27 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost
Human rights advocates in China indicated that Zhuang Lu, the office assistant at the prominent human rights law centre Gongmeng may not have been released, as was previously stated. Ms Zhuang made a short phone call to her mother on 26 August in order to tell her that she was awaiting trial and forbidden from leaving Beijing. Read more here
24 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost
Chinese authorities have released legal activist Xu Zhiyong and two other activists. Xu Zhiyong, founder of the Beijing-based Open Constitution Initiative, was unexpectedly freed on bail, along with co-worker Zhuang Lu, after more than three weeks in prison on charges of tax evasion. In a separate case, Ilham Tohti, an economics professor who had written about economic discrimination against the Uighur minority, was released after about six weeks in custody. Read more here
24 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost
Leading Chinese human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong has been released from his three-week detainment on charges of “tax evasion”. Zhiyong’s arrest was viewed as part of a wider crackdown on Chinese activists in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of Communist rule. Xu Zhiyong’s colleague Zhuang Lu and Uighur Internet activist Ilham Tohti were also released.
Read more here
31 Jul 09 | Index Index, minipost
Police in China have detained a leading human rights lawyer in a dawn raid, less than a fortnight after the Open Constitution Initative, the pioneering legal centre he helped found was shut down. Xu Zhiyong’s disappearance comes amid growing concern about increasing pressure on activist lawyers in China. Read more here
