China rights lawyer held for ‘inciting state subversion’
- ‘Trumped-up charges’, wife in US alleges, as Xie Yang, 49, is detained for ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’
- Xie recently tried to visit a teacher who was hospitalised after voicing sympathy for views questioning Beijing’s narrative over the 1937 Nanking massacre
Xie Yang – who has previously defended Christians and democracy activists – has not been heard from since he was detained more than a week ago in Changsha, in central Hunan province.
The police notice, dated Monday and seen by Agence France-Presse, says 49-year-old Xie had been detained on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a catch-all allegation frequently used against dissidents and activists.
“I am very angry that he has been detained on trumped-up charges,” Xie’s wife Chen Guiqiu said from the United States, where she lives with their two children.
His home was also ransacked, according to Chen.
“Anything that could be opened was opened or torn open, even his pillows were ripped apart,” she said, adding that two computers and his safe were missing.