China Aid Association
September 12, 2013
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| Xia Jun |
Editor’s note: China Aid Association has followed the story of the Enyu Bookstore from the beginning. Previous stories can be viewed at the following links: https://chinaaid.org/2013/05/defense-lawyers-argument-in-li-wenxi.html, https://chinaaid.org/2013/06/verdict-regarding-enyu-bookstores-case.html, https://chinaaid.org/2013/08/critical-evidence-in-pending-enyu.html, https://chinaaid.org/2013/08/free-li-wenxi-and-ren-lacheng-video.html, and https://chinaaid.org/2013/09/lawyer-sues-court-over-illegally-sold.html.
China Aid Association has learned from the microblog of Li Caihong, wife of Li Wenxi, one of the Enyu bookstore owners arrested for “illegal business operations,” that the attorney, Xia Jun, representing Ren Lacheng was asked to meet with the court and the procuratorate of Xiaodian District in what is believed to be an attempt to harm Xia.
Li Caihong stated in the microblog post that she found this odd because it was hard to determine the purpose of this meeting. The only possible reasons of which she could think for the meeting were that the appeal case didn’t happen according to the schedule determined by Chinese law and that the defendants had been detained longer than permitted by law.
Li Caihong also said she was worried about Xia’s safety as it isn’t guaranteed. She cited a past incident that involved attorney Zhu Jiuhu. Zhu, while handling a case in Taiyuan, was involved in an accident which the other driver intentionally caused. The driver tried to obtain a large amount of money from Zhu. Zhu went missing for eight hours after the accident.
Xia, on the other hand, had a more positive outlook for the meeting. Xia said that while there may be danger in store for him, the court and procuratorate could accuse him of not cooperating should he not attend the meeting. This accusation would be detrimental to the case. Choosing not to jeopardize the case, Xia booked his flight to the meeting.
Xia, however, still took precautions should he be wrong about the outcome of the meeting. He packed certain items that would help him for up to two years in case of detainment, including 10 Bibles so that he would be able to share the Gospel with other inmates.
After Li Caihong released her statement of concern, her microblog was reportedly deleted, her account was locked, and she had no way to access it. She said it went back to normal about an hour later and believes this was a warning from the authorities.
ChinaAid asks for the Christian community to pray for Xia’s safety as he travels to and from the meeting and during the meeting.
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