China: pro-democracy lawyer and WHRD wife sentenced to prison (Update)
Event- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 29, 2024
- Event Description
On 29 October 2024, the Suzhou Intermediate Court in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, convicted human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and woman human rights defender Xu Yan for “inciting subversion of State power”. Yu Wensheng was sentenced to three years in prison while Xu Yan was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. They have both been arbitrarily detained since April 2023 when they were arrested by public security agents while en route to an event in Beijing organised by the European Union Delegation to China.
Between 28-30 August 2024, Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan were put on trial separately at the Suzhou Intermediate Court. Diplomats from concerned countries went to Suzhou to observe the trials but were not allowed to enter the courtroom on the pretext of there being no available seats. Other human rights defenders who went to the court or attempted to travel to the court were either barred from entering or intercepted on the way by public security agents.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to liberty and security
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Pro-democracy defender
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 80.14029922825553
Longitude: 88.62851733430475
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 29 October, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife, woman human rights defender Xu Yan, were sentenced to 3 years and 3 years and 9 months of prison, respectively, by the Suzhou Intermediate Court in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China for "inciting subversion to state power".