Fear of dissent is shown by a jailed human rights lawyer’s unsuccessful appeal.
Responding to the rejection of Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng’s appeal against his three-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”, Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Deputy Director for Research Kate Schuetze said:
“The charges against Yu Wensheng and his wife, activist Xu Yan – who was convicted of the same offence – are entirely baseless. They reveal the authorities’ inability to provide any legitimate justification for their imprisonment.
“The Chinese government has used Yu’s online comments and his numerous international human rights awards as an excuse to label him a threat to national security. But all this really demonstrates is Beijing’s deep fear of human rights defenders who dare to dissent.
“Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan have been imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and they must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Background
On 6 January 2025, the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court rejected Yu Wensheng’s appeal against his three-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”, passed down in a trial in October 2024. His wife, activist Xu Yan, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for the same offence and is set to be released in January 2025.
The couple, both well-known activists in China, were taken into police custody while en route to a meeting with the delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing on 13 April 2023. Originally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and detained in Beijing Shijingshan Detention Centre, they were indicted on new charges of “inciting subversion of state power” in October 2023. In January 2024, they were transferred to Suzhou Detention Centre in Jiangsu province, some 1000km away.
Xu Yan has reportedly lost 14kg since being detained and the conditions of her detention in Beijing may have amounted to torture or other ill-treatment. She was subjected to verbal abuse, including being intimidated by police who threatened to arrest her son if he undertook advocacy on her and Yu’s case. Xu and Yu’s son, who turned 18 just before their detention, has since faced a serious deterioration of his mental health. His parents’ transfer to Suzhou has exacerbated his isolation.
Yu Wensheng was previously convicted in 2020, when he was sentenced to four years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power”, also solely for exercising his human right to freedom of expression. Yu’s health has deteriorated throughout both his jail sentences due to poor conditions and alleged torture and other ill-treatment while in detention.
During Yu’s first detention, Xu Yan fought tirelessly for the release of her husband and made numerous failed attempts to visit him in prison. Xu was under constant surveillance and repeatedly faced harassment by the Chinese authorities, having been summoned, detained and occasionally banned from leaving her house.
