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China: International Law Requires the Immediate Release of Bao Zhuoxuan | Letter
October 21, 2015
Full PDF Version
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
http://www.lrwc.org/china-international-law-requires-the-immediate-release-of-bao-zhuoxuan-letter/
Xi Jinping
General Secretary, Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China
Guo Shengkun
Minister of Public Security
No.14, Donchang’anjie,
Dongchengqu, Beijing 100741
People’s Republic of China
Email: [email protected]
Attention CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun
Re: International law requires the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan
We write on behalf of Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), a committee of Canadian lawyers who promote human rights and the rule of law internationally. LRWC also campaigns for lawyers and other human rights defenders in danger because of their advocacy.
LRWC demands the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan, the return of his passport and removal of all impediments to his traveling to San Francisco California.
Illegal and Arbitrary Arrest, Detention and Treatment of Bao Zhuoxuan
In an illegal bid clearly intended to pressure and punish Bao Zhuoxuan’s parents, Chinese authorities arrested Bao Zhuoxuan, the 16-year-old son of human rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun on 9 October 2015. The boy is reported to be under house arrest at the home of his grandparents in Ulanhot: his presence there and the conditions of his detention have not been confirmed by anyone independent of the Government of the People’s Republic of China. Bao Zhuoxuan was arrested by uniformed Chinese police in Mong La, Myanmar while he was enroute to the United States to stay with a family friend, Liang Bo, during his parents’ illegal detention. Liang Bo had been planning to host Mr. Bao Zhuoxuan in the San Francisco area in the absence of his parents. Wang Yu and Bao Longjun were arrested 9 July 2015 and their whereabouts are unknown.[1] State authorities report that they are being held “under residential surveillance at a designated place.” A recent video of Wang Yu making a forced statement confirms that she is still alive, but her whereabouts, and the conditions under which she and her husband are currently detained, are unknown. Wang Yu and Bao Longjun have been detained for over three months without legal authorization, without access to legal representation and without judicial oversight. Their arrest and detention and the arrest and detention of their son are in gross violation of both Chinese domestic law and China’s international law obligations as a member of the United Nations and as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. LRWC considers the three members of this family to be victims of enforced disappearance.
Journalist Philip Wen was en route to the home of Bao Zhuoxuan’s grandparents when his team was intercepted by four police officers dressed in plain clothes. At the local police station, while asking questions about their credentials, “the officers largely refused to answer questions about Zhuoxuan’s welfare – and when they did, they provided conflicting accounts”, reports Wen. One said “Zhuoxuan had a cold and was running a high fever; another said he was in school”. Three policemen allegedly said the teenager had been “tricked” into crossing the Myanmar border, and “regretted” doing so. After some time, the police were able to determine that the reporters were in fact in Ulanhot legally and had not contravened any regulations. But in China foreign journalists require the permission of an interviewee before conducting interviews. Police in China of course routinely declare that prospective interviewees have declined to grant an interview, without the proposed interviewee ever appearing in person. The police said both the boy and his grandmother had declined to be interviewed, and escorted the journalists to the airport for their return flights to Beijing.
Bao Zhuoxuan’s case has received international attention; a report by the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China recommended that lawmakers and administration officials raise it with the Chinese government. The U.S. State Department said it was concerned over reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the underage son of detained rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, had been put under house arrest in Inner Mongolia. Spokesman John Kirby said in a statement “We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child”. “We are also concerned about an apparent systematic campaign of China to persecute relatives of Chinese citizens who peacefully question the official policy and work to protect the rights of others.” “We call on China to remove restrictions on freedom of movement for Bao Zhuoxuan, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and (her husband) Bao Longyun unconditionally”.
Violation of International Obligations by China
Actions that constitute grave violations of China’s international law obligations include the:
Unlawful and arbitrary arrest and detention of Bao Zhuoxuan;
Unjustified prevention of Bao Zhuoxuan from leaving China;
Denial of timely and confidential access to a legal representative of choice;
Denial of judicial review of the legality of the arrest, detention and treatment of Bao Zhuoxuan by a competent, impartial and independent tribunal;
Use by Chinese authorities of harm or threats of harm to Bao Zhuoxuan to coerce confessions from or force compliance by Wang Yu and Bao Longjun;
Use by Chinese authorities of harm or threats of harm to Wang Yu and Bao Longjun to coerce a confession from or force compliance by Bao Zhuoxuan.
These actions by officials acting at the behest of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are grave violations of China’s international law obligations to ensure the protected rights of Bao Zhuoxuan and to prevent and punish violations of those rights. The internationally protected rights of Bao Zhuoxuan which Chinese authorities have violated include his rights to: liberty; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; timely and confidential access to legal representation; judicial review of the legality of his arrest, detention and treatment by a competent, impartial and independent tribunal; equality and non-discrimination; freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to be treated as a child.
In addition, the arbitrary and unlawful arrest and detention of Bao Zhuoxuan is discriminatory, having been carried out solely because of his status as the son of Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, two human rights lawyers whom China wants to silence. The denial of judicial oversight and access to legal representation constitutes a contravention of the non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment that is part of international customary law and a provision of all the above-noted treaties signed, acceded to or ratified by China. The European Court of Human Rights (El-Masri v. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Application no. 39630/09) unanimously held, inter alia, that incommunicado confinement in a hotel for 23 days outside any judicial framework was inhuman and degrading treatment prohibited by the Convention against Torture.
China has accepted and is bound by legal obligations to protect the rights of Bao Zhuoxuan and to effectively prevent and punish violations arising from the: Charter of the United Nations (19 October 1945), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (voted in favour 10 December 1948); Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (4 October 1988); Convention on the Rights of the Child (2 March 1992); and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (signed 5 October 1998). As a state party to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (acceded to 3 September 1997) China has additionally agreed not to “invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.” (Article 27)
In 1945 China accepted the obligation set out in Article 55 of the Charter of the United Nations to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”[2]
These obligations are repeated and have been accepted by China, in all the above-mentioned human rights treaties. As a current member of the UN Human Rights Council China must, in accordance with Resolution A/RES/60/251 of April 2006, “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, shall fully cooperate with the Council and be reviewed under the universal periodic review mechanism during their term of membership.”
