Breaking: This Morning in Beijing, One lawyer Gone Missing, Another Lawyer Kidnapped, and Fengrui Law office Visited by Police

China Change, published: July 9, 2015

The morning of 10 July, following the news of lawyer Wang Yu (王宇, see Statement below) being disappeared, it has just been reported that lawyer Zhou Shifeng (周世锋律师), director of the Fengrui Law Office in Beijing (北京锋锐律师事务所), was kidnapped this morning and his whereabouts are unknown. Lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan tweeted earlier this morning: “Yesterday evening, Zhou Shifeng went to the Tongzhou District Detention Center to pick up Zhang Miao (张淼). (Zhang, a research assistant for the German publication Die Zeit, was arrested in October in Hong Kong last year during the Umbrella Revolution, and she was released from the detention center last night.) Later, Wang Lin, Zhang Miao, and Zhou Shifeng stayed at the Seven Days Hotel in the artist colony Song Zhuang. Wang Lin and Zhang Miao stayed in one room while Zhou Shifeng had an adjacent room. At 7:30 am, Wang Lin heard a hotel attendant knock on the door to Zhou Shifeng’s room. Afterwards, Wang Lin heard Zhou Shifeng shout her name. Wang Lin opened the door and saw Zhou Shifeng, hooded, was forcibly taken away by three men.

According to Liu Xiaoyuan, “At 7:41 am, after I obtained [the above] news, I immediately dialed Director Zhou’s telephone. At that time I could still get through to his phone but no one answered. I am now calling his phone but it is turned off.”

Separately, lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan took a phone call from the Fengrui Law Office assistant Dr. Liu Sixin (刘四新) who said that many policemen had arrived in law firm’s office, and it was feared that the office might be raided.

Lawyer Wang Yu represents the recently arrested activist Wu Gan (吴淦). Before his arrest, Wu Gan worked in the Fengrui Law Office. Lawyer Zhou Shifeng had stated that he would provide 8 million yuan to establish a fund for Chinese rights lawyers. The fund would provide support to families of persecuted lawyers throughout China. Zhou also recently stated that Fengrui Law Office would support Wu Gan’s wife and child for as long as he was in prison.

Below is a statement signed by over 100 lawyers on the disappearance of lawyer Wang Yu:

A Statement Concerning the “Loss of Contact” with Lawyer Wang Yu

Very early in the morning of 9 July 2015, lawyer Wang Yu (王宇) sent a text from her residence in Beijing: “This evening I took my husband and son to the airport. Just now the electricity in my apartment suddenly went off. The Wifi also is not working. I hear people forcing the door and talking outside. I called my husband and son but the calls did not go through.” After 4:00 am, contact with lawyer Wang Yu was lost.

We the undersigned are colleagues and friends of lawyer Wang Yu and, unable to get in touch with Wang Yu, we hereby issue the following statement:

Wang Yu is a reasonable, polite, and law abiding lawyer. She is not a terrorist, she does not use drugs, nor is she a rowdy troublemaker.

Wang Yu’s work is consistently open and aboveboard, honest and frank. If the police suspect she has broken the law, the police can openly and honestly summon and investigate her according to the law, and Wang Yu will definitely cooperate.

We strongly condemn the relevant departments for cutting off the electricity and the internet in the middle of the night and using force to enter Wang Yu’s residence and arrest her. This is an appalling behavior that seriously violates the proper procedures for handling cases and it is a serious departure from the rule of law.

Cutting off electricity and the internet and apprehending a person in the dark could easily lead to miscalculation on the part of the resident who might treat the intruders as burglars and take defensive action.

If personnel from the relevant departments have decided covertly to take the law into their own hands, causing bodily harm to both sides, the relevant departments must assume full legal responsibility.

We urge the relevant departments to remember that handling cases according to the law is your duty and obligation. If coercive measures are taken against lawyer Wang Yu, then her family members must be notified within 24 hours. Obtaining confessions through torture and coercion, as well as abuse of power, is certain to bring down the wrath of Heaven.

Signatories to this Statement:

