A/HRC/42/30 13/2011).63 Mr. Liu reportedly refused to attend the hearing, which was held in absentia, following which he was notified that he had been stripped of his license to practice law. 17. On 4 January 2019, Ms. Xu Yan, who had engaged with the UN human rights mechanisms, was called for questioning by individuals allegedly associated with the police related to her campaign for the release of her detained husband, Mr. Yu Wensheng. The case of Mr. Yu was addressed by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 64 and the subject of a special procedures communication (CHN 5/2018).65 He was the attorney for human rights lawyer Mr. Wang Quanzhang (subject of a Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinion No. 62/2018 – see Annex II). Previously on 27 January 2018, Ms. Xu had been summoned by police and informed that her husband was suspected of “inciting subversion of state power,” transferred to Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province (hundreds of miles away), and put under “residential surveillance at a designated location.” On several occasions in 2019, Ms. Xu was reportedly subjected to surveillance and unable to leave her home. 18. On 28 December 2018, activist Mr. Zhen Jianghua, who had engaged with the UN human rights mechanisms, was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to two years in prison, following a closed-door trial. He was reportedly seized from his apartment without a warrant on 1 September 2017 and denied access to a lawyer. On 29 September 2017, he was reportedly put under “residential surveillance at a designated location.” Mr. Zhen’s case was raised by four special procedures mandate holders in January 2018 (CHN 2/2018).66 19. In May 2019, it was reported that staff members of the international nongovernmental organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) faced serious intimidation and harassment for sharing information with the United Nations and conducting trainings for China-based human rights defenders seeking to cooperate with the United Nations. Between February and July 2018, repeated anonymous emails in Chinese reportedly threatened CHRD and its staff members with “severe consequences” if the organization held its planned trainings, including physical assault and abduction at airports and forcible return to China. The last reported email was sent weeks before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) review of China in August 2018, and three months before the universal periodic review (UPR) of China in November 2018. It was further reported that an article published in a Chinese newspaper denounced CHRD’s United Nations human rights trainings and efforts to engage the UPR and treaty body reviews. 20. On 1 July 2019, the Government responded to the allegations in writing. Regarding the case of Ms. Li Xiaoling, the Government indicated that, in April 2018, she was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and illegal possession of a State classified document. According to the Government, since 2010, Ms. Li Xiaoling, has repeatedly created disturbances in public places by expressing solidarity for others, forming crowds of onlookers, and holding up signs and slogans. She has also shared information about these activities and maliciously sought to sensationalize and draw attention to them via on-line platforms as well as media outlets based outside mainland China. In November 2018, the first instance court found Ms. Li Xiaoling guilty of provocative and disturbing acts and sentenced her to three years imprisonment, suspended for five years. Ms. Li Xiaoling lodged an appeal, which was rejected on 11 February 2019, and she is currently on probation. 63 64 65 66 Response from Government: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/ DownLoadFile?gId=30914. Opinion No. 15/2019 adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-fourth session, concerning Yu Wensheng (China), 24 April–3 May 2019. Response from Government: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/ DownLoadFile?gId=33962. Response from Government: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/ DownLoadFile?gId=33943. 21