Yu Wensheng, a Chinese human rights lawyer sentenced to prison for “subversion of state power,” has seen his health deteriorate in prison, especially in his right hand, where he has serious sequelae and is having difficulty coping with daily Life. His Family urged the authorities to allow him to be released on medical bail. Yu has been defying the ruling, refusing to sign an undertaking at the prison’s request.
Yu Wensheng, who is serving a prison sentence in Nanjing, meets with his wife Xu Yan on Monday (15). A month ago, the two could only see each other via video, but this Time they were finally able to meet through the glass.
After the meeting, Xu Yan tweeted a video saying that her husband had serious sequelae in his right hand.
Xu Yan: “Yu Wensheng’s right hand is in very serious condition. It’s been shaking like this. In addition to not being able to write, he can’t even use his right hand to hold rice. Eating with chopsticks to the mouth grasped put. Nanjing Prison took him to the hospital to see a neurologist. Yu Wensheng said that he should not see a neurologist, but should ask them to take him to an orthopedist. Secondly, his four teeth are still not treated now.”
Xu Yan revealed to the station that the prison authorities had asked Yu Wensheng to sign a “commitment letter.
Xu Yan: “The commitment letter is to ask for a guilty plea or admit mistakes or something like that. He has always believed that the sentence of four years is already very heavy. He originally expressed his displeasure. Now he is asked to write a letter of commitment. He does not accept and will not cooperate with their illegal demands.”
Xu Yan has been visiting her husband in person at the detention center or prison every month since January this year, but prison police said Monday that family members will not be allowed to visit Yu Wensheng next month.
Xu Yan: “Their reason is to say that (this is) Nanjing prison’s own rules, said there are rules is two months to visit once. Then I said, “Do you have the legal provisions? Or you can show it to me. They did not show me the relevant legal provisions. Another person went so far as to say that their rules are greater than the law.”
The authorities could not have released Yu Wensheng on medical parole
Based on the deteriorating condition of her husband’s right hand, Xu Yan urged authorities to either transfer Yu Wensheng back to Beijing, where he is domiciled, to serve his sentence or grant him medical parole for humanitarian reasons. Xie Yang, a lawyer who has assisted Yu, said it was unlikely that the authorities would agree.
Xie Yang: “[The authorities] have very strict control over political dissidents. It’s impossible for the authorities to release him on medical parole or to transfer him to Beijing. The funding for prisons is not per capita. It is enough to ensure that no one dies inside the prison. It’s 100 percent impossible for him (Yu Wensheng) to get good medical treatment.”
Xie Yang estimates that authorities are trying to make improved treatment in prison a condition in exchange for Yu Wensheng signing a “commitment letter.”
Xie Yang: “After his release from prison next March, he will certainly keep complaining and may make the CCP look bad. The so-called ‘pledge’ will probably have two elements. First, not to reveal something about the prison, and the second is for him to promise not to complain in the future.”
Yu Wensheng was arrested in early 2018 after publishing a citizen’s proposal to amend the Constitution, and in June last year, the Xuzhou City Procuratorate in Jiangsu Province called his family to say that Yu’s first trial, in which he was jailed for four years and deprived of his political rights for three years, had been upheld in the second trial on appeal.
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