Eighty one Chinese lawyers signed an emergency statement urging Chinese police to shoulder responsibility for the disappearance of Bao Zhuoxuan, the 16-year-old son of detained rights lawyer Wang Yu, along with two others, in Burma on Oct. 11.
Chinese police are suspected of hunting down Bao across country borders; Bao is now believed to be under house arrest after a failed attempt to escape China from the border, according to the Associated Press. The petition by the lawyers was carried by China Change, a website that reports on civil rights issues in China.
Bao Zhuoxuan was reported missing from a hotel in Burma with Xing Qingxian and Tang Zhishun, friends of his parents, on Oct. 6. The Burma authorities denied arresting Bao, while Xing Qingxian had his home in Sichuan searched by police from Inner Mongolia.
“The statement was signed to help Bao Zhuoxuan enjoy a normal life and education instead of living with fear,” Yu Wensheng, one of the lawyer that signed the statement, told Epoch Times. “The Chinese authorities might come after us now. I’ve made preparations for that eventuality.”
The statement says that prior to his attempt to leave China, Bao was sent to Inner Mongolia, where his grandmother resides, to study at a school designated by the police. She is largely bedridden, according to Liang Bo, a family friend now based in San Francisco, speaking in a telephone interview with Epoch Times. Bao was also forbidden from hiring lawyers for his parents, or from returning to his home in Beijing, or from talking to any foreign media. His father, rights activist Bao Longjun, was previously arrested at the airport while escorting Bao to his flight to Australia for schooling.
His passport and ID are also confiscated by the police.
Bao’s mother, Wang Yu, a well-known human rights lawyer, was abducted from her home during the regime’s crackdown on nearly 300 rights lawyer this July. The last text message sent from her phone reads that the Internet and electricity was suddenly cut at her house, and someone was attempting to pry the door open. According to Radio Free Asia, it was the last contact she had with the outside world—and she already suspected that her son would be targeted. In a text message sent to friend, she wrote: “My husband and son’s phone ring unanswered. What happened to them? If the authorities have a problem they should come after me. Why threaten my child!?”
Gao Shen, the wife of Tang Zhishun, one of the individuals who attempted to aid Bao Zhuoxuan’s escape and is now missing, arrived in San Francisco recently. She cried when discussing Bao, according to Liang Bo. Gao Shen said that she understands her husband’s loyalty to his friends and admires his courage in risking his own happiness to help the son of Wang Yu and Bao Longjun.
With reporting by Luo Ya.
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