LRWC demands the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan, the return of his passport and removal of all impediments preventing him from traveling to San Francisco, California in accordance with China’s international law obligations.
Sincerely,
Gail Davidson Clive Ansley
Executive Director, LRWC Barrister and Solicitor
China Monitor, LRWC
Copied to:
His Excellency Ambassador Wu Hailong
Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations in Geneva
11, chemin de Surville 1213 Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Wang Junfeng
All China Lawyers Association
5/F., Qinglan Plaza
No. 24, Dongsishitiao,
Dongchengqu, Beijing 100007, People’s Republic of China
Ms. Mónica Pinto
Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Juan Mendez, Special Rapporteur on Torture
c/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques
Canadian Embassy
19 Dongzhimenwai Dajie
Chao Yang District
Beijing 100600 PRC
Email: [email protected]
Ambassador Elissa Goldberg
Permanent Canadian Mission to Geneva
5 Avenue de l’Ariana 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
[1] For more information see, Mass arrest, detention and disappearance of lawyers and other rights advocates in China, LRWC, 16 September, 2015. Online at http://www.lrwc.org/china-mass-arrest-detention-and-disappearance-of-lawyers-and-other-rights-advocates-in-china-report/
[2] Ibid, art 55.
October 21, 2015
Full PDF Version
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
http://www.lrwc.org/china-international-law-requires-the-immediate-release-of-bao-zhuoxuan-letter/
Xi Jinping
General Secretary, Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China
Guo Shengkun
Minister of Public Security
No.14, Donchang’anjie,
Dongchengqu, Beijing 100741
People’s Republic of China
Email: [email protected]
Attention CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun
Re: International law requires the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan
We write on behalf of Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), a committee of Canadian lawyers who promote human rights and the rule of law internationally. LRWC also campaigns for lawyers and other human rights defenders in danger because of their advocacy.
LRWC demands the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan, the return of his passport and removal of all impediments to his traveling to San Francisco California.
Illegal and Arbitrary Arrest, Detention and Treatment of Bao Zhuoxuan
In an illegal bid clearly intended to pressure and punish Bao Zhuoxuan’s parents, Chinese authorities arrested Bao Zhuoxuan, the 16-year-old son of human rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun on 9 October 2015. The boy is reported to be under house arrest at the home of his grandparents in Ulanhot: his presence there and the conditions of his detention have not been confirmed by anyone independent of the Government of the People’s Republic of China. Bao Zhuoxuan was arrested by uniformed Chinese police in Mong La, Myanmar while he was enroute to the United States to stay with a family friend, Liang Bo, during his parents’ illegal detention. Liang Bo had been planning to host Mr. Bao Zhuoxuan in the San Francisco area in the absence of his parents. Wang Yu and Bao Longjun were arrested 9 July 2015 and their whereabouts are unknown.[1] State authorities report that they are being held “under residential surveillance at a designated place.” A recent video of Wang Yu making a forced statement confirms that she is still alive, but her whereabouts, and the conditions under which she and her husband are currently detained, are unknown. Wang Yu and Bao Longjun have been detained for over three months without legal authorization, without access to legal representation and without judicial oversight. Their arrest and detention and the arrest and detention of their son are in gross violation of both Chinese domestic law and China’s international law obligations as a member of the United Nations and as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. LRWC considers the three members of this family to be victims of enforced disappearance.
Journalist Philip Wen was en route to the home of Bao Zhuoxuan’s grandparents when his team was intercepted by four police officers dressed in plain clothes. At the local police station, while asking questions about their credentials, “the officers largely refused to answer questions about Zhuoxuan’s welfare – and when they did, they provided conflicting accounts”, reports Wen. One said “Zhuoxuan had a cold and was running a high fever; another said he was in school”. Three policemen allegedly said the teenager had been “tricked” into crossing the Myanmar border, and “regretted” doing so. After some time, the police were able to determine that the reporters were in fact in Ulanhot legally and had not contravened any regulations. But in China foreign journalists require the permission of an interviewee before conducting interviews. Police in China of course routinely declare that prospective interviewees have declined to grant an interview, without the proposed interviewee ever appearing in person. The police said both the boy and his grandmother had declined to be interviewed, and escorted the journalists to the airport for their return flights to Beijing.
Bao Zhuoxuan’s case has received international attention; a report by the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China recommended that lawmakers and administration officials raise it with the Chinese government. The U.S. State Department said it was concerned over reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the underage son of detained rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, had been put under house arrest in Inner Mongolia. Spokesman John Kirby said in a statement “We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child”. “We are also concerned about an apparent systematic campaign of China to persecute relatives of Chinese citizens who peacefully question the official policy and work to protect the rights of others.” “We call on China to remove restrictions on freedom of movement for Bao Zhuoxuan, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and (her husband) Bao Longyun unconditionally”.
Violation of International Obligations by China
Actions that constitute grave violations of China’s international law obligations include the:
Unlawful and arbitrary arrest and detention of Bao Zhuoxuan;
Unjustified prevention of Bao Zhuoxuan from leaving China;
Denial of timely and confidential access to a legal representative of choice;
Denial of judicial review of the legality of the arrest, detention and treatment of Bao Zhuoxuan by a competent, impartial and independent tribunal;
Use by Chinese authorities of harm or threats of harm to Bao Zhuoxuan to coerce confessions from or force compliance by Wang Yu and Bao Longjun;
Use by Chinese authorities of harm or threats of harm to Wang Yu and Bao Longjun to coerce a confession from or force compliance by Bao Zhuoxuan.
These actions by officials acting at the behest of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are grave violations of China’s international law obligations to ensure the protected rights of Bao Zhuoxuan and to prevent and punish violations of those rights. The internationally protected rights of Bao Zhuoxuan which Chinese authorities have violated include his rights to: liberty; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; timely and confidential access to legal representation; judicial review of the legality of his arrest, detention and treatment by a competent, impartial and independent tribunal; equality and non-discrimination; freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to be treated as a child.
