Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was released from prison on 5 April 2020 and immediately placed into quarantine for 14 days, hundreds of kilometres from his family.
According to Wang’s wife Li Wenzu, who has continuously called for his release, Wang was released on Sunday morning but was taken to Jinan in Shandong province, 400km from his family home in Beijing, where he was placed under quarantine.
Wang was arrested in August 2015 as part of the ‘709 Crackdown,’ named after the date on which it started, 9 July, in which over 300 lawyers, human rights defenders, and their colleagues and family members were detained, interrogated or imprisoned. In 2019 he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on charges of 'subversion of state power' after over three years in incommunicado detention. During his detention, his wife repeatedly called for his release, and the family have also been targeted. In September 2019 Wang's six year-old son was forced to leave his primary school after police made multiple visits to the school. Shortly after Wang’s release, Amnesty International reported that police had threatened Wang Quanzhang’s sister, telling her not to pick him up from prison.
Before his detention Wang defended victims of human rights violations, including Falun Gong practitioners. For three and a half years following his arrest, he was detained incommunicado, with no information made public about his status or wellbeing. Released lawyers and activists detained in the 709 Crackdown have given horrific accounts of physical and psychological torture, and many have subsequently been placed under de facto house arrest, with significant restrictions on their freedom of movement and freedom of speech. Accounts of torture have not been investigated by the authorities, and there are indications that Wang has also been subject to severe ill-treatment and torture leading to serious health issues, including hearing loss.
A statement by the European Union Spokesperson on Wang’s release said that the EU “considers that his rights under China's legislation and international commitments were not respected during trial and detention” and called on the authorities to thoroughly investigate reports about Wang being subject of serious mistreatment and torture.
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “CSW welcomes the release of Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, however we reiterate that he should never have been detained in the first place, and are deeply concerned that he is still being denied his freedom. Wang has devoted years of his life to defending the rights of the most vulnerable, and the Chinese government must now ensure that he is truly free and allowed to reunite with his family, and not subject to house arrest or any restrictions on his rights and freedoms. CSW calls on the international community to carefully monitor Wang Quanzhang’s case, and to make use of bilateral and multilateral engagements to press China to allow him and his family full freedom. We also continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained in connection with the defence of human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief, in China.”