When Lu Siwei, a mainland human rights lawyer, tried to take a flight to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for a visa interview on March 28, he was intercepted by Sichuan State Security and threatened that if he forced his way onto the plane, he would activate a long-standing plan against him to prevent his smooth travel.
Pictured here is a group photo with the lawyers who represented the 12 Hong Kong people in the case, with Lu Siwei third from the left. (Courtesy of the lawyer)
Lawyer Lu Siwei said, “I am very sad and angry about their illegal control of me. Just because I am a sensitive person (by the authorities), my cell phone is being monitored, so all information such as my booking is transparent now.”
Lu Si-bit said that this Time for going to the United States because as early as March or April 2020 applied for a visiting scholar program, starting in August this year for a year. The reason for going early is that he will first train in English at a local school for four months.
Lu Siwei was originally booked for a flight at 7 p.m. on Sunday (28th), but at around 1 p.m., local public security and political security officers approached him and said: “You have to go to Beijing to get a visa, we all know that you will definitely not be allowed to leave the country, do not go to Beijing.
At the same time Lu Si bit was warned: “If you insist on going, the relevant departments have done all the precautions, it is impossible to travel smoothly in Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, do not be impulsive.”
“I just feel very strange, this is completely illegal (request), then I do business in the future also want to control? They said to do business we do not care, but you can not go to the U.S. Embassy visa.”
“In fact, I know what they mean, if I must go, I will certainly be stopped at the airport, will be summoned or other ways ah, I believe they will do so.” Lu Si-bit said, “Because I opened a hearing on January 13 (was suspended) this thing, it has been seen clearly, they are back and forth ten days on my stability, is regardless of the cost, I later learned is a working group, from the police, state security, state security, the Judicial Bureau to the Bar Association, these people spend a lot of energy, just do these things.”
Lu Si-bit said, is certainly very difficult, but will continue to follow their own way, disclosure, charges, litigation and other ways to fight.
Lu Si-bit believes that having such an opportunity to go abroad for exchange and study is an opportunity to improve oneself, which is actually a very simple thing, “It is they themselves who make a straw man and do not allow to go out.”
Not only are human rights lawyers banned from going abroad, but they are also summoned at will when they go to a foreign country to work on a case on the mainland. Recently, human rights lawyers Lin Qilei and Lu Tingge were summoned to Sichuan to work on Huang Qi’s case and the petitioners’ rights case respectively.
According to Lu Siwei, the group of human rights lawyers has been severely suppressed, and it may be difficult to find lawyers for many cases in the future.
Lu Siwei, who has represented the June 4 wine case, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, and dissident poet Wang Zang, had his lawyer’s license revoked last year for representing the 12 Hong Kong people. He has said that the revocation of his lawyer’s license was the result of years of handling human rights cases, and the “12 Hong Kong people” case was the decisive factor, but he has no regrets.
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