In addition, the arbitrary and unlawful arrest and detention of Bao Zhuoxuan is discriminatory, having been carried out solely because of his status as the son of Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, two human rights lawyers whom China wants to silence. The denial of judicial oversight and access to legal representation constitutes a contravention of the non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment that is part of international customary law and a provision of all the above-noted treaties signed, acceded to or ratified by China. The European Court of Human Rights (El-Masri v. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Application no. 39630/09) unanimously held, inter alia, that incommunicado confinement in a hotel for 23 days outside any judicial framework was inhuman and degrading treatment prohibited by the Convention against Torture.
China has accepted and is bound by legal obligations to protect the rights of Bao Zhuoxuan and to effectively prevent and punish violations arising from the: Charter of the United Nations (19 October 1945), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (voted in favour 10 December 1948); Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (4 October 1988); Convention on the Rights of the Child (2 March 1992); and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (signed 5 October 1998). As a state party to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (acceded to 3 September 1997) China has additionally agreed not to “invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.” (Article 27)
In 1945 China accepted the obligation set out in Article 55 of the Charter of the United Nations to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”[2]
These obligations are repeated and have been accepted by China, in all the above-mentioned human rights treaties. As a current member of the UN Human Rights Council China must, in accordance with Resolution A/RES/60/251 of April 2006, “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, shall fully cooperate with the Council and be reviewed under the universal periodic review mechanism during their term of membership.”
LRWC demands the immediate release of Bao Zhuoxuan, the return of his passport and removal of all impediments preventing him from traveling to San Francisco, California in accordance with China’s international law obligations.
Sincerely,
Gail Davidson Clive Ansley
Executive Director, LRWC Barrister and Solicitor
China Monitor, LRWC
Copied to:
His Excellency Ambassador Wu Hailong
Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations in Geneva
11, chemin de Surville 1213 Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Wang Junfeng
All China Lawyers Association
5/F., Qinglan Plaza
No. 24, Dongsishitiao,
Dongchengqu, Beijing 100007, People’s Republic of China
Ms. Mónica Pinto
Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Juan Mendez, Special Rapporteur on Torture
c/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques
Canadian Embassy
19 Dongzhimenwai Dajie
Chao Yang District
Beijing 100600 PRC
Email: [email protected]
Ambassador Elissa Goldberg
Permanent Canadian Mission to Geneva
5 Avenue de l’Ariana 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
[1] For more information see, Mass arrest, detention and disappearance of lawyers and other rights advocates in China, LRWC, 16 September, 2015. Online at http://www.lrwc.org/china-mass-arrest-detention-and-disappearance-of-lawyers-and-other-rights-advocates-in-china-report/
[2] Ibid, art 55.
has anyone found or been exposed ?
more info on twitter
Whats the twitter name?
if you are Chinese or understand Chinese language then you can easily find out there
otherwise just follow VOA or BBC news
has anyone found or been exposed ?
more info on twitter
Whats the twitter name?
I am not Chinese, but keep the good fight.
Taken Question: Comment on Bao Zhuoxuan
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/10/248214.htm
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the October 14, 2015 Daily Press Briefing
October 14, 2015
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare
Attribution is on-the-record from Spokesperson John Kirby.
Question: Does the State Department have comment on the reports of Bao Zhuoxuan’s house arrest?
Answer: The United States is concerned about media reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of detained rights lawyer Wang Yu and her detained husband Bao Longjun, is being held under house arrest in Inner Mongolia, China. We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child.
We are also disturbed by a seemingly systematic campaign by China to target family members of Chinese citizens who peacefully challenge official policy and work to protect the rights of others. If Bao Zhuoxuan’s family wishes him to study abroad like hundreds of thousands of other Chinese students, China should permit him to leave the country.
We call on China to remove restrictions on Bao Zhuoxuan’s freedom of movement, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and Bao Longjun without condition.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/10/248214.htm
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the October 14, 2015 Daily Press Briefing
October 14, 2015
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare
Attribution is on-the-record from Spokesperson John Kirby.
Question: Does the State Department have comment on the reports of Bao Zhuoxuan’s house arrest?
Answer: The United States is concerned about media reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of detained rights lawyer Wang Yu and her detained husband Bao Longjun, is being held under house arrest in Inner Mongolia, China. We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child.
We are also disturbed by a seemingly systematic campaign by China to target family members of Chinese citizens who peacefully challenge official policy and work to protect the rights of others. If Bao Zhuoxuan’s family wishes him to study abroad like hundreds of thousands of other Chinese students, China should permit him to leave the country.
We call on China to remove restrictions on Bao Zhuoxuan’s freedom of movement, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and Bao Longjun without condition.
pro
Taken Question: Comment on Bao Zhuoxuan
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/10/248214.htm
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the October 14, 2015 Daily Press Briefing
October 14, 2015
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare
Attribution is on-the-record from Spokesperson John Kirby.
Question: Does the State Department have comment on the reports of Bao Zhuoxuan’s house arrest?
Answer: The United States is concerned about media reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of detained rights lawyer Wang Yu and her detained husband Bao Longjun, is being held under house arrest in Inner Mongolia, China. We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child.
We are also disturbed by a seemingly systematic campaign by China to target family members of Chinese citizens who peacefully challenge official policy and work to protect the rights of others. If Bao Zhuoxuan’s family wishes him to study abroad like hundreds of thousands of other Chinese students, China should permit him to leave the country.
We call on China to remove restrictions on Bao Zhuoxuan’s freedom of movement, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and Bao Longjun without condition.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/10/248214.htm
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the October 14, 2015 Daily Press Briefing
October 14, 2015
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare
Attribution is on-the-record from Spokesperson John Kirby.
Question: Does the State Department have comment on the reports of Bao Zhuoxuan’s house arrest?
Answer: The United States is concerned about media reports that Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of detained rights lawyer Wang Yu and her detained husband Bao Longjun, is being held under house arrest in Inner Mongolia, China. We urge China to uphold its international human rights commitments and protect the health and safety of this minor child.
