Chinese human rights lawyer ‘totally changed man’ after being jailed
The wife of the jailed Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang has described
her husband as a “totally changed man” after she and her son were allowed to
see him for the first time since he disappeared nearly four years ago. Wang, 43, was sentenced
to four-and-a-half years in prison in January for “subverting state power” after
a closed-door trial.
Wang Quanzhang and his wife, Li Wenzu, with their son. The lawyer’s family were
given access to see him for the first time in four years Photograph: Wang Quanxiu/AP
The prominent lawyer, who defended political activists and victims of land seizures, vanished in a sweep aimed at courtroom critics of Communist authorities known as the “709” clampdown because the arrests started on 9 July 2015. Wang was held incommunicado for more than 1,000 days without access to his family or a lawyer prior to his trial and authorities have repeatedly denied requests by his wife, Li Wenzu, to visit him in jail.
Wang Quanzhang and his wife, Li Wenzu, with their son. The lawyer’s family were
given access to see him for the first time in four years Photograph: Wang Quanxiu/AP
The prominent lawyer, who defended political activists and victims of land seizures, vanished in a sweep aimed at courtroom critics of Communist authorities known as the “709” clampdown because the arrests started on 9 July 2015. Wang was held incommunicado for more than 1,000 days without access to his family or a lawyer prior to his trial and authorities have repeatedly denied requests by his wife, Li Wenzu, to visit him in jail.
“He is a totally
changed man … he was so agitated and anxious that I couldn’t even talk to him
just then,” Li
told the South China Morning Press. “My husband’s health
has deteriorated during the long incarceration, he had lost so much weight,” Li
told AFP. “When I asked him what
he had for breakfast, he kept scratching his head. But he couldn’t remember,”
she said. “It was really
emotional. This was the first time my son and I got a chance to see him after
being separated for four years.”
The couple’s
six-year-old son, Wang Guangwei, was a toddler when his father disappeared. Li saw her husband at
the Linyi jail in the eastern province of Shandong, where he was transferred in
May after years spent at a detention centre in Tianjin. “I felt like he was
not the earlier Wang Quanzhang,” said his sister Wang Quanxiu, who was also at
the meeting. “He was very agitated
when he spoke to us. He had made a draft about what to discuss and had to
constantly keep looking at his notes to remind himself of what to say,” she
said. Wang Quanzhang was the
last of more than 200 lawyers and activists swept up in the 2015 crackdown to
be tried or released... read more:
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