The spokesperson of the European External Action Service urged the Chinese authorities on Tuesday evening, 30 July, to release Huang Qi, "a prominent Chinese human rights activist and journalist and founder of the 64 Tianwang website” who has been monitoring human rights violations in China for several years and promoting press freedom.
The day before, Huang Qi, 56 years old and seriously ill, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "illegally providing State secrets to foreign entities" and "intentionally leaking state secrets", after a trial behind closed doors on 14 January.
"The defendant's rights under China's Criminal Procedure Law and international law obligations to a fair trial, without undue delay, and to proper defence and access to a lawyer of his own choice, have not been respected", the spokesperson denounced, adding that neither Huang Qi's family nor the lawyer it had appointed could attend the trial.
In addition, the spokesperson recalled that in April 2018, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Mr. Huang's deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and in contravention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"In line with their declared aim of strengthening the rule of law, we expect the Chinese authorities to abide by China’s international law obligations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and respect the rights of all citizens as guaranteed by China's Constitution", the EEAS spokesperson stressed, calling more generally for the release of several human rights defenders. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)