The faint hope of freedom for the last of China’s 709 lawyers behind bars

Rights defender Wang Quanzhang is expected to be released from prison on Sunday but he is unlikely to be able to return to his family any time soon

Like other dissidents, Wang faces a future of ‘non-release release’, according to observers

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Li Wenzu is worried that if she goes to meet her husband on Sunday, she will not be allowed to go back to Beijing. Photo: Twitter

Published: 7:00am, 4 Apr 2020Updated: 10:44pm, 4 Apr 2020

Li Wenzu is nearing the end of a tumultuous five-year journey fighting for the rights of her lawyer husband Wang Quanzhang – but there is little left in her to look beyond the finishing line.

“One thing I have learned over the years to avoid crushing disappointment is to live in the present moment rather than harbouring hope,” Li told the South China Morning Post.

“There was no worst pain, only even worse pain, again and again.”

Wang, a 44-year-old human rights lawyer, is due to be released from prison on Sunday after serving 4½ years in jail for state subversion. But his imminent release offers little comfort because, like other dissidents before him, he is likely to face continued limits on his freedom, such as house arrest.

“I can’t wait to hold him again but I don’t know when that might actually happen,” Li said.

Wang was arrested in a 2015 nationwide crackdown that targeted hundreds of human rights lawyers and activists, in a move that critics say was meant to silence the country’s emerging rights defence movement.