Chinese human rights lawyer evicted from 13 homes in 2 months as pressure on lawyers rises

Taipei, Taiwan: In a pattern of harassment against him and three other well-known rights activists in Beijing, a disbarred Chinese human rights lawyer has been forced to relocate 13 times in the past two months, further pressuring the nation's weakened civil rights movement.

According to Wang Quanzhang, one lawyer completely departed Beijing in the hopes of putting a stop to the harassment, while he himself is currently living in a borrowed flat in a suburb where the power is routinely shut off. His coworker Bao Longjun claimed that although he is still in the flat he owns, he has been prevented from leaving it numerous times by unknown groups of men that hang around outside his door. Bao claimed that in addition to his wife, a fourth lawyer was also being held, Associated Press reported.

The four are all well-known members of a group called the 709 Lawyers, named after the day, July 9, 2015, when a campaign against independent legal advocacy started and hundreds of people were detained. Such advocates are a rare source of support for those facing political charges or attempting to access benefits that are denied by bureaucracies who are frequently unaccountable.

Their work has included assisting people to advocate for pension hikes as well as defending members of Falun Gong, a religious sect that opposes the Chinese government and is outlawed by Beijing as an "evil cult."

After their arrests in 2015, all four men were stripped of their legal licences, but after being freed from jail, they carried on with similar work that did not require a license.

The ordeals of the lawyers coincided with a number of high-profile visits by foreign dignitaries, according to a statement from Human Rights Watch senior researcher Yaqiu Wang. Early in April, French President Emmanuel Macron visited, followed by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and most recently, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken all paid visits to Beijing.

The meetings, she wrote, were intended to “signal China is open for business and engagement again. But the petty and inhumane treatment of human rights lawyers and their families show that the authorities only want to double down on repressing the Chinese civil society.”

An inquiry for comment sent by fax to the Beijing police department was unanswered.

According to Bao Longjun, another one of the four advocates, disbarred rights attorney Yu Wensheng and his wife were held by Beijing police on their way to the European Union Delegation in the middle of April.

Two more rights lawyers received prison terms of more than 10 years at around the same time for allegedly "subverting state power."

Wang, the attorney who was ejected from his house, and Bao encountered more perplexing circumstances.

Men started gathering in front of Bao's and Wang's doors and telling them they were not permitted to leave.

The men gave no indication of their identities or the reasons for their presence. The attorneys believe they are unofficial police contractors, a tactic frequently employed by regional Chinese governments to exert extralegal pressure on citizens they deem problematic.

The pressure from Wang's landlord increased. The landlord informed Wang that his lease was no longer valid and his family had to move around the time the men showed up. They initially refused, but after a few days the electricity, water and gas were turned off in the flat.

According to Wang and Sophie Luo, an activist living in the United States, Li Heping, a fellow disbarred rights attorney, and his family left Beijing as a result of similar pressure. Li turned down an interview.

Bao's house, which he owns, was not taken away from him. He claims that occasionally, groups of individuals in ordinary clothes confine him to his home.

According to Bao, the harassment is meant to persuade the supporters to leave Beijing. He claimed that the authorities probably want the advocates to go back to their hometowns so that they might become a problem for a different local administration there.

After a month and a half of moving 13 times between apartments, hotels, and apartments, Wang and his wife, Li Wenzu, are still in Beijing.

Groups of guys in plain clothes who loiter around have followed them to every location, frightening landlords and neighbours.

Hotels have occasionally requested Wang to leave the same day he checked in, he claimed. The hotel that permitted them to remain for nine days was the area where they were able to stay the longest. In the end, the couple placed their 10-year-old child with relatives.

The pair has been residing in a friend's flat in a suburb of Beijing for the past week, where the electricity is frequently shut off.

Wang claimed that the first time, he was able to turn the power back on by flicking a switch in a fuse box outside the flat. On other occasions, however, he discovered a bicycle lock on the fuse box or more extensive damage that necessitated the services of an electrician.

On Tuesday, AP reporters observed seven men loitering in the apartment building's courtyard.

The pair had a solar panel built so they can charge their phones during outages, and they have drinking water, rice, and instant noodles stocked as well.

Wang described his ordeal calmly despite being clearly agitated.

“Of course, I hope I can live a peaceful life,” he said. For now, “I’m just living one day at a time.”