EU officials assail denial of access to trial of two Chinese human rights advocates
Lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan, detained while en route to a 2023 meeting with EU envoys in Beijing, face charges in Suzhou
European Union diplomats were denied entry to a Suzhou courtroom on Wednesday, as they tried to monitor the start of the trial of two Chinese human rights advocates who were detained last year on their way to meet EU officials in Beijing.
“It is highly regrettable that EU representatives of diplomatic missions accredited to China were denied access to the courtroom. This denial undermines trust in due process requirements in China,” said Nabila Massrali, the bloc’s foreign affairs spokeswoman.
Yu Wensheng, a prominent human rights lawyer, and his wife Xu Yan were detained on April 13, 2023. The trial is being held in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, a city 110km (68 miles) west of Shanghai.
“The EU reiterates its earlier concerns about the well-being of Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan and we call for their immediate release,” Massrali said.
The EU, she added, sought “immediate clarifications from the authorities on the sudden and unexplained detention by the police of two lawyers, Wang Yu and Yang Hui, who also tried to attend the trial”.
In April 2023, the couple had been scheduled to meet with senior EU diplomats who had travelled from Brussels. Josep Borrell, the EU’s de facto foreign minister, was originally supposed to be part of that delegation but had to postpone his trip after testing positive for Covid-19.
