OHCHR Press Briefing Notes - China
5 May 2017
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location: Geneva
Subject: (1) China
(1) China
We are deeply troubled that on Wednesday 3 May, defence lawyer Chen Jiangang and his family were reportedly taken by
police while they were travelling in Yunnan province in the southwest of China. This latest event takes place in the
context of an ongoing crackdown against Chinese lawyers and other human rights defenders. There has reportedly been no
official communication of the reasons Chen was taken away. His wife and two children were subsequently released but
Chen’s whereabouts remain unclear.
Chen was the defence lawyer chosen by Xie Yang, a lawyer who has been in detention since July 2015. Xie was only
officially charged in January 2016 for inciting subversion of state power and disrupting court order. The trial was due
to begin last week, but did not. In March this year, Chen reported that his client and other detained lawyers, including
Wang Quanzhang, Jiang Tianyong and Li Heping, were subjected to ill-treatment and torture in custody. Li Heping, who
spent 21 months in incommunicado detention, was secretly sentenced on 25 April to three years in prison, with the
possibility of a four-year suspension should he choose not to appeal. He remains in custody and pressure continues to be
exerted on his family. Prior to being reportedly taken by police last Wednesday, Chen had, in a video message, expressed
concerns that he too may "lose his freedom" and that he may be coerced into self-incrimination.
Despite numerous calls by a number of UN human rights bodies, including Special Rappporteurs, the UN Committee against
Torture and by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, we are dismayed by this continuing pattern of harassment of
lawyers, through continued detention, without full due process guarantees and with alleged exposure to ill-treatment and
coercion into self-incrimination. We also ask the Chinese authorities to halt the harassment against their relatives.
The vast majority of detained lawyers were defending the basic rights of Chinese citizens, mostly economic, social and
cultural rights. We urge the Chinese government to abide by its international human rights obligations, to ensure due
process and fair trials, and to release without delay those being held for exercising their fundamental human rights or
for defending the exercise of such rights by others.
ENDS