The US has called for Chinese authorities to allow a prominent human rights lawyer to return home, after having spent almost five years in “unjust detention”.
Wang Quanzhang was released two weeks ago after serving four-and-a-half years for “subversion”, but has been barred from reuniting with his family.
On his release, Wang was sent for two weeks of compulsory coronavirus quarantine to his home town of Jinan, instead of to Beijing, where he lives with his wife and seven-year-old son. At the end of the 14 days his wife, Li Wenzu, said Wang was still being barred from returning to Beijing, and was under strict supervision.
The US state department said: “We remain very concerned about reports of his declining physical and mental health, and of his mistreatment in prison.
“Wang was detained as part of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] nationwide roundup of more than 300 human rights lawyers and legal associates beginning July 9, 2015.
“We continue to call for the release of all of those unjustly detained, such as Li Yuhan and Yu Wensheng, as well as other Chinese citizens who are in detention simply for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms in pursuit of a more equitable and just society, governed by the rule of law.”
The statement also expressed continued concern over China’s “weak rule of law”, arbitrary detention and torture of detainees, and human rights violations.
It is not the first example of the practice of releasing activists from prison into de facto house arrest or to their home town, which has been labelled “non-release release” by rights groups.
Human Rights Watch’s China researcher, Yaqiu Wang, said the Chinese government seemed determined to indefinitely silence Wang, and called his continued detention “a complete travesty of justice”.
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/us-urges-china-to-let-human-rights-lawyer-return-home-after-unjust-detention
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