On February 14th, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei met with a lawyer in the detention center. Last year, he was arrested by the police for “suspected illegal border-crossing” and is currently detained in a detention center in Chengdu, Sichuan. His health condition is worrying.
According to the news from the Chinese grassroots human rights organization Minsheng Observation on February 16th, Lu Siwei’s wife Zhang Chunxiao, who is living in the United States, revealed that Lu Siwei’s psoriasis is still very severe. The imported medicine he bought is not allowed to be brought in (to the detention center), and there has been no improvement after using Chinese-made drugs.
Zhang Chunxiao stated that the food in Chengdu detention center is extremely poor, leading to Lu Siwei’s constipation, diarrhea after taking medicine, and a lack of vitamins due to long-term forced “sitting board” punishment (a form of corporal punishment in the detention center), which caused hemorrhoids and rectal bleeding.
Zhang Chunxiao had previously told Radio Free Asia that Lu Siwei’s situation deteriorated during his detention in the Chengdu detention center. He was transferred from an initially cramped cell detaining 27 people in an area of about 20 square meters to a room holding around 32 people, with similar dimensions. Lu Siwei is required to work every day, pulling night shifts for two hours per day, and his diet is inadequate.
Lu Siwei is one of the lawyers detained in the “709 Crackdown” and has represented many sensitive cases. In 2021, he defended the defendants in the “12 Hong Kong People Case” and had his lawyer’s license revoked by the authorities. Later that same year, the Communist Party of China banned him from visiting scholars in the United States and restricted his travel abroad.
He fled China in early summer of 2023 and was arrested in Laos on July 28th. Two months later, he was deported back to China and detained in Xindu Detention Center for one month before being released on bail pending trial and placed under surveillance at a designated location.
On October 10, 2024, Lu Siwei was formally arrested by the Chenghua Branch of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau on the charge of “illegal border-crossing” and is being held in the Chengdu detention center.
As of now, Lu Siwei has been detained for over four months. Before the Chinese New Year, the local prosecutor’s office in Chengdu requested an extension to hear his case, but Zhang Chunxiao has not received any documents so far. The lawyer also has been unable to reach the judge.
Now, a dire situation continues for Lu Siwei as his health deteriorates with inadequate medical care and harsh conditions in the detention center, raising concerns among human rights advocates and supporters worldwide.