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Qilei Lin, Zilin Guo’s lawyer, in front of Yantian Detention Center.
(Photo: China Aid)
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(Shenzhen, Guangdong Province—Oct. 26, 2020) On October 21, families of several detainees expressed concern about suspected torture of family members after Yantian Detention Center authorities denied family-appointed attorney’s requests to meet with their clients. On August 23, when the 12 Hong Kongese who previously participated in the “Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement,” attempted to flee to Taiwan, Chinese police arrested them. Although officials reported that each detainee personally delegated a lawyer, some family members suspect the government forcibly assigned “official lawyers” for their loved ones.
On October 21, when detention officials denied consultation requests from five lawyers, representing Yuxuan Li, Yingyu Qiao, Linfu Huang, Zilin Guo and Qiran Deng, they advised Attorney Tingge Lu, the family-assigned lawyer for 17-year-old Linfu Huang, that Huang had secured two lawyers. Lu asked officials to validate the legality of assigning lawyers to a juvenile without notifying his family. After Lawyer Qilei Lin filed the paperwork to meet with Zilin Guo, his client, officers accepted his paperwork but said Guo had also previously secured two lawyers. Lin and other lawyers, who doubted officials’ claims, appealed to higher level Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau authorities regrading Yantian public security bureau’s “illegal” acts. Staff members from the bureau’s legal division and petitions office advised lawyers that they would forward their requests to relevant departments.
On September 12, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed the U.S. government’s deep concern about the 12 detained Hong Kong activists. He confirmed the detention center denied requests of the young Hong Kongers’ lawyers to meet with them. Pompeo said that Chinese officials failed to provide information about the detainees’ charges or current situations, validating family member’s concern about suspected torture of their loved ones.
Report by Saizhen Gao, special correspondent of China Aid Association
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