We are also disturbed by a seemingly systematic campaign by China to target family members of Chinese citizens who peacefully challenge official policy and work to protect the rights of others. If Bao Zhuoxuan’s family wishes him to study abroad like hundreds of thousands of other Chinese students, China should permit him to leave the country.
We call on China to remove restrictions on Bao Zhuoxuan’s freedom of movement, and again urge China to release Wang Yu and Bao Longjun without condition.
free BaoZhuoxuan
RT @rosetangy : Australian reporter Philip Wen @PhilipWen11 taken away by Chinese cops in Ulanhot as he tried to intv #BaoZhuoxuan
Bao Zhuoxuan, Son of Rights Lawyer Held in China, Is Said to Be Under House Arrest
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE
OCT. 12, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/world/asia/china-bao-zhuoxuan-son-wang-yu-rights-lawyer-house-arrest.html?_r=0
HONG KONG — The 16-year-old son of a detained Chinese human rights lawyer is now living under house arrest in northern China after being snatched at a Myanmar border town last week as he was trying to escape to the United States, a family friend said.
Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of the prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu, is at his grandparents’ home in the Inner Mongolia region, said the friend, Liang Bo, who was planning to host Mr. Bao in the San Francisco area. Ms. Wang was detained in July during a nationwide crackdown in which more than 220 people were summoned for questioning. She remains in custody. Chinese officials have accused Ms. Wang of “inciting subversion of state power.”
Mr. Bao was taken by uniformed men this month from a guesthouse in Mong La, a town in Myanmar near the Chinese border, said Fengsuo Zhou, a United States citizen and human rights activist. Mr. Zhou had traveled to Bangkok to meet Mr. Bao and help arrange his travel papers to America.
Mr. Bao is now in Ulanhot, a city in Inner Mongolia, where he is under surveillance by the police and his movements are restricted, Ms. Liang said in a telephone interview. Mr. Bao’s grandparents could not be reached at two mobile phone numbers belonging to them. A woman at the office of politics of the Ulanhot Police Bureau said the bureau had no such case involving a 16-year-old boy named Bao Zhuoxuan.
Mr. Bao’s mother, Ms. Wang, is one of the most prominent human rights lawyers in China. She defended Ilham Tohti, an economics professor whom the Chinese government had accused of inciting separatism in his native Xinjiang and sentenced last year to life in prison. Her detention is part of a widespread crackdown under President Xi Jinping of human rights activists and the lawyers who represent them. In many cases, as with Mr. Bao, their families become pawns as the police try to pressure the detainees, Mr. Zhou said.
“That is the signature of Xi’s recent crackdown on human rights activists,” Mr. Zhou said in a telephone interview. “They want to crack open their defense basically, and they want to crush their will.”
Mr. Bao’s case has received international attention, and last week, a report by the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China recommended that lawmakers and administration officials bring it up with the Chinese government.
Mr. Bao was detained at Beijing’s international airport in July when he and his father were trying to leave the country for Australia, where he had been accepted into a school. His passport was revoked, and he was sent to live with his grandparents, according to the commission’s report. His father was taken into custody.
Mr. Zhou as well as other activists and family friends decided that it was worth the risk for Mr. Bao to try to cross the border into Myanmar in an area where passports were not required and to make his way to Bangkok, the Thai capital. There, Mr. Zhou would walk Mr. Bao through the steps required to gain legal entry into the United States.
“We knew it was such a risky move. We tried our best to help him. We tried to help Zhuoxuan to get freedom,” Mr. Zhou said. “It’s a battleground.”
Mia Li contributed research from Beijing.
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE
OCT. 12, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/world/asia/china-bao-zhuoxuan-son-wang-yu-rights-lawyer-house-arrest.html?_r=0
HONG KONG — The 16-year-old son of a detained Chinese human rights lawyer is now living under house arrest in northern China after being snatched at a Myanmar border town last week as he was trying to escape to the United States, a family friend said.
Bao Zhuoxuan, the son of the prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu, is at his grandparents’ home in the Inner Mongolia region, said the friend, Liang Bo, who was planning to host Mr. Bao in the San Francisco area. Ms. Wang was detained in July during a nationwide crackdown in which more than 220 people were summoned for questioning. She remains in custody. Chinese officials have accused Ms. Wang of “inciting subversion of state power.”
Mr. Bao was taken by uniformed men this month from a guesthouse in Mong La, a town in Myanmar near the Chinese border, said Fengsuo Zhou, a United States citizen and human rights activist. Mr. Zhou had traveled to Bangkok to meet Mr. Bao and help arrange his travel papers to America.
Mr. Bao is now in Ulanhot, a city in Inner Mongolia, where he is under surveillance by the police and his movements are restricted, Ms. Liang said in a telephone interview. Mr. Bao’s grandparents could not be reached at two mobile phone numbers belonging to them. A woman at the office of politics of the Ulanhot Police Bureau said the bureau had no such case involving a 16-year-old boy named Bao Zhuoxuan.
Mr. Bao’s mother, Ms. Wang, is one of the most prominent human rights lawyers in China. She defended Ilham Tohti, an economics professor whom the Chinese government had accused of inciting separatism in his native Xinjiang and sentenced last year to life in prison. Her detention is part of a widespread crackdown under President Xi Jinping of human rights activists and the lawyers who represent them. In many cases, as with Mr. Bao, their families become pawns as the police try to pressure the detainees, Mr. Zhou said.
“That is the signature of Xi’s recent crackdown on human rights activists,” Mr. Zhou said in a telephone interview. “They want to crack open their defense basically, and they want to crush their will.”
Mr. Bao’s case has received international attention, and last week, a report by the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China recommended that lawmakers and administration officials bring it up with the Chinese government.
Mr. Bao was detained at Beijing’s international airport in July when he and his father were trying to leave the country for Australia, where he had been accepted into a school. His passport was revoked, and he was sent to live with his grandparents, according to the commission’s report. His father was taken into custody.
