World leaders urge China to release human rights lawyer

The United States, Germany, and France on Friday condemned China’s sentencing of a human rights lawyer who criticized the Chinese government. Authorities in the eastern China city of Suzhou on Tuesday sentenced lawyer Yu Wensheng to three years of detention on charges of subverting state power. His wife, Xu Yan, received a sentence of nearly two years of detention. Local authorities barred foreign diplomats from attending the couple’s trials, according to the U.S. Department of State. The European Union on Wednesday joined calls for the couple to be released.

Who is Yu Wensheng? Yu is a human rights lawyer who has published multiple letters calling for government reform in China, according to the International Service for Human Rights. He was also among more than 300 lawyers and activists arrested by Chinese authorities during a crackdown in 2015. Yu has won multiple human rights awards including the Franco-German Human Rights Award and the Martin Ennals Award. He previously served a four-year prison sentence for criticizing the government and was released in 2022 after serving that term.

When were the couple arrested? Beijing authorities in April 2023 arrested Yu and his wife when they were on their way to meet with senior European Union officials. Officials held them at a detention center in Beijing until January 2024, when they transferred the couple to the Suzhou Detention Center, according to Human Rights Watch. Chinese authorities claimed Yu and Xu were guilty of provoking trouble and inciting subversion of the government.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard, Myrna Brown, and Harrison Watters’ report on The World and Everything in It about Taiwan resisting Chinese pressure.