Wang Yonghang, a human rights lawyer fighting on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners since 2007, was barred from renewing his license in May 2008 but kept providing legal assistance to practitioners. In July 2009, Wang was taken into police custody and brutally beaten, causing a permanent injury.
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Lü Jiaping, a dissident military scholar, has been serving a 10-year verdict for “inciting subversion.” In sentencing him in May 2011, a court cited as “evidence” 13 works Lü composed between 2000 and 2010. In particular, the verdict is believed to come in retaliation for Lü’s writings about scandals involving (read more…)
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Liu Xiaobo, the Beijing-based writer, intellectual, dissident, and human rights activist, died on July 13, 2017, not long after being issued medical parole, and over eight-and-a-half years into an 11-year prison sentence. In October 2010, the imprisoned Liu became the first Chinese citizen awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Gao Zhisheng is a former lawyer and director of the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, which had its license suspended by the Beijing Bureau of Judiciary Affairs in November 2005. Gao represented defendants who were persecuted for activities tied to the banned sect Falun Gong and unofficial Christian house churches.
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Tiananmen Anniversary Marked by Harassment, Detentions, and Official Silence (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 3, 2010) On the eve of the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, the Chinese government continues to refuse to openly and truthfully address the events of June 4, 1989, and persists in its efforts to (read more…)
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Police Detain and Harass Activists on Eve of Tiananmen Anniversary (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 4, 2009) – CHRD has documented the cases of sixty-five activists who have been subjected to harassment from officials in order to prevent them from organizing or taking part in activities commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre. (read more…)
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THE LEGACY OF TIANANMEN: 20 YEARS OF OPPRESSION, ACTIVISM AND HOPE Chinese Human Rights Defenders June 1, 2009 Twenty years since the Tiananmen massacre, the Chinese government refuses to accept responsibility, much less apologize or offer compensation, for killing, injuring, imprisoning and persecuting individuals for participating in peaceful protests. The (read more…)
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Nineteen Years on, Tiananmen Protesters Still Languish in Prison China must end political persecution of participants of the 1989 demonstrations (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 3, 2008) – As the 19th anniversary of the crackdown on the Tiananmen demonstrations approaches, at least eight Beijing residents are still imprisoned for participating (read more…)
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Eighteen Years Later, Tiananmen Protesters from Beijing Remain in Prison The Chinese government must allow independent investigation and prison visits by international human rights bodies (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 3, 2007) – At least thirteen Beijing civilians sentenced to life in prison or a suspended death sentence for participating (read more…)
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