China arrests most prominent woman rights lawyer for subversion
BEIJING | BY SUI-LEE WEE

 

Human rights lawyer Wang Yu talks during an interview with Reuters in Beijing in this March 1, 2014 photo.

Chinese authorities have formally arrested China's most prominent woman human rights lawyer, accusing her of subverting the state, her lawyer said on Wednesday, as part of a crackdown on activists who have helped people fight for their legal rights.

The lawyer, Wang Yu, was taken into custody last July and accused the next month of inciting subversion and "causing a disturbance".

On Wednesday, Wang's mother received a notice, dated Monday, from police in the northern city of Tianjin, said Wang's lawyer, Li Yuhan. Tianjin police declined to comment when reached by telephone.

Wang is the best-known human rights lawyer targeted in an unprecedented nationwide sweep by Chinese police last July, during which hundreds of lawyers were detained. A formal arrest usually leads to a trial and conviction by China's party-controlled courts.

China has formally arrested at least five Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power" and subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues said on Tuesday.
In China, subversion charges are commonly leveled against critics of one-party rule. Subversion of state power carries a possible life sentence. 

"Wang Yu has provided her legal services to people on the lowest rungs of society. I never thought that she would be charged with subversion of state power," Li said. "I just don't understand this."

Li said she had not met Wang since her client's detention. According to Li, police denied her requests to meet Wang seven times in the past six months on the grounds that Wang's case "endangered state security".

Wang has defended Wu Gan, an online free speech advocate, Li Tingting, a prominent rights activist, and Cao Shunli, an activist who died in detention after being denied medical treatment.

Last year, China's state media accused Wang of "blabbering about the rule of law and human rights". Two weeks after the report, she told a Reuters reporter that she thought her arrest was inevitable.
(Reuters Jan 13 2016)

中國女維權律師王宇自去年7月15日一家三口失蹤及後證實被當局拘禁, 現已正式被檢控顛覆罪, 在這種情況下, 李波還有甚麼短期脫身的希望? 正在香港區域法院審理的劉夢熊案, 他口口聲聲講自己面對的是莫須有控罪, 他給我的印象是給梁振英過橋抽板後, 很不服氣而哭鬧上吊, 繼而作出要脅。 王宇案才稱得上莫須有。越看劉夢熊越噁心, 這種人不收皮就應收監, 哭鬧也不值得同情。

習主席肅貪時, 表面上是為了人民的福祉, 骨子裏是政治鬥爭。 一日中國沒有獨立的司法系統, 一日法官不能脫離黨指揮, 我都看不到這個國家的人民有甚麼自由民主的希望。

我一向都不是搞政治或者堅信某種政治理念的人, 我只堅信任何制度都要有制衡, 沒制衡就會縱容胡作妄為, 基本個人權利得不到保障。李波會失蹤, 李波失蹤之後會有其他人失蹤。儘管特區政府向大陸要求交待, 態度真心假意都好, 大陸不理睬你還可以怎樣?

認識我的人都會覺得我是原則立場很強的人, 我也不怕得罪人。我從不油腔滑調, 也不姑息養奸。我看不過眼就會發聲, 從不會躲藏逃避問題去做好好先生。在日常生活裏我罵人不少, 讚人不多。我是個極平凡普通的小市民, 做不了甚麼大事, 黎民百姓也可為不公義吭聲, loud and clear. 沒有知識份子的學識, 也要有知識份子的氣節。