Zhao Wei (Legal Assistant)

Zhao Wei (born 1991 ) is a Chinese paralegal who was arrested and secretly detained by authorities in China for political activism. There were reports that she was released in July 2016, but these could not be confirmed. Zhao Wei was the assistant to human rights lawyer Li Heping from Beijing. She assisted Li Heping in cases involving victims of forced evictions and other human rights violations.

Lawyers and activists imprisoned in China

In July 2015, Zhao was secretly arrested when the government launched an offensive against human rights lawyers that detained more than 200 lawyers and assistants in the raid. Many of them are still in custody. Zhao was detained in the Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center on suspicion of "inciting to undermine state power" . She is the youngest person arrested in the crackdown at the age of 24, according to the South China Morning Post , who until then worked as an assistant for prominent human rights lawyer Li Heping.

After Zhao was taken into custody, her mother hired a lawyer, Ren Quanniu. Ren was informed by the Tianjin Public Security Bureau at the end of July that Zhao Wei had been detained because she was suspected of causing quarrels and anger. According to Amnesty International , he was informed on September 22, 2015 that his client was "under domestic surveillance in a certain location" because she was accused of "inciting the overthrow of the government". Her lawyer filed several requests to see and see Zhao, but they were all denied on the grounds that she was involved in a "national security threat" and that he was disrupting the investigation would. Ren Quanniu and Zhao Wei's mother were informed by the Public Security Bureau on January 11th, 2016, according to Amnesty International, that Zhao was officially detained on January 8th for alleged "overthrowing the government" and in the No. 1 Detention Center in Tanjin is held.

Other people arrested by the Chinese authorities during the wave of arrests include attorney Li Heping and his colleague Gao Yue, attorneys Wang Yu (attorney) , Zhou Shifeng, Li Shuyun, and Xie Yanyi, and clerkship assistant Liu Sixin and the Activists Wu Gan, Hu Shigen and Gou Hongguo.

According to Amnesty International, since the unprecedented nationwide crackdown on lawyers and activists began on July 9, 2015, “at least 248 people have been detained and interrogated. Those affected include human rights lawyers, their employees and even their relatives. ”Of these, at least 14 lawyers or activists were officially detained. Amnesty also notes that ten of them have been charged with crimes that threaten the security of the state. Legal assistance and family visits were denied to all detainees.

Release report

On July 7, 2016, almost exactly 12 months after Zhao's arrest, authorities announced her release. Zhao Wei was released after "confessing her crime" and had shown good demeanor, according to the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. According to the South China Morning Post, her husband You Minglei said he suspects his wife was forced to write reports. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Zhao said she was living with her parents, but the newspaper was unable to confirm her whereabouts.

After her release, Zhao, known as the “koala” according to the South China Morning Post, wrote a Weibo message saying, “The afternoon sunshine and the breath of fresh air is wonderful. I am the koala you missed. I'm fine. ”She thanked her family members for their support and the police officers who“ treated her like family ”and mentioned that she just wanted to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet and spend time with mom and dad.

According to the South China Morning Post, people who knew her were surprised at her dramatic change in behavior; some questioned whether she was forced to write repentance reports. When Zhao spoke to the newspaper on the phone, she mentioned that she wrote the following in a repentance report, "I realized that I was taking the wrong route. I regret what I did. I am a completely new person now. "

Zhao's husband You Minglei said he couldn't get in touch with Zhao, nor did he think she was really free. He also doubts that she wrote these posts voluntarily, but suspected that this was done under duress. You wanted to travel from Beijing to Henan, Zhao's parental home in Jiyuan , Henan Province , in the next day or two to find out more, but found neither her parents nor Zhao there.

background

The Guardian's Tom Phillips reported on a conversation with Zhao's mother, Zheng Ruixia, in January 2016. She told him that on a warm summer day, Zhao left her hometown to travel to the capital of China. There she wanted to take the state law exam in the hope of becoming a good human rights attorney. "She looked good," her mother remembered crying about her last moments with her daughter. “She was so happy when she got on the train.” Seven months later, according to Phillips, the supposed lawyer’s dreams were ruined.

Zhao's relatives and friends described her as a lively and kind-hearted young woman who was now behind bars and faced charges of political subversion that could imprison her for the rest of her life.

Zhao was born in 1991 and grew up in a medium-sized home in Jiyuan , a small town about 740 kilometers southwest of Beijing, in Henan Province. Jiyuan is said to be one of the most disadvantaged regions in China. Zhao's mother, who nicknamed her Weiwei, described her as a bright and sociable boyish girl who wanted to help those in need: “She is someone who hates injustice like poison. She was like that even as a child. ”This idealism led Zhao to study journalism at Jiangxi University in Nanchang in 2009 at the age of 18 . She plunged into social work and, among other things, campaigned for people to become more aware of issues such as HIV. According to her mother, she saw so much inequality in society that she wanted to help the vulnerable.

During her senior year in college, Zhao was warned by her mother not to participate in political activism, but Zhao was not dissuaded, "I'm here to change society, not to get used to it." Zhao was interested to work with China's "Weiquan" or human rights lawyers and joined them.

In August 2014, after graduating from university, Zhao went to Beijing and from October 8, 2014, started working for Li Heping, a respected Christian lawyer who defended dissidents and persecuted religious groups such as the persecution of Falun Gong , and was known to environmental activists. After the raid began on July 10, 2005, ten unidentified men appeared at Zhao's front door in Beijing, ransacked her home and then took the young paralegal away. Zhao has not been seen since then.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Paul Eckert, Mystery surrounding detained China legal aide deepens, lawyer silenced ( Memento from August 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Asia Times News & Features, China, July 15, 2016, web.archive.org, accessed on January 10, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b} Urgent Action: Concern for Security, Li Heping, lawyer and human rights defender ( January 10, 2017 memento in the Internet Archive ), Amnesty International, October 3, 2007, accessed January 10, 2017
3. ↑ Tom Phillips, "Freed" Chinese human rights activist Zhao Wei still missing, says husband , The Guardian, July 15, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
4. ↑ Andrew Jacobs, Chris Buckley, China Targeting Rights Lawyers in a Crackdown , The New York Times, July 22, 2015, accessed January 10, 2017
5. ^ ^{A b c d e} Young Chinese legal activist "regrets" civil rights activism , South China Morning Post, scmp.com, July 11, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
6. ↑ ^{a b} Tom Phillips, China to release human rights worker Zhao Wei on bail after a year of detention , The Guardian, July 7, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Urgent Action: Lawyer at Risk of Torture , Amnesty International, July 29, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
8. ↑ China: Attorney in Custody , Amnesty International, Network Women's Rights, July 17, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
9. ↑ Li in the grip of state power , Der Spiegel, SpiegelOnline, August 20, 2008, accessed on January 10, 2017, accessed on January 10, 2017
10. ↑ Urgent Action: Activist Indicted , Amnesty International, August 17, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
11. ↑ China: Detained Lawyers, Activists Denied Basic Rights , Human Rights Watch, hrw.org, April 3, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
12. ↑ ^{a b} Mimi Lau, Young Chinese legal assistant held in huge crackdown on rights activists released on bail , South China Morning Post, July 8, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Tom Phillips, The day Zhao Wei disappeared: how a young law graduate was caught in China's human rights dragnet , The Guardian, January 25, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017