Mr. Zhou as well as other activists and family friends decided that it was worth the risk for Mr. Bao to try to cross the border into Myanmar in an area where passports were not required and to make his way to Bangkok, the Thai capital. There, Mr. Zhou would walk Mr. Bao through the steps required to gain legal entry into the United States.
“We knew it was such a risky move. We tried our best to help him. We tried to help Zhuoxuan to get freedom,” Mr. Zhou said. “It’s a battleground.”
Mia Li contributed research from Beijing.
Teen Son of Rights Lawyers 'Under House Arrest' as Families Flee China
2015-10-12
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/son-10122015130738.html
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia are holding the 16-year-old son of two detained rights lawyers under house arrest, as police target fellow lawyers who tried to help him escape via Myanmar.
Bao Zhuoxuan, also known as Bao Mengmeng, was detained on Oct. 6 in Myanmar after trying to escape to the United States amid a nationwide police operation targeting human rights lawyers, during which his passport was confiscated.
He is now under 24-hour police surveillance at his grandparents' house in Inner Mongolia and is not allowed contact with the outside world, Liang Bo, a San Francisco-based family friend, told the Associated Press.
Bao, who is the son of detained Chinese rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, was detained in Mongla, northern Myanmar, in a murky cross-border operation after he was denied permission to leave the country legally.
Wang's colleague and supporter Yu Wensheng said he is "very worried" about Bao.
"We are extremely worried about him, now and when he was detained, because he is basically just a kid, and both his parents have been detained," Yu told RFA on Monday.
"We are calling on the international community to bring his case up with the Chinese authorities," said Yu, who issued a statement which had gained some 200 signatures by Monday evening local time.
"We think this is terrible and wrong, because Bao Mengmeng is a child, who should be afforded some protection," the mother of activist Yeung Hung, who recently gained political asylum in Canada, told RFA after signing the statement.
"Everyone has human rights, whether they are an adult or a child," she said. "The lawyers who have been detained haven't been allowed lawyers to represent them. That's why I'm calling on the international community."
Liang told AP that Bao has already been beaten by police when under house arrest previously, in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Two activists
Meanwhile, police have searched the homes of rights activists Tang Zhishun, 40, and Xing Qingxian, 49, who had crossed the border with Bao during the National Day holidays last week and who were detained at the same time as him.
The whereabouts of the two men is currently unknown, while their families have fled the country, according to U.S.-based veteran dissident Zhou Fengsuo, who helped to arrange Bao's escape.
Tang's wife and young daughter and Xing's wife all recently arrived in the U.S. after fleeing China amid an ongoing crackdown on rights lawyers, their families and associates, he said on Monday.
"Tang Zhishun's wife and daughter are both in San Francisco," Zhou told RFA. "She was very worried by the situation and called home, where her parents said they couldn't talk right now [implying that police were present] and that the two of them were better off overseas."
Zhou said Xing Qingxian's wife He Juan also arrived at San Francisco airport on Monday, after an equally precipitate departure.
"He Juan made the decision to leave very suddenly, as soon as she found out that the authorities were searching her home," he said.
"She left China via Yunnan."
Zhou said the Chinese government has yet to comment on the detention operation in Myanmar.
"The Chinese government hasn't openly admitted or detailed how it came to detain people in Myanmar," Zhou said.
He Juan said she had initially planned to visit the U.S. as a tourist, but had decided to come early.
"Some people said my husband had run into trouble, or had been detained, so I thought that I couldn't stay behind in China, and that I'd better leave very fast," she said shortly after her arrival.
"I went to Thailand via Laos; that's how I got out," she said.
Refused exit
Prominent rights lawyer Ge Wenxiu said he was recently denied permission to board the Guangzhou-Kowloon express train heading across the internal border with the former British colony of Hong Kong.
"They said they had received a notification from the Beijing police department not to let me leave the country," Ge told RFA.
"The didn't give any details, but it was basically to do with my advocacy work for detained rights lawyer Liu Sixin," he said.
Liu was among a number of lawyers and other employees of Beijing's Fengrui law firm in July, who have since been accused by China's official media of deliberately fomenting social unrest.
Chinese police have detained or questioned at least 288 lawyers and their associates since the night of July 9-10 when Bao's parents were detained, according to the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers' Concern group.
More than 20 people remain in detention, 16 of them at undisclosed locations, while many more have been placed under surveillance, police warning or house arrest.
A number of rights lawyers have also been stopped by border guards from leaving China since.
Bao, who had planned to attend college in Australia, was later told he couldn't leave China because his departure would "harm state security," and police confiscated his passport.
Article 12 of China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law provides for a Chinese citizen to be prohibited from exiting China "because the national security or interest may be compromised," but the criteria for such a decision are not defined.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
2015-10-12
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/son-10122015130738.html
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia are holding the 16-year-old son of two detained rights lawyers under house arrest, as police target fellow lawyers who tried to help him escape via Myanmar.
Bao Zhuoxuan, also known as Bao Mengmeng, was detained on Oct. 6 in Myanmar after trying to escape to the United States amid a nationwide police operation targeting human rights lawyers, during which his passport was confiscated.
He is now under 24-hour police surveillance at his grandparents' house in Inner Mongolia and is not allowed contact with the outside world, Liang Bo, a San Francisco-based family friend, told the Associated Press.
Bao, who is the son of detained Chinese rights lawyers Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, was detained in Mongla, northern Myanmar, in a murky cross-border operation after he was denied permission to leave the country legally.
Wang's colleague and supporter Yu Wensheng said he is "very worried" about Bao.
"We are extremely worried about him, now and when he was detained, because he is basically just a kid, and both his parents have been detained," Yu told RFA on Monday.
"We are calling on the international community to bring his case up with the Chinese authorities," said Yu, who issued a statement which had gained some 200 signatures by Monday evening local time.
"We think this is terrible and wrong, because Bao Mengmeng is a child, who should be afforded some protection," the mother of activist Yeung Hung, who recently gained political asylum in Canada, told RFA after signing the statement.
