family struggles to pay for his wife’s mounting medical bills because she hasn’t been able to access social insurance or her pension.
Zhou’s wife has been disabled since suffering a serious stroke in 1995. Since Zhou was sentenced to seven years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power” in 2015, which was part of the Chinese government’s nationwide crackdown against more than 300 human rights lawyers, his wife hasn’t been able to regularly pay for her social insurance or properly handle her retirement application.
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— ??? (@weiquanwang) April 5, 2024
“Before his arrest, Zhou’s law firm would pay for his wife’s social insurance and he would take care of everything she needed,” said Ren Quanniu, a Chinese human rights lawyer familiar with Zhou’s situation.
“But after he was arrested, her social insurance payment was suspended and no one could help her complete the retirement process in 2017, which caused her to lose access to the social insurance and pension,” he told VOA by phone.
As a result, Zhou’s wife can’t be reimbursed for her mounting medical bills and her rapidly deteriorating health is increasing pressure on her family.
Sources
Chinese authorities still persecute dissidents’ families years after their release
