March 7, 2017
On February 28, 2017, and then again on March 6, police in Changsha refused to allow the defense counsel of detained human rights lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) to meet with him. In between, starting March 1, China’s state propaganda apparatus launched a smear campaign telling the world that the widely-reported torture of Xie Yang was a fabrication. Former lawyer Jiang Tianyong (江天勇), who had been disappeared on November 21, appeared on state television confessing that he had somehow made up the torture details. The authorities’ specious narrative makes it abundantly clear who is doing the fabricating. The smear campaign clearly aims to rein in the defiant human rights lawyers and to misinform the world. Given this, there is now a credible fear that Xie Yang could be subjected to torture once again, and that the authorities could force him to make false statements about the transcripts. In light of this, one of Xie Yang’s lawyers, Chen Jiangang (陈建刚), who interviewed Xie Yang and made the transcripts public, has released a personal statement of Xie Yang, prepared in January for an occasion such as this. — The Editors
Xie Yang statement, Jan 13, 2017
I, Xie Yang, hereby state the following today:
Today I once again met with my defense lawyer Chen Jiangang (陈建刚), and what I write here is entirely accurate and written without coercion. I hereby state that I am completely innocent of any and all the charges.
During the 18 months since I was taken into custody on July 11, 2015, I’ve suffered abuse and torment, but I have never admitted guilt, because I am not guilty.
If, one day in the future, I do confess — whether in writing or on camera or on tape — that will not be the true expression of my own mind. It may be because I’ve been subjected to prolonged torture, or because I’ve been offered the chance to be released on bail to reunite with my family. Right now I am being put under enormous pressure, and my family is being put under enormous pressure, for me “confess” guilt and keep silent about the torture I was subject to.
I hereby state once again that I, Xie Yang, am entirely innocent.
Xie Yang
January 13, 2016