"Everyone has human rights, whether they are an adult or a child," she said. "The lawyers who have been detained haven't been allowed lawyers to represent them. That's why I'm calling on the international community."
Liang told AP that Bao has already been beaten by police when under house arrest previously, in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Two activists
Meanwhile, police have searched the homes of rights activists Tang Zhishun, 40, and Xing Qingxian, 49, who had crossed the border with Bao during the National Day holidays last week and who were detained at the same time as him.
The whereabouts of the two men is currently unknown, while their families have fled the country, according to U.S.-based veteran dissident Zhou Fengsuo, who helped to arrange Bao's escape.
Tang's wife and young daughter and Xing's wife all recently arrived in the U.S. after fleeing China amid an ongoing crackdown on rights lawyers, their families and associates, he said on Monday.
"Tang Zhishun's wife and daughter are both in San Francisco," Zhou told RFA. "She was very worried by the situation and called home, where her parents said they couldn't talk right now [implying that police were present] and that the two of them were better off overseas."
Zhou said Xing Qingxian's wife He Juan also arrived at San Francisco airport on Monday, after an equally precipitate departure.
"He Juan made the decision to leave very suddenly, as soon as she found out that the authorities were searching her home," he said.
"She left China via Yunnan."
Zhou said the Chinese government has yet to comment on the detention operation in Myanmar.
"The Chinese government hasn't openly admitted or detailed how it came to detain people in Myanmar," Zhou said.
He Juan said she had initially planned to visit the U.S. as a tourist, but had decided to come early.
"Some people said my husband had run into trouble, or had been detained, so I thought that I couldn't stay behind in China, and that I'd better leave very fast," she said shortly after her arrival.
"I went to Thailand via Laos; that's how I got out," she said.
Refused exit
Prominent rights lawyer Ge Wenxiu said he was recently denied permission to board the Guangzhou-Kowloon express train heading across the internal border with the former British colony of Hong Kong.
"They said they had received a notification from the Beijing police department not to let me leave the country," Ge told RFA.
"The didn't give any details, but it was basically to do with my advocacy work for detained rights lawyer Liu Sixin," he said.
Liu was among a number of lawyers and other employees of Beijing's Fengrui law firm in July, who have since been accused by China's official media of deliberately fomenting social unrest.
Chinese police have detained or questioned at least 288 lawyers and their associates since the night of July 9-10 when Bao's parents were detained, according to the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers' Concern group.
More than 20 people remain in detention, 16 of them at undisclosed locations, while many more have been placed under surveillance, police warning or house arrest.
A number of rights lawyers have also been stopped by border guards from leaving China since.
Bao, who had planned to attend college in Australia, was later told he couldn't leave China because his departure would "harm state security," and police confiscated his passport.
Article 12 of China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law provides for a Chinese citizen to be prohibited from exiting China "because the national security or interest may be compromised," but the criteria for such a decision are not defined.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Human rights violations are very common in emerging economies like China and India. Govt is punishing them too hide their own blunders
india is quite different from china
Human rights violations are very common in emerging economies like China and India. Govt is punishing them too hide their own blunders
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bao-zhuoxuan-teenage-son-of-prominent-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-is-missing-20151009-gk5tv8.html?stb=twt
Bao Zhuoxuan, teenage son of prominent Chinese human rights lawyer, is missing
Date: October 10, 2015 - 6:00AM
13 reading nowRead later
Philip Wen
Philip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Beijing: The teenage son of a detained human rights lawyer blocked by Chinese authorities from attending high school in Australia has gone missing in Myanmar while attempting to flee China.
Bao Zhuoxuan, 16, was taken from his hotel on Tuesday by uniformed men in the Burmese town of Mong La, near the Chinese border, according to rights activists helping with his journey.
Mr Bao had been en route to Thailand where he planned to apply for asylum in the United States, having been under constant surveillance and harassment from Chinese authorities since his parents, prominent lawyer Wang Yu and legal activist Bao Longjun, were detained in July amid a sweeping government crackdown on lawyers in China.
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"We believed we could find a way for him to travel as a refugee," Zhou Fengshuo, a US-based rights activist who had travelled to Thailand to meet Mr Bao, told Fairfax Media.
"He was under constant surveillance and harassment – he is just 16 years old."
Mr Zhou said the wife of the hotel owner said more than 10 officers produced Myanmar police identification and searched the guest rooms, taking away Mr Bao and the two supporters accompanying him, Tang Zhishun and Xing Qingxian.
None of the three have been heard from since, prompting rights activists to raise the alarm. Attempts by Fairfax Media to contact Mr Bao were also unsuccessful.
The route through Myanmar represented Mr Bao's best chance of fleeing China given his passport had been confiscated by Chinese authorities when he was forcibly stopped from his boarding his flight to Australia in July.
"I started to scream but one of the men put his hand over my mouth," Mr Bao told Fairfax Media in a phone interview in July. The teenager was thrown into a van and detained alone for two nights, before being released to family in Tianjin and then Inner Mongolia.
Other relatives of Chinese dissidents have fled through Myanmar, including the wife and two children of Gao Zhisheng, a prominent rights lawyer who has been held in lengthy spells of secret confinement.
Mr Bao's parents are among at least 288 rights lawyers, activists and law firm staff that have been detained or questioned by Chinese authorities since July, according to records kept by the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group.
It comes amid a broader suppression of civil society under President Xi Jinping, which has targeted intellectuals, activists, artists, lawyers, journalists and non-governmental organisations.
Bao Zhuoxuan, teenage son of prominent Chinese human rights lawyer, is missing
Date: October 10, 2015 - 6:00AM
13 reading nowRead later
Philip Wen
Philip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Beijing: The teenage son of a detained human rights lawyer blocked by Chinese authorities from attending high school in Australia has gone missing in Myanmar while attempting to flee China.
Bao Zhuoxuan, 16, was taken from his hotel on Tuesday by uniformed men in the Burmese town of Mong La, near the Chinese border, according to rights activists helping with his journey.
