Chinese rights lawyer Yu Wensheng was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights for “subversion of state power. He appealed the sentence, but the second instance ruling upheld the original verdict. Family members and lawyers condemned the authorities for making the second-instance ruling without completing the legal procedures of the second trial, which is a serious violation of the law.
Yu Wensheng’s defense lawyers received the second trial verdict from the Jiangsu Provincial High People’s Court on Saturday (26), dated the 13th of this month, which found that the evidence in the original verdict of Yu’s case was sufficient and the trial procedure was legal, and decided to uphold the original sentence of four years of imprisonment.
No court hearing to deal with the appeal of the second trial was questioned as unjust
Yu Wensheng’s wife Xu Yan criticized the court for not accepting the defense lawyer’s arguments in accordance with legal procedures, and for not holding a hearing to deal with the appeal, arguing that the second trial verdict was unfair and unjust.
Xu Yan said: the second trial requires a defense lawyer arguments to the parties, this is the right provided by law, is the legal procedures must comply with the issue, only to protect procedural justice to protect substantive justice. Now the Jiangsu Provincial High People’s Court and other procedures are not even finished, and then directly hard sentence.
Xu Yan said she had checked with the court and the detention center, but could not find out which prison her husband was being held in. She asked the authorities to transfer Yu Wensheng to a prison in Beijing to serve his sentence, and said she would continue to appeal for her husband.
Xu Yan: I want the Chinese government to tell me, according to the law, whether Yu Wensheng has been sent to prison or not. Which prison was he sent to? On the other hand, I ask the Chinese government to assign Yu Wensheng to a prison in Beijing because he is a Beijing resident, and his household registration and my family’s place of residence are in Beijing. This is in accordance with the law, and it is beneficial for family visits, so that we don’t get another particularly faraway place, which actually continues to create harm to the family.
Dusong: Deprivation of rights of clients, defense lawyers
Lawyers representing Yu Wensheng condemned the Jiangsu High Court for bypassing the procedure and failing to notify the panel in writing of the composition of the case. Du Song, director general of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group in Hong Kong, said this deprived his clients and defense lawyers of their rights.
Du Song said, “The trial party must provide written notice of the members of the trial committee and the names of those who have discussed the case, so that the defendant and the defense have the right to apply for recusal. This is also stipulated in the criminal procedure law.
He also accused the court of obstructing lawyers from reading the files by different means.
Dusong: Lawyers should have to finish copying and understanding some of the evidence listed in all the scrolls before they can make a full defense, otherwise the court should not proceed with the trial or notify the lawyers only after the case is all tried and a verdict is made.
Yu Wensheng, who defended many of the arrested 709 lawyers, was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” in June this year. However, the case was held in secret from the trial to the verdict.
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