Authorities in China on Tuesday handed down a three-year jail term to prominent human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and a one-year, nine month sentence to his wife Xu Yan after the couple were detained en route to meet with European Union officials in Beijing.
“We have learned that [Yu and Xu] were sentenced this morning at the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court,” the Weiquangwang rights website reported. “Yu Wensheng was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and his wife Xu Yan got one year and nine months.”
The court found the couple guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” following their Aug. 28 trial, which was observed by diplomats from more than 10 countries.
Yu and Xu were initially detained in April 2023 on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” – a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the Communist Party – en route to a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing. Brussels lodged a formal complaint over the incident.
The charge was later upgraded to the more serious “incitement to subvert state power.”
Meanwhile, authorities in the northern province of Hebei have detained prominent rights lawyers Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong after they showed up at a local court in a bid to represent a client.
Wang, Jiang and several other lawyers arrived at the Wei County People’s Court near Hebei’s Handan city on the morning of Oct. 23 to defend their client Liu Meixiang against charges of corruption.
A scuffle ensued after police snatched away the camera of a family member who tried to take photos of them, according to a lawyer at the scene who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Jiang, 53, stepped in to protect the client’s relative, but was later accused of attacking Xiao Junfei, whose identity was unclear, a police document showed.
“Jiang Tianyong was involved in a scuffle while trying to stop them, but he didn’t fight back,” the lawyer said.
