Interview with Attorney Wu Yushui: The "Stolen Right to Defense" of the Changsha Public Welfare Trio

Known as the "Changsha Public Welfare Trio," Chinese NGO workers Ch'en Yüan, Wu Ke-chien-hsiung, and Liu Ta-chih were arrested by Chinese Communist authorities in 2019 on charges of "subversion of state power" and secretly sentenced late last month. Attorney Wu Yushui, Wu Ke-chien-hsiung's father, had his representation inexplicably revoked while acting as counsel for his son's case, and has not been able to see his son for over two years. He accepted an exclusive interview with Voice of America after officially receiving notice that his son would be transferred to a prison education center for ideological transformation. He stated that the entire case—from arrest, investigation, prosecution, and trial, to sentencing—was an "illegal trial" from start to finish.

Ch'en Yüan, head of the Chinese NGO organization "Changsha Funeng," along with volunteers Wu Ke-chien-hsiung and Liu Ta-chih, were arrested by authorities on July 22, 2019, on suspicion of obtaining overseas funding, and were placed in criminal detention for two years. During this period, the investigation period was extended multiple times, and lawyers' repeated requests to meet with them were denied.

"Changsha Funeng" specifically focuses on the rights of persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups, including eliminating discrimination against AIDS patients. In addition to this public welfare work, Wu Ke-chien-hsiung also participated in labor rights advocacy activities, instructing workers on how to protect their rights and interests in accordance with China's Labor Law and Labor Contracts.

On March 16, 2020, six defense counsel entrusted by the three individuals were collectively and verbally informed that their representation had been revoked. Wu Yushui was also dismissed from representation, and all were replaced by government-appointed lawyers. In September 2020, this case, known as the "Changsha Public Welfare Trio," was tried secretly without any public announcement. It was not until July 20 of this year that family members learned of the trial results through various channels: Wu Ke-chien-hsiung was sentenced to 3 years in prison, Liu Ta-chih to 2 years, while Ch'en Yüan's sentence remains a mystery.

In a recent interview with Voice of America, Wu Yushui stated that to his knowledge, the funds obtained by his son and the others were acquired through international bidding. For example, for AIDS prevention public welfare activities, they bid through an AIDS prevention public welfare foundation and received subsidies only after winning the bid. They were not permanently serving a specific overseas NGO, nor did they represent any particular overseas NGO.

He said that when his son was arrested, he was a young man who had just graduated from university and worked in society for two years. Being only in his early twenties, his heart must have been filled with terror. He probably never imagined that he would suddenly be arrested one day.

Investigation Period Extended Again and Again

As a lawyer, Wu Yushui received the criminal detention notice for his son at the end of July 2020, and was determined to defend his son while waiting to meet him. "During the days of waiting, I finally understood what it means to feel that a single day drags on like a year," Wu Yushui said. Wu Yushui stated that he counted the days on his fingers, hoping the two-month investigation period would pass quickly, and when the time came, he hurriedly called to inquire about the result, only to receive the response: "The investigation period is extended by one month." After enduring that month, he once again received the reply: "The investigation period is extended by another two months." Wu Yushui was nearly broken. He decided that once these two months were up, he would personally travel to the detention center of the Department of State Security of Hunan Province to meet his son.

According to Wu Yushui, the investigation period ending on January 25, 2020 happened to fall on the first day of the Lunar New Year, but due to the Spring Festival holiday, government offices were closed and would not resume work until the seventh day of the new year. On New Year's Eve, he and his wife ate some leftover rice from lunch as their New Year's Eve dinner, spending the holiday in utter loneliness, with their only hope being to see their only son on the seventh day. Early on the morning of the sixth day of the new year, Wu Yushui drove himself over 900 kilometers and more than ten hours from his home in Hangzhou to Changsha, but unexpectedly, what awaited him was not his son, but a reply stating that the "investigation period is extended for another two months."