Xu Zhiyong

Xu Zhiyong in 2002

Xu Zhiyong ( Chinese  许志永 , Pinyin Xǔ Zhìyǒng ; * 1973 in Minquan County, Henan Province , People's Republic of China ) is a Chinese lawyer and lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications in Beijing . He became known abroad through his political activities and the ensuing arrests.

Life

Xu graduated from Lanzhou University in Lanzhou , Gansu Province with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1994 . He received his doctorate in law from Peking University in 2002 .

2003 Xu was as independent in the District People's Congress of the Municipality Haidian elected in Beijing northwest. He is an active lawyer who wanted to help the underprivileged people of his country to get their rights. He received national attention through a case that he took over. The victim was a graphic designer who died as a result of abuse in the labor camp.

Persecution by the authorities in his country

Xu was a co-founder of the non-governmental organization Gongmeng Open Constitution Initiative , which was fined heavily in July 2009 for tax evasion. At the same time, the constitutional initiative was banned as illegal, and a few days later, Xu and Zhuang Lu were arrested at their homes for the same crime. In August 2009, he was released on bail, according to press reports, following an intervention by US President Barack Obama .

In October 2010, the Chinese lawyer said Teng Biao with that Xu and thirteen other persons have been arrested in a Beijing restaurant on October 8 and at the very moment when the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo was announced.

In December 2012, in China Change , Xu reported some cases of self-immolation by Tibetan monks that occurred in 2011 in northwest Sichuan in Ngaba .

On July 16, 2013, Xu, who had been under house arrest for several months , was arrested again. He had founded a new movement, the New Citizens' Movement , based on the demands of Communist Party leader Xi Jinping , who had repeatedly called for the "enforcement of the constitution" and the fight against corruption . He was formally charged in December 2013 for "organizing a crowd to disrupt public order". Xu's other associates, including billionaire Wang Gongquan , were also arrested and tried.

The trial against Xu began on January 22nd, 2014 in camera at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court . According to his lawyer, Xu was not allowed to call his own witnesses and the defense was not allowed to question the prosecution witnesses. On January 26, 2014, Xu was sentenced to four years in prison. In April of that year, an appeals court upheld the sentence. The proceedings and the verdict were criticized internationally. US Ambassador to China Gary Locke criticized the trial as retaliation and called for the release of Xu and other civil rights activists. The European Union also campaigned for the release of civil rights activists.

On July 15, 2017, shortly after the death of human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo , Xu was released from custody. His lawyer Zhang Qingfang informed him that he was in good physical condition after serving his four-year prison term and that he wanted to spend quality time with his family. He hoped that Xu would now be "completely free".

Web links

• Gongmeng on Twitter (zh./en.)
• Xu Zhiyong: Ngaba. In: China Change , December 23, 2012 (en.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ding Xiao: Lawyer Released, Assistant 'Missing'. In: Radio Free Asia , August 24, 2009. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
2. ↑ Constitution disrupts order in FAZ of July 19, 2013, page 39
3. ↑ Markus Ackeret: China's leadership gags civil rights activists. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 23, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
4. ↑ Mark Siemons: Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong: The dissident of the hour. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 27, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
5. ↑ Petra Kolonko: Four years imprisonment for Xu Zhiyong: Behind bars for fighting corruption. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 26, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
6. ↑ China jails rights advocate Xu Zhiyong for four years. In: Deutsche Welle , January 26, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
7. ↑ Xu Zhiyong: China released prominent human rights activists. In: Kleine Zeitung , July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Xu is the family name here, Zhiyong is the first name.