Death of ‘healthy’ human rights lawyer at Chinese military hospital raises questions
Li Baiguang, who defended farmers and Christian pastors, died on Monday just hours after being admitted to No 81 People’s Liberation Army Hospital
The circumstances of a human rights lawyer’s death at a Chinese military hospital have raised questions about the welfare of those who have defied the country’s authorities.
Li Baiguang was a well-known lawyer who defended farmers and Christian pastors, work that garnered him an award from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in 2008. He died on Monday just hours after being admitted to No 81 People’s Liberation Army Hospital in eastern Jiangsu province for a minor stomachache, a relative of Li’s told Bob Fu, a religious activist who has known the lawyer for more than a decade.
Fu said in a statement through his US-based Christian non-profit group China Aid that the “Chinese regime should be totally held accountable” for Li’s sudden and “mysterious” death.
“The hospital alleged that he had liver problems and that he bled to death, but Li was previously healthy,” the statement said. “China has a history of either neglecting the medical conditions of human rights activists until they succumb to them or declaring previously healthy people dead.”
An employee surnamed Yang in the hospital’s propaganda department said he had not heard of Li’s case.