Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu released after video 'confession' #JHedzWorlD

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu released after video 'confession' #JHedzWorlD

While Wang was supposedly released, her colleague Zhai Yanmin, another lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison with a four-year reprieve Tuesday local time.

A court in Tianjin in northern China found Zhai guilty of having conspired and plotted to subvert state power, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Confession ‘not logical’

Video of an apparent confession by Wang was posted by two websites in Hong Kong — Phoenix TV and Oriental Daily — as well as by The Paper, a state-owned publication based in Shanghai.

In the video, Wang renounced her legal work and blamed “foreign forces” for using her Fengrui law firm to undermine and discredit the Chinese government.

“I won’t be used by them anymore,” Wang said in the video posted by The Paper.

Wang’s statement echoes those in other televised purported confessions, which have become more common since Chinese President Xi Jinping took power three years ago.

“It is very unusual for someone said to have been recently released on bail to appear in such an interview,” Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International, told CNN.

“As far as we know, her lawyers and family didn’t know about her release and still cannot reach her.”

Wang’s lawyer, Wen Donghai, said he had no further information about Wang’s status. “What I know is as much as you do.”

Poon added that it was “legitimate for us to question whether the ‘confession’ was genuine or not.”

He pointed to the fact that Wang was previously charged with subverting state power, which can result in life imprisonment, before being abruptly released on bail.

“Suddenly she appeared in a videotaped interview, it’s not logical,” said Poon.

Authorities in Tianjin, where Wang was being held, and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Growing trend

Wang’s is the fourth prominent “confession” by a legal activist in China in recent months.

Swedish human rights advocate Peter Dahlin appeared on state-run CCTV in January in what his organization called an “apparent forced confession,” before he was expelled from China.

Dahlin works for the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group — which provides legal counsel and training for those in need.

On the broadcast, he apologized for causing harm to the Chinese government.

“I apologize sincerely for this. And I’m very sorry that this ever happened,” he said.

China insisted that Dahlin worked for an illegal organization whose activities threatened China’s national security.

In June, Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee told CNN he was taken by “special forces” and kept in solitary confinement for five months. A confession he made on state television “had a director and a script,” he said.

In recent months, several Hong Kong outlets have published interviews with previously detained activists in which they apologized for or confessed to their alleged crimes.

The video interview with Wang released by Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV and Oriental Daily comes in the wake of an interview with 24-year-old legal assistant Zhao Wei published by the South China Morning Post in which she said she regretted her activism.

Zhao’s husband told the Guardian he had been unable to meet with his wife and questioned the authenticity of the Post’s interview.

David Bandurski, the editor in chief of Hong Kong University’s China Media Project, said the incident “raises very serious questions about the newspaper’s commitment to editorial independence” following its purchase by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

In a statement posted online, the paper said questions raised over the interview were an attempt “to paint the South China Morning Post in a negative light. “

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu released after video 'confession' #JHedzWorlD