Update to UN on Urgent Appeal of Mr. Zhu Yufu – May 17, 2013
Comments Off on Update to UN on Urgent Appeal of Mr. Zhu Yufu – May 17, 2013To:
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) hereby respectfully submits an update to an urgent appeal in the case of democracy activist and writer Mr. ZHU Yufu (朱虞夫), a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, who was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on February 10, 2012, for “inciting subversion of state power.” (See CHRD’s website for prior submissions with respect to Mr. Zhu’s case, including an update from November 2012: https://www.nchrd.org/2011/08/prisoner-of-conscience-zhu-yufu/.) According to his family, Zhu Yufu, 60, has recently been subjected to punitive abuses since his relatives travelled this spring to the United States to garner more support for his release, and his already poor health is in a critical state.
Authorities at Zhejiang Province No. 4 Prison have reportedly cancelled nutritious meals for Zhu, who in May has suffered several fainting spells due to weakness. Authorities are not allowing Zhu a monthly phone call with family that prisoners are entitled to, and have blocked him from sending and receiving letters. Zhu’s wife observed during a prison visit in April that his head was swollen, and Zhu stressed to her that he feared that he would not survive much longer in prison because of his declining health. Authorities have consistently rejected the family’s applications for Zhu’s release on medical grounds. Moreover, they have warned relatives to keep silent about his bleak situation, threatening to both prevent them from visiting Zhu and hold them criminally liable for “spreading rumors and slanders.”