Zhu Chengzhi is likely the first person to be held in semi-secret “residential surveillance” since it was legalized under Article 73 of China’s amended Criminal Procedure Law on New Year’s Day. He was charged with inciting subversion after questioning the alleged suicide last year of his friend, labor activist Li Wangyang. On Tuesday he was allowed a visit from his wife, whom he had not seen since his detention in June. From Verna Yu at the South China Morning Post:
Zhu’s wife, Zeng Qiulian, was taken by police to a hotel to meet him for two hours yesterday morning, his lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said. Zhu is being held at a secret location, he said.
“She said he looked okay … his hair and beard have grown very long because they have not been cut,” Liu said. Zeng’s mobile phone was switched off yesterday. Shaoyang police refused to comment.
[…] Since Zhu was detained, police have pressured his relatives to get him to sign a retraction of statements he made to the media that cast doubt on the official version of Li’s death.
Fellow activist Wang Lihong, who spoke to Zhu’s wife yesterday, said Zhu remained incarcerated because he refused to sign the retraction. But she and other activists would continue to press the authorities to release him before the Lunar New Year.
