Yang Hengjun: Chinese officials try to 'break' Australian writer with daily interrogations
The detained
Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun is being subjected to daily interrogations
with his arms and legs shackled, as Chinese security officials try to “break”
him, his lawyers say, pushing for him to confess to unspecified allegations of
espionage that potentially carry the death penalty.
Yang, an Australian
citizen and globally influential pro-democracy political blogger, has been held
by China’s Ministry of State Security since being detained in Guangzhou in
January. After months held in secret detention, Yang’s conditions of
incarceration had eased, but sources with knowledge of his case have told the
Guardian his maltreatment was now growing worse. For some of his
incarceration, he had been subjected to a single interview each month during
which he was not shackled, but the last 10 days had seen a return to daily
interrogation sessions, sometimes commencing at midnight, while his wrists and
ankles were held in chains.
Yang is granted one
half-hour consular visit each month. His already limited contact from family
has been cut off: letters are not being delivered and verbal messages are not
being passed on. He has still not been allowed to communicate with his lawyers,
after nearly 11 months in detention. Yang’s Australian
defence lawyer, the human rights advocate Robert Stary, said Chinese officials
were attempting to isolate Yang from the outside world.
“Chinese security
officials have already blocked all written messages, letters, books and
documents from being passed to Dr Yang. Not a single letter of support has been
passed on, including multiple letters each month from his immediate family.
There is a plain attempt to have Dr Yang be subjected to interrogation in
complete isolation, cut off entirely from his loved ones and supporters.” Stary said Yang was
“nothing more than a political prisoner”....
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/02/yang-hengjun-chinese-officials-try-to-break-australian-writer-with-daily-interrogations