Mr Bao had been en route to Thailand where he planned to apply for asylum in the United States, having been under constant surveillance and harassment from Chinese authorities since his parents, prominent lawyer Wang Yu and legal activist Bao Longjun, were detained in July amid a sweeping government crackdown on lawyers in China.
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"We believed we could find a way for him to travel as a refugee," Zhou Fengshuo, a US-based rights activist who had travelled to Thailand to meet Mr Bao, told Fairfax Media.
"He was under constant surveillance and harassment – he is just 16 years old."
Mr Zhou said the wife of the hotel owner said more than 10 officers produced Myanmar police identification and searched the guest rooms, taking away Mr Bao and the two supporters accompanying him, Tang Zhishun and Xing Qingxian.
None of the three have been heard from since, prompting rights activists to raise the alarm. Attempts by Fairfax Media to contact Mr Bao were also unsuccessful.
The route through Myanmar represented Mr Bao's best chance of fleeing China given his passport had been confiscated by Chinese authorities when he was forcibly stopped from his boarding his flight to Australia in July.
"I started to scream but one of the men put his hand over my mouth," Mr Bao told Fairfax Media in a phone interview in July. The teenager was thrown into a van and detained alone for two nights, before being released to family in Tianjin and then Inner Mongolia.
Other relatives of Chinese dissidents have fled through Myanmar, including the wife and two children of Gao Zhisheng, a prominent rights lawyer who has been held in lengthy spells of secret confinement.
Mr Bao's parents are among at least 288 rights lawyers, activists and law firm staff that have been detained or questioned by Chinese authorities since July, according to records kept by the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group.
It comes amid a broader suppression of civil society under President Xi Jinping, which has targeted intellectuals, activists, artists, lawyers, journalists and non-governmental organisations.
Teen Son of Detained Rights Lawyer 'Taken Away' From Myanmar Guesthouse
2015-10-09
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/teen-son-of-detained-rights-lawyer-taken-away-from-myanmar-guesthouse-10092015132215.html
Authorities in Myanmar have detained the teenage son of detained Chinese rights lawyer Wang Yu in a murky cross-border operation after he was denied permission to leave the country legally, a rights website and a Chinese lawyer said on Friday.
Bao Zhuoxuan, also known by his nickname Bao Mengmeng, was taken away from the Huadu Guesthouse in the border town of Mongla by Burmese police on Tuesday, the China Change website reported.
Two adult males, Tang Zhishun and Xing Qingxian were detained at the same time. The trio had crossed the border as tourists during the National Day holidays last week, it said.
It quoted the guesthouse owner as saying that the police had shown Burmese IDs, but local police later denied having detained anyone.
Bao Mengmeng was initially held at an unknown location following the detention of his parents, Bao Longjun and Wang Yu, which kicked off a nationwide police operation that has detained or questioned at least 288 lawyers and their associates since the night of July 9-10.
Bao, who had planned to attend college in Australia, was later told he couldn't leave China because his departure would "harm state security," and police confiscated his passport.
A number of rights lawyers have also been stopped by border guards from leaving China since.
Wang's colleague and supporter Yu Wensheng confirmed the report, but said he was having a hard time confirming exactly what had happened.
"It's likely that [Bao] is already in the hands of the Chinese police," Yu told RFA on Friday.
But he added: "The details of the situation aren't clear at the moment, because I only learned about this today. I am still not sure whether they were detained by Myanmar police or by Chinese police who had crossed the border."
He said Bao's whereabouts are still unknown, however, and that he had heard that the case is being handled by the state security police from China's northern region of Inner Mongolia.
No case file in Mongla
Mongla is in a military zone controlled by former Chinese citizen Lin Xianming and his son Lin Daode of the 815 Army, but China's currency, the yuan, circulates freely there, and there are close economic ties, as well as cross-border postal services.
Local residents are mostly ethnic Han Chinese, and the official language is Mandarin. The region has regular transport links across the border and shares a telephone code with China's Xishuangbanna region, whose police officers have the ability to cross the border easily.
An officer who answered the phone at the Mongla police bureau, however, declined to confirm who had detained Bao.
"Are you absolutely sure it was us who detained him?" the officer said. "If we had, there would be a case file set up here. We wouldn't have been able to detain him without a case file."
"I don't really know what's going on."
Asked if Myanmar police had acted on a request from Chinese police, he said it was unlikely.
"We don't just take orders from the Chinese side ... just like that,"
he said. "I think you should ask our leaders if you want to get answers to this question."
An officer who answered the phone at the Xishuangbanna police bureau in China said its officers have carried out cross-border arrests in the past.
"Sometimes we go [there] if it's necessary," the officer said. But he declined to comment on the detention of Bao.
"How would I know about that? There's no point in talking to me about this stuff," he said.
According to China Change, Bao's friends have reported the three detainees missing with local police, but say the guesthouse owner is refusing to discuss the case following a second visit from local police.
Wang Yu is being held under "residential surveillance" at an unknown location on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," as well as the more serious "incitement to subvert state power," her lawyers have said.
But repeated requests from Wang's and Bao Longjun's lawyers for a meeting with their clients have been turned down by the authorities.
China’s tightly controlled state media has accused the Fengrui lawyers of “troublemaking” and seeking to incite mass incidents by publicizing cases where they defend some of the most vulnerable groups in society.
Wang is well-known in China's human rights community for representing some of the most vulnerable people in Chinese society.
Her clients have included jailed moderate ethnic Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, outspoken rights activist Cao Shunli, who died after being denied medical treatment in detention and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
She has also represented forced evictees and petitioners, as well as activists seeking to protect the rights of women and children, and the right to freedom of religion, housing and of expression.
Wang Yu has frequently been harassed, threatened, searched, and physically assaulted by police since she began to take on rights abuse cases in 2011.
Hong Kong campaigners on Friday marched to Beijing's representative office in the former British colony to demand the release of all detained Chinese human rights lawyers.
Holding banners and chanting "Release the rights activists! Release the lawyers!" the group held up a list of detainees it wanted released immediately.
