Wife of Detained Human Rights Lawyer Monitored by CCP Authorities

Chinese human rights lawyers and their families have been under tight control during the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) two sessions. Among them is Xu Yan, the wife of Beijing lawyer Yu Wensheng who was arrested in 2018 and hasn’t been heard of since. Xu Yan has been monitored since before the two sessions and spoke about her situation in a May 22 interview with NTD. Xu said, “A national security officer in Shijingshan, Beijing, called her on May 15 and told me to come downstairs and meet with them. When she I refused to cooperate, they berated her on the phone. Then, on May 18 and19, she found that someone followed her when she went out. Since May 20, they have been on monitoring duty outside the apartment building.” “I don’t know how long they are going to monitor me,” Xu said. "I went out yesterday, and was followed by them. They didn’t stop me from going out, but I don't know what will happen today. There were many times when they wouldn't even let me go out. They were on duty downstairs this morning,” she added. Xu asked for people in the international community to pay more attention to her situation as well as to her husband’s case. “There is still no information about Yu Wensheng’s case. He has been unlawfully detained for a long time without trial, which seriously violates the law and is very inhumane," she said. She also called on the CCP to immediately issue a verdict according to the law, acquitting and releasing her husband as soon as possible. Yu Wensheng was arrested by Beijing police in January 2018 for representing Falun Gong practitioners and “709” lawyer Wang Quanzhang. Since then, his family, friends and even lawyers haven’t been able to see him. In April of 2018, Yu Wensheng was arrested by the Jiangsu police for "inciting subversion of state power." His case was handled in secret last May, and no judgment has been pronounced so far. During these past two years, Xu has been summoned, interrogated, detained and abused by the police many times for her public activism calling for her husband’s release. She has met with many foreign ambassadors in China who told her they would continue to pay attention to his case.