"Tag Archives: Chen Wuquan, From Policeman to Lawyer to Fisherman to ‘Criminal’: The Tortuous Road of a Human Rights Lawyer" 12 Feb 2018

On February 9, lawyer Chen Wuquan was criminally detained with five villagers on an island...of Zhanjiang. He...is leading an effort against forced demolition, illegal land reclamation, and the logging of redwoods along the beach. The...police arrested them for “obstructing the start of construction.” Before he led villagers to protest illegal reclamation he authorized the China Human Rights Lawyers Group to defend him in case of being arrested. He told his story as follows: "I was born...in the village of Diaoluocun...our village...features an expanse...beaches, mudflats, and mangroves. Donghai’s tidal flats are not only beautiful, but also highly fertile.In November 2012...I returned to Zhanjiang realizing  that the tidal flats that saw me through my childhood were no more. They’d been turned into dry land and a dumping ground for construction trash. In October 2017 I made requests for information under the government’s open information regulations, whereupon I found that the tidal flats around our village had not... been lawfully acquired. Without any legal process, developers had simply filled in and destroyed the natural habitat.