"China: Rights Advocacy Aide’s Status Is Uncertain," by Edward Wong, The New York Times

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August 26, 2009

Human rights advocates and Chinese lawyers say that the office assistant of a prominent rights lawyer probably was not freed by the government over the weekend, as some of the advocates had originally said. They said it was unclear whether the assistant was in detention or had been released but remained under some sort of restriction. The assistant, Zhuang Lu, 27, worked at the Gongmeng legal center, which has tried to represent downtrodden Chinese citizens in cases that often involve official corruption. Ms. Zhuang and a founder of Gongmeng, Xu Zhiyong, were taken from their homes by security forces on July 29. Mr. Xu was released on Sunday.

Several rights advocates said Mr. Xu had been told by officials that Ms. Zhuang had also been released. But Teng Biao, another founder of Gongmeng, said Wednesday night that Ms. Zhuang’s mother had just received a brief, cryptic call from her daughter, who said she was awaiting trial and was not allowed to leave Beijing.