Joint Open Letter to the Chinese Government Regarding Attorney Yu Wensheng

Photo / Retrieved from Twitter account of Xu Yan, wife of attorney Yu Wensheng

To Whom It May Concern:

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, write out of concern for attorney Yu Wensheng and his family.

Yu Wensheng, age 53, was arrested in Beijing on January 19, 2018 and transferred to Xuzhou, Jiangsu, where he was detained on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power." He was tried in a closed proceeding on May 9, 2019 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment on June 17, 2020. His appeal was rejected on December 13, 2020, meaning that he was expected to be transferred to a prison in the near future.

We invoke the basic principle that, except for restrictions demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, persons deprived of their liberty retain their non-derogable human rights and all other human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Xuzhou, where Mr. Yu was detained, is more than 800 kilometers from Beijing, where his wife and son live. Each time Xu Yan traveled from Beijing to Xuzhou to visit him, the round trip and visit could easily consume two days. Neither Yu nor Xu has relatives or friends in Xuzhou, leaving Mr. Yu without local family or community support while in custody.

We also understand that Xu Yan has no income and that, since Yu Wensheng's detention, she and her family have lived on their savings. Each visit requires long-distance travel at considerable cost, placing mounting financial pressure on the family. Where a visit involves legal procedures requiring an attorney's assistance, the expense rises further. After three years of litigation and uncertainty, Xu Yan has been under enormous pressure and is physically and emotionally exhausted.

We are also deeply concerned about Mr. Yu's health. Reports indicate that he has lost molars and suffers from chronic tooth pain that makes chewing and eating difficult. His right hand was reportedly injured while he was detained awaiting trial in Xuzhou and now trembles uncontrollably. He has also long suffered from spinal and lower-back pain, reportedly caused by being forced to sit cross-legged on the floor in a fixed position for prolonged periods while in detention.

In light of these circumstances, we invoke the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), adopted by the General Assembly on December 17, 2015 in Resolution A/RES/70/175:

• Rule 59 provides that prisoners should, to the extent possible, be allocated to prisons close to their homes or places of social rehabilitation;
• Rule 25 calls for particular attention to prisoners with special health-care needs or health conditions that may hamper rehabilitation;
• The letter cites Rule 4 for the principle that assistance provided by prison staff and other competent authorities should be prioritized according to the urgency of each prisoner's needs.

We respectfully ask that you take these principles, attorney Yu Wensheng's condition, and his family's circumstances into account and, on both human-rights and humanitarian grounds, allow him to be transferred to a prison in Beijing to serve the remainder of his sentence.
If Yu Wensheng is transferred to Beijing, we hope his family can assist in providing the attention and support he needs for recovery and rehabilitation.
We look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Signatories

Organizations
Covenants Watch
Day of the Endangered Lawyer Foundation
Geneva Bar Association
Humanitarian China
International Association of People's Lawyers
Judicial Reform Foundation
Lawyers for Lawyers
Paris Bar Association
Human Rights Committee, Taipei Bar Association
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Support Network for Chinese Human Rights Lawyers

Individuals January 18, 2021
Eva Pils, Professor of Law, King's College London
Gill Boehringer, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Law School, Australia
Hans Gaasbeek, Attorney; Initiator of the Day of the Endangered Lawyer
Martin Flaherty, Leitner Family Professor of International Human Rights Law
Patrick Henry, Former President, Avocats Européens Droits de l'Homme (AEDH) / French- and German-speaking Bars of Belgium
Paul Copeland, C.M., Lawyer; Co-founder, Law Union of Ontario
Stuart Russell, Lawyer; Retired Judge
Symone Gaasbeek Wielinga, Attorney

Copies Sent To

People's Republic of China
- Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
- State Council
- Supreme People's Court
- Supreme People's Procuratorate
- Ministry of Public Security