SURVIVING 7 YEARS IN A CHINESE PRISON

[Tiff] In his first interview with an English-language media outlet, a German citizen talks about his seven-and-a-half years in a Chinese prison, where he experienced forced labor and torture. In the first part of our three-part series, Robert Rother (VO: https://forvo.com/search/Rother) recounts what he called his rigged trial, and crowded living conditions in prison. NTD’s Germany Correspondent Christian Watjen (VO: “Wat-chen”) reports.  === INTERVIEW: SURVIVING 7 YEARS IN A CHINESE PRISON PKG 6:07 Robert Rother (VO: https://forvo.com/search/Rother) spent seven years and seven months in a Chinese prison. In 2004, he left Germany for China to pursue his dream job. At first, most of his business ideas flopped, and he went broke. SE: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-german-prisoner-exposes-life-in-a-chinese-prison-a-1256413.html# But later, with a new partner, he started over in Shenzhen, a mega-city in south China. near Hong Kong. They began trading in diamonds, and soon business was booming. SE: Drachenjahre, p. 77 SE: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-german-prisoner-exposes-life-in-a-chinese-prison-a-1256413.html#   SOT 0:10  Robert Rother Former inmate in Chinese prison 1:11–1:21  VE: 2020-09-05_Robert Rother-1 “My life was kind of exciting in China. I was together with the high society of Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao. I drove two Ferraris.” During the financial crisis of 2008, Rother and his partner struck gold. As China's capital market dried up, they helped Chinese businesses get access to cash by leveraging relationships they had built. SE: Drachenjahre, 79 He says at one point, he made 800-thousand dollars from commissions alone. SE: Drachenjahre, 41 VE: I uploaded photos of him with the Ferrari and other photos of him in China before the arrest    His latest venture was a website that sold Chinese stock market information in English.  VE: This a YT promo of the financial website he started--before his arrest (we have permission to use it: Credit: Courtesy of Robert Rother): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vf611naedg&t=2s     But amid his success, the Chinese regime wasn't a fan of his dealings. He first received a warning from a friend, to stop the project. SE: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-german-prisoner-exposes-life-in-a-chinese-prison-a-1256413.html# SE: Drachenjahre, 87   SOT 0:25 Robert Rother Former inmate in Chinese prison 3:07–3:32  VE: 2020-09-05_Robert Rother-1 “I just thought to myself, why should I do that? I bought the license. I did … Everything I did was legal. And so I did not quite understand the message from them. So later on in jail, I figured out through other inmates who got arrested for similar crimes like contract fraud or corruption, that this is a common way to get rid of competition in China.” Later, Rother came to understand that in areas like finance, the Chinese Communist Party works hard to maintain its control. And since authorities had no leverage over him, as a German citizen and without ties to the Party, they had to get rid of him. One day in 2011, he was sitting inside a bar when police officers showed up, asking to speak with him. He first thought it was a 'misunderstanding' that he could clear up. SE: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-german-prisoner-exposes-life-in-a-chinese-prison-a-1256413.html# SE: Interview-1 But eventually he realized, in China, things are handled differently.  SOT 0:12 Robert Rother Former inmate in Chinese prison 10:01–10:13 VE: 2020-09-05_Robert Rother-1 ”I asked them, 'Could I speak to a lawyer?' I mean, that’s kind of normal in our ….  society or our countries. So they told me, `Why do you need a lawyer if you haven't done anything wrong?’” VE: If possible, pls try to cut the part 10:04–10:08 (when he’s at at loss of words) Police originally told him he'd be brought to a detention center for three days.  In the end, Rother spent over three years there.  SE: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-german-prisoner-expo