Detained Chinese legal assistant released on bail after going 'missing' in detention center
A Chinese legal assistant who was detained last year has been transferred to a different location but authorities have not disclosed her real location at present.
Zhao Wei, fondly called "Koala" by people who know her, was imprisoned on July 9, 2015 at the height of the Chinese government's crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists.
Before she was detained, she had been working as an assistant to human rights lawyer Li Heping. She was arrested on charges of "incitement to subvert state power."
Zhao was transferred recently to another area after some reports -- which remain unconfirmed -- surfaced saying she was sexually abused while in prison.
Zhao was being held at Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center. However, when lawyer Ren Quanping, Zhao's defense lawyer, visited the facility, he was informed that no person named Zhao Wei was detained there.
"The official documents all indicate that she's in the Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center, but they told me verbally that she's not there, that there's no such person there," Ren said, according to Radio Free Asia.
He said he wasn't sure if his client's case has been moved to the prosecution. However, calls to the prosecutor's office remained unanswered even during office hours.
On Thursday morning, Tianjin police surprisingly announced through its Weibo account that they will release Zhao on bail for displaying "good attitude" and for cooperating with authorities by giving her "candid confession" confirming the charges against her, The Guardian reported.
Zhao's husband, You Minglei, said he was glad to hear about the news but could not confirm it yet.
"I am quite happy with the news but releasing her on bail doesn't mean the case has been closed," You told The Guardian.
China's crackdown on human rights lawyers and human rights activists is said to be the government's strategy to silence its critics.
The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group reported that there have been more than 300 rights lawyers and activists affected by the crackdown since last year.
Of these, 25 are still detained by the authorities while 39 have been prohibited from going out of the country.
Last month, two women who protested about their husbands' imprisonment were taken into custody by police. They were released after a day but were still not informed about what has happened to their husbands, who were human rights lawyers arrested on false charges.