Wang Quanping, Lawyer from Guangdong

Chen Jiangang, Lawyer from Beijing

Wu Kuiming, Lawyer from Guangdong

Xia Jun, Lawyer from Guangdong

Chen Muqing, Lawyer from Guangdong

Chen Keyun, Lawyer from Guangdong

Liu Zhengqing, Lawyer from Guangdong

Liu Shihui, Lawyer from Guangdong

Wu Zhenqi, Lawyer from Guangdong

Liang Xiaojun, Lawyer from Beijing

Zhang Keke, Lawyer from Hubei

Chen Jinxue, Lawyer from Guangdong

Xie Yang, Lawyer from Hunan

Chang Boyang, Lawyer from Henan

Fu Yonggang, Lawyer from Shandong

Zhou Lixin, Lawyer from Beijing

Zheng Enchong, Lawyer from Shanghai

Ge Wenxiu, Lawyer from Guangdong

Chen Wuquan, Lawyer from Guangdong

Wang Quanzhang, Lawyer from Beijing

Zhao Yonglin, Lawyer from Shandong

Lan Zhixue, Lawyer from Beijing

Liu Wei, Lawyer from Beijing

Meng Meng, Lawyer from Henan

Chen Shuqing, Lawyer from Zhejiang

Wang Jun, Lawyer from Beijing

Li Dawei, Lawyer from Gansu

Wen Yu, Lawyer from Guangdong

Wang Xueming, Lawyer from Shandong

Xu Hongwei, Lawyer from Shandong

Liang Xiubo, Lawyer from Henan

Li Weida, Lawyer from Hebei

Yu Quan, Lawyer from Sichuan

Liu Wei, Lawyer from Henan

Wang Zongyue, Lawyer from Guizhou

Liu Shuqing, Lawyer from Shandong

Peng Jian, Lawyer from Beijing

Hou Lingxian, Lawyer from Heilongjiang

Xu Xianghui, Lawyer from Guangdong

Qin Lei, Lawyer from Shanghai

Zhang Guo, Lawyer from Hunan

Xu Tao, Lawyer from Hubei

Jiang Shoumin, Lawyer from Guangdong

Guo Lianhui, Lawyer from Jiangxi

Xiao Fanghua, Lawyer from Guangdong

Li Changming, Lawyer from Beijing

Wei Youshou, Lawyer from Jiangxi

Feng Yanqiang, Lawyer from Shandong

Liu Sixin, Doctor of Law, Beijing

Tong Huping, Lawyer from Beijing

Luo Xi, Lawyer from Hunan

Yan Anle, Lawyer from Henan

Jiang Yongji, Lawyer from Gansu

Xiao Guozhen, Lawyer from Beijing

Tan Yongpei, Lawyer from Guangxi

Li Yuhan, Lawyer from Beijing

Liang Lanqing, Lawyer from Hebei

Liu Lianhe, Lawyer from Tianjin

Deng Shulin, Lawyer from Sichuan

Guo Jin, Lawyer from Beijing

He Wei, Lawyer from Chongqing

Ren Quanniu, Lawyer from Henan

Shu Xiangxin, Lawyer from Shandong

Zhang Hai, Lawyer from Shandong

Xu Guijuan, Lawyer from Shandong

Liu Jinbin, Lawyer from Shandong

Zhao Guojin, Lawyer from Beijing

Lin Qilei, Lawyer from Beijing

Wang Shengsheng, Lawyer from Guangdong

Zhang Zhongshi, Lawyer from Hunan

Ji Laisong, Lawyer from Henan

Zhuang Daohe, Lawyer from Zhejiang

Li Wenzhi, Lawyer from Hubei

Wen Donghai, Lawyer from Hunan

Li Tiantian, Lawyer from Shanghai

Fan Biaowen, Lawyer from Guangdong

Yao Minfu, Lawyer from Hebei

Yang Xuan, Lawyer from Hunan

Lu Fangzhi, Lawyer from Hunan

Zou Lihui, Lawyer from Fujian

Yu Wensheng, Lawyer from Beijing

Liu Weiguo, Lawyer from Shandong

Li Jinxing, Lawyer from Shandong

Cai Jixin, Lawyer from Guizhou

Wang Qiushi, Lawyer from Heilongjiang

Yang Wei, Lawyer from Sichuan

Xue Rongmin, Lawyer from Shanghai

Xiong Dongmei, Lawyer from Shandong

Wang Cheng, Lawyer from Zhejiang

Jiang Tianyong, Lawyer from Beijing

Tang Jitian, Lawyer from Beijing

Zhang Lei, Lawyer from Beijing

Li Heping, Lawyer from Beijing

Li Fangping, Lawyer from Beijing

Zhang Jiankang, Lawyer from Shaanxi

Zhang Yujuan, Lawyer from Hunan

Teng Biao, Scholar from Beijing

Pang Kun, Lawyer from Guangdong

Wang Haijun, Lawyer from Hunan

Shi Fulong, Lawyer from Hunan

Liu Li, Lawyer from Beijing

Lei Dengfeng, Lawyer from Chongqing

Yang Mingkua, Lawyer from Yunnan

Ceng Weichang, Lawyer from Yunnan

Ma Lianshun, Lawyer from Henan

Zhou Xiaochun, Lawyer from Guangdong

Yan Wenxin, Lawyer from Beijing

You Feizhu, Lawyer from Chongqing

Chen Shihua, Lawyer from Hunan

Zhao Qing, Lawyer from Beijing

Liu Jinxiang, Lawyer from Shandong

Ge Yongxi, Lawyer from Guangdong

Wang Fengming, Lawyer from Hebei

Jia Kaiwen, Lawyer from Guizhou

9 July 2015

———–

Related:

Cataloging the Torture of Lawyers in China, China Change, July 5, 2015.

(Translated by Ai Ru)

关于王宇律师“失联”的严正声明

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