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Civil society and human rights organisations, including FIDH and OMCT within the framework of the Observatory, express deep concern over the case of Chinese activists Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan, sentenced on October 29, 2024, for "inciting subversion of state power" due to their peaceful advocacy for human rights. They call for their immediate and unconditional release.
On October 29, 2024, Suzhou Intermediate Court
sentenced Yu
Wensheng to three years in
prison and his wife, activist Xu
Yan, to one year and nine
months in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”.
We,
the undersigned civil society organisations, are deeply concerned
about this case and call for the immediate and unconditional release
of Yu and Xu, as they have been sentenced solely for the exercise of
their human rights including the right to freedom of expression. We
believe that the sentence creates a chilling effect both on the work
of human rights defenders in China, as well as on the important and
constructive interactions between defenders and civil society groups
and diplomatic representatives in the country.
The
couple, both well-known activists in China, were taken into police
custody while en route to a meeting with the delegation of the
European Union to China in Beijing on April 13, 2023. Originally
charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” they were
detained in Beijing Shijingshan Detention Centre; they were indicted
on new charges of “inciting subversion of state power” in October
2023. In January 2024, they were transferred to Suzhou Detention
Centre in Jiangsu province, some 1000km away.
In
August 2024, the cases of Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan, both suspected of
“inciting
subversion of state power”,
were heard at the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court. However,
diplomats from several foreign missions and other activists were
denied entry to the courtroom to observe the proceedings.
Xu
Yan has reportedly lost 14kg since being detained and the conditions
of her detention in Beijing may have amounted to torture or other
ill-treatment. She was subjected to verbal abuse, including being
intimidated by police who threatened to arrest her son if he
undertook advocacy on her and Yu’s case. Their son, who turned 18
just before their detention, has faced a serious deterioration of his
mental health over the years, and currently suffers from depression.
Xu and Yu‘s transfer to Suzhou has exacerbated his isolation and
the risk of further mental health impacts; their imprisonment
deprives him of the presence of a parent/caregiver that could help
him to heal.
UN experts have repeatedly raised concerns
about the Chinese authorities’ targeting of human rights defenders.
They have consistently called for the repeal of Article 105(2) of
China's Criminal Law that provides for the crime of “inciting
subversion of State power”. In March of this year, UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk raised concern that
"picking quarrels and provoking trouble" was a "vague
offence" and encouraged Chinese authorities to revise the law,
while also urging the release of human rights defenders, lawyers and
others detained under it.
UN experts have also sought to communicate with
the Chinese government on individual cases; the Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention determined in 2019 that Yu Wensheng’s previous
imprisonment was arbitrary under international law and called on
authorities to provide remedy and compensation. And in June of this
year, the Working Group joined other UN Special Procedures mandates
in raising concerns about Yu’s most recent arrest, and the
“allegedly arbitrary detention” of him and Xu Yan and “reported
threats and intimidation of family members of human rights
defenders,” in this case their young son.
November 11, was Yu Wensheng's 57th birthday.
On this occasion we call on governments globally and on the UN and
its human rights mechanisms to urgently press the Chinese government
to uphold its international human rights obligations and commitments.
The Chinese authorities should:
- Immediately
and unconditionally release Yu Wensheng and his wife, activist Xu
Yan, as they have been convicted solely for exercising their human
rights, including the right to freedom of expression;
- Pending
their release, ensure they are free from torture and other
ill-treatment, unrestricted access to adequate medical care and
access to family members;
- Ensure
that the human rights of all human rights defenders and their family
members or associates in China are protected, and that any defender
who engages or seeks to engage with diplomats and the United Nations
human rights mechanisms may do so free from any form of reprisals or
intimidation.
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