Yu Wensheng was on a train to Beijing according to his wife, who is waiting for him at a hotel in the capital.
Awarded in 2021 with the Martin Ennals Prize, one of the most prestigious in the fight for human rights, he had been in prison since he was arrested in January 2018 when he was taking his son to school, one day after publicly requesting in a letter free elections in China and other political reforms.
During his career as a lawyer, Yu participated in the defense of several human rights cases, such as those of members of the Falun Gong religious group (banned in China since 1999) or fellow professionals, including several arrested in 2015 in the known as the “709 raid”.
In the few meetings with his own lawyer, Yu has claimed to have suffered torture and mistreatment during his confinement that would have caused him to lose part of the mobility of his right hand.
The crime of incitement with which he was accused is commonly used by Chinese courts to punish dissidents, human rights activists and other actors critical of the regime.
