China 'forced' jailed lawyer to reject award: rights group

An international lawyers' rights group today said China had "forced" a prominent lawyer to refuse their award to secure her release from prison.
"The Chinese authorities forced Wang Yu to refuse the award...In return for so-called freedom," the jury of the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize said in a statement.
"This is the first time...That the prize has been refused by a laureate under pressure from the authorities of their home country," said the jury for the prize, which was awarded in Athens in June.
Wang Yu was among one of more than 200 lawyers and legal activists held last July in a swoop on those who had taken on civil rights cases considered sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party, which tightly controls the court system.

But yesterday a Hong Kong-based TV channel with ties to China's government said she had recently been bailed out.
Wang told Phoenix TV that she had experienced "the legal civilisation of China and humane care" while in detention.

She then turned down the award, which she said was intended to "blacken the reputation of the Chinese government".
AFP was unable to contact Wang for comment, nor authorities in Tianjin, where she had been held.
But the Ludovic Trarieux jury today said they had "strong doubts" about the sincerity of Wang's refusal.
In the interview she spoke "haltingly with a fixed stare and a bland voice, nothing like the manner in which Wang Yu expresses herself," they said.

Chinese state-run media often show televised "confessions" from suspects in detention or on bail, in what lawyers say violates their right to a fair trial.
The Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize is awarded by European bar associations to lawyers who defend human rights and fight intolerance and racism.
South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was the first recipient in 1985.