Napier Ng of the Progressive Lawyers' Group which helped organize the protest, said many lawyers in Hong Kong, where rule of law has largely persisted since the 1997 handover to China, are worried about the crackdown across the internal border.
"It is quite chilling for people who work in the legal profession in Hong Kong," Ng told RFA on Friday. "Today, mainland China, tomorrow, Hong Kong."
"For every day that goes by [without their release] more and more Hong Kong people will stop believing Beijing's promises regarding the rule of law here," he said.
Pan-democratic lawmaker and rights lawyer Albert Ho, who heads the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, said the situation for China's embattled legal profession is "extremely serious."
"We have never seen such a large operation targeting lawyers before," Ho said. "The [government's] actions are trampling on their stated policy of ruling the country according to law."
Reported by Lo Man-san and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
2015-10-09
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/teen-son-of-detained-rights-lawyer-taken-away-from-myanmar-guesthouse-10092015132215.html
Authorities in Myanmar have detained the teenage son of detained Chinese rights lawyer Wang Yu in a murky cross-border operation after he was denied permission to leave the country legally, a rights website and a Chinese lawyer said on Friday.
Bao Zhuoxuan, also known by his nickname Bao Mengmeng, was taken away from the Huadu Guesthouse in the border town of Mongla by Burmese police on Tuesday, the China Change website reported.
Two adult males, Tang Zhishun and Xing Qingxian were detained at the same time. The trio had crossed the border as tourists during the National Day holidays last week, it said.
It quoted the guesthouse owner as saying that the police had shown Burmese IDs, but local police later denied having detained anyone.
Bao Mengmeng was initially held at an unknown location following the detention of his parents, Bao Longjun and Wang Yu, which kicked off a nationwide police operation that has detained or questioned at least 288 lawyers and their associates since the night of July 9-10.
Bao, who had planned to attend college in Australia, was later told he couldn't leave China because his departure would "harm state security," and police confiscated his passport.
A number of rights lawyers have also been stopped by border guards from leaving China since.
Wang's colleague and supporter Yu Wensheng confirmed the report, but said he was having a hard time confirming exactly what had happened.
"It's likely that [Bao] is already in the hands of the Chinese police," Yu told RFA on Friday.
But he added: "The details of the situation aren't clear at the moment, because I only learned about this today. I am still not sure whether they were detained by Myanmar police or by Chinese police who had crossed the border."
He said Bao's whereabouts are still unknown, however, and that he had heard that the case is being handled by the state security police from China's northern region of Inner Mongolia.
No case file in Mongla
Mongla is in a military zone controlled by former Chinese citizen Lin Xianming and his son Lin Daode of the 815 Army, but China's currency, the yuan, circulates freely there, and there are close economic ties, as well as cross-border postal services.
Local residents are mostly ethnic Han Chinese, and the official language is Mandarin. The region has regular transport links across the border and shares a telephone code with China's Xishuangbanna region, whose police officers have the ability to cross the border easily.
An officer who answered the phone at the Mongla police bureau, however, declined to confirm who had detained Bao.
"Are you absolutely sure it was us who detained him?" the officer said. "If we had, there would be a case file set up here. We wouldn't have been able to detain him without a case file."
"I don't really know what's going on."
Asked if Myanmar police had acted on a request from Chinese police, he said it was unlikely.
"We don't just take orders from the Chinese side ... just like that,"
he said. "I think you should ask our leaders if you want to get answers to this question."
An officer who answered the phone at the Xishuangbanna police bureau in China said its officers have carried out cross-border arrests in the past.
"Sometimes we go [there] if it's necessary," the officer said. But he declined to comment on the detention of Bao.
"How would I know about that? There's no point in talking to me about this stuff," he said.
According to China Change, Bao's friends have reported the three detainees missing with local police, but say the guesthouse owner is refusing to discuss the case following a second visit from local police.
Wang Yu is being held under "residential surveillance" at an unknown location on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," as well as the more serious "incitement to subvert state power," her lawyers have said.
But repeated requests from Wang's and Bao Longjun's lawyers for a meeting with their clients have been turned down by the authorities.
China’s tightly controlled state media has accused the Fengrui lawyers of “troublemaking” and seeking to incite mass incidents by publicizing cases where they defend some of the most vulnerable groups in society.
Wang is well-known in China's human rights community for representing some of the most vulnerable people in Chinese society.
Her clients have included jailed moderate ethnic Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, outspoken rights activist Cao Shunli, who died after being denied medical treatment in detention and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
She has also represented forced evictees and petitioners, as well as activists seeking to protect the rights of women and children, and the right to freedom of religion, housing and of expression.
Wang Yu has frequently been harassed, threatened, searched, and physically assaulted by police since she began to take on rights abuse cases in 2011.
Hong Kong campaigners on Friday marched to Beijing's representative office in the former British colony to demand the release of all detained Chinese human rights lawyers.
Holding banners and chanting "Release the rights activists! Release the lawyers!" the group held up a list of detainees it wanted released immediately.
Napier Ng of the Progressive Lawyers' Group which helped organize the protest, said many lawyers in Hong Kong, where rule of law has largely persisted since the 1997 handover to China, are worried about the crackdown across the internal border.
"It is quite chilling for people who work in the legal profession in Hong Kong," Ng told RFA on Friday. "Today, mainland China, tomorrow, Hong Kong."
"For every day that goes by [without their release] more and more Hong Kong people will stop believing Beijing's promises regarding the rule of law here," he said.
Pan-democratic lawmaker and rights lawyer Albert Ho, who heads the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, said the situation for China's embattled legal profession is "extremely serious."
"We have never seen such a large operation targeting lawyers before," Ho said. "The [government's] actions are trampling on their stated policy of ruling the country according to law."
Reported by Lo Man-san and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
RT @chrlcg : Who is coming tomorrow at 1pm? Meet us at Hong Kong Western District Police Station #freethelawyers
has anyone found or been exposed ?
more info on twitter
has anyone found or been exposed ?
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