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Yu Wensheng is a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer based in Beijing. He strives to carry on the approach of Gao Zhisheng, a prominent Chinese human rights, through combining grassroots engagement with civil advocacy. Throughout his career, he has notably represented various Falun Gong practitioners in legal cases and acted in defence of several lawyers arrested during the infamous "709 crackdown". Yu Wensheng's advocacy for constitutional reforms and representation of marginalised groups has been widely recognised, as proven by his being the recipient of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2021. Yet, his dedication also attracted punitive and oppressive actions from the authorities, including the revocation of his lawyer's licence, numerous detentions and a prison sentence.
Yu Wensheng was brought up in a privileged environment in Beijing, regularly interacting with high-ranking officials due to his father's role in the government. During the 1970s, foreigners visiting China were hosted by the government, and Yu Wensheng's father, a former air force technical officer, was responsible for the “political tasks” of hosting foreign guests in the China Travel Service of the government. Yu Wensheng’s early exposure to outside world information, which was banned in mainland China, fostered a different perspective, making him aware of democratic principles from a young age. His transition from a commercial lawyer to a human rights activist began around 2014, following incidents where authorities denied him the right to visit clients involved in the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement.
709 Crackdown, 709 Crackdown 2.0
1999: Yu Wensheng passed the bar exam, before starting practising in 2002. Initially, he focused on commercial litigation, spending most of his time as a commercial lawyer.
2014: Yu Wensheng organised a public protest to criticise the Chinese authorities for not allowing him to meet a defendant in a detention facility who voiced support for the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement in 2014. This led to him being arrested in October 2014, enduring a 99-day detention. This detention included 61 days in a death row cell, almost 200 interrogations, and physical abuse resulting in a hernia. Despite being forced to sign statements renouncing legal representation, he refused to betray other human rights defenders.
Yu Wensheng also represented in multiple human rights cases in 2014, including cases relating to legal challenges against the government (weiquan), and defence for practitioners of Falun Gong. He represented numerous notable cases in 2014, involving areas such as housing demolition, human rights activists, and intellectual property rights.
2015: Yu Wensheng joined the “China Human Rights Lawyers Group”. During the “709 Crackdown”, he represented multiple human rights lawyers who were detained during the crackdown, such as prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang. Despite having the opportunity to leave China after the 709 Crackdown, Yu Wensheng chose to stay, hoping to facilitate China's transition to a just rule of law. Following the 709 Crackdown in 2015, Yu Wensheng accused the Chinese Communist Party's Ministry of Public Security and its minister of illegal arrests on 30 July 2015. During the time when the human rights lawyer community was under its most difficult time, Yu Wensheng was among the first lawyers to speak against the authorities over the 709 Crackdown. On 6 August, police forcibly entered his home and detained him for 24 hours, subjecting him to 14 hours of handcuffing.
2017: Chinese judicial authorities refused the renewal of Yu Wensheng's annual legal practice licence, which led to Yu Wensheng's forced resignation from the Beijing Daoheng Law Firm. This inhibited Yu Wensheng's ability to practise law. Yu Wensheng then sought to establish his own law firm, but the registration was denied in January 2018.
19 January 2018: Yu Wensheng published an open letter, proposing a series of constitutional and political reforms in China, including suggesting a democratic election to elect the leading cabinets of China, during the second plenary session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee.
20 January 2018: Yu Wensheng was arrested on charges of obstructing official business. His requests for legal representation were denied by authorities. Yu Wensheng was taken away by Chinese authorities and detained. Yu Wensheng soon became incommunicado, with no one, including his wife Xu Yan, knowing his whereabouts or his condition.
The incommunicado detention of Yu Wensheng immediately drew widespread attention and condemnation. It sparked protests and calls for his release from civil groups in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
February 2018: In an attempt to leave for Hong Kong with her son, Yu Wensheng's wife Xu Yan was denied exit on the grounds of potential national security threats.
March 2018: Human rights experts in the UN released a communication to China, raising concerns about the arbitrary detention of Yu Wensheng, and calling for his release, highlighting his status as a conscientious lawyer detained for exercising his freedom of speech.
During this period, his wife Xu Yan travelled across multiple cities in China continually seeking to visiting Yu Wensheng, gaining international attention. Several embassies in Beijing sent representatives to meet Xu Yan and urged the Chinese government to release Yu Wensheng.
However, efforts by Xu Yan to meet Yu Wensheng were mostly in vain, as authorities in China rejected every request to meet Yu Wensheng. It was also mentioned by Xu Yan that she and Yu Wensheng’s family members were subjected to harassment by officials. Xu Yan herself was threatened by officials to stop efforts for advocating for Yu Wensheng. Xu Yan was temporarily detained on 1 April for “inciting subversion of state power” but released a few hours later, with authorities hoping to silence her. Despite initial approval, a video meeting with the detained Yu Wensheng was later denied by police, who believed she would not encourage Yu Wensheng to plead guilty.
19 April 2018: Yu Wensheng was formally arrested on charges of inciting subversion of state power and obstructing official business.
2019: In January 2019, Yu Wensheng was awarded the Franco-German Human Rights Award, where his wife Xu Yan represented his presence to receive the award. In June 2019, Yu Wensheng was secretly tried and was convicted for inciting subversion of state power, and was sentenced to four years of imprisonment.
2020: After being detained incommunicado for more than 1000 days, Yu Wensheng was finally met by human rights lawyer Lu Siwei in August 2020 in Xuzhou. It was revealed that when Yu Wensheng was placed in residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL) after being taken away, and when he was in a detention facility in Xuzhou, Yu Wensheng experienced a significant deterioration in his health. He came across tooth decay and lost one tooth, and his right hand trembled so severely that he could not use his hand to write. During the RSDL, he was placed in a tiger bench for a prolonged period of time. When he was subsequently transferred to the Xuzhou detention facility, it was revealed that there was no air-conditioning in summer or winter. Yu Wensheng experience heat stroke, and was also subjected to prolonged hunger by only being provided with very meagre food allowances.
2021: Yu Wensheng was named the recipient of the Martin Ennals Award 2021, the world's most prestigious human rights award, on 11 February 2021, for his work defending human rights in China despite many obstacles. In February 2021, after not meeting Yu Wensheng for more than 3 years, Xu Yan finally managed to meet Yu Wensheng through video conference.
2022: Yu Wensheng was released on 1 March 2022 after serving his sentence. In December 2022, when the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union visited China, Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were prohibited from leaving their home. He released an open letter on 30 November 2022, calling for the attention of the Secretary-General to the practice of the zero-Covid policy in China being exercised as a form of human rights violation.
13 April 2023: Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan were detained by national security officers as they attempted to visit the Delegation of the European Union in Beijing upon the delegation’s invitation. Since then, the couple has remained incommunicado. Human rights lawyers who attempted to represent the couple were all warned by Chinese authorities to refrain from the case. In May 2023, it was revealed that the couple were officially arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”. There are reports indicating that the couple now may face charges relating to endangering of national security.
Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were criminally detained on 13 April 2023 as they attempted to visit the Delegation of the European Union in Beijing after being invited by the Delegation. On 21st May 2023, You Wensheng’s brother was notified that the couple’s arrest had been authorised on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking troubles. They are now also facing charges of “inciting subversion of state power”. Legal representatives for the couple unsuccessfully attempted to obtain prosecution documents and to meet with them on 23rd October 2023. The representing lawyers have now lodged a complaint regarding this absence of case documents and also the prohibition to meet their clients.