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Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng in poor health after years in jail, wife says
- Xu Yan says her husband is in a ‘poor physical state’, has lost four teeth and cannot write properly
- Yu took on a number of high-profile cases, including the defence of fellow lawyer Wang Quanzhang, before his arrest in 2018
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A Chinese lawyer nominated for a top human rights award is in poor health after years in prison, his wife said on Tuesday.
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Yu Wensheng was detained in Beijing in January 2018 in front of his young son just hours after he wrote an open letter calling for constitutional reforms, including multi-candidate elections. He was tried in secret and sentenced to four years in prison last June for “inciting subversion of state power”.
“His physical state is very poor. His right hand is deformed and trembles so much that he cannot write,” his wife Xu Yan said.
Yu was nominated on Monday for the Martin Ennals Award, which organisers hope will shine a light on abuses in authoritarian states.
Xu said her husband’s nomination “not only supports and honours [him], but is also an encouragement and affirmation to other human rights lawyers and defenders”.
China has seen a dramatic crackdown on civil liberties and freedoms since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, with hundreds of human rights lawyers and activists detained in recent years.
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