On the Sixth Day of Yu Shiwen’s Hunger Strike, Wife Wishes He Would “Cherish His Life”

After learning that her husband, Yu Shiwen, Henan dissident  and one of the “Ten Gentlemen of Zhengzhou,” was on a hunger strike to protest his prolonged pretrial detention ( two years since he was first detained in May 2014), Chen Wei circulated the below message online.  Chen Wei wishes to tell her husband, “The road is long ahead, and your mission heavy—please take care and cherish your life!"

Background:

Yu was formally arrested in July 2014 on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after organizing a June Fourth public memorial service. He was indicted on April 23, 2015, after which he issued a letter from detention expressing his pride in having made concrete efforts to remember the victims of June Fourth.

During the 1989 Democracy Movement, Yu Shiwen was one of the organizers of activities in Guangzhou in support of the Tiananmen protests. After the June Fourth crackdown, Yu Shiwen was detained for one and a half years. In February 2014, Yu Shiwen and his wife, Chen Wei, and others, held a public memorial near Zhao Ziyang's old home, in memory of Zhao Ziyang, Hu Yaobang, and June Fourth victims. In May 2014, the couple was arrested (Chen was later released).

于世文绝食6天整，陈卫望丈夫珍惜生命

陈卫：刚从马律处获知于世文从4月27日中午开始无限期绝食，以抗议管城区法院对他违法的超期羁押。说实在的，我打心眼里不愿看到他这么做，但无法劝他回心转意！作为他的妻子和战友，我们一起经历了那么多的风风雨雨，共同见证了无数个惊心动魄的时刻，并始终践行着当年的选择：“推动六四问题公正合理的解决，推动中国的民主化转型”，掐指算来已牵手走过整整27年。这27年来，无论遇到怎样的苦难和困境，我们都相扶相携，共同面对，不曾放弃过彼此及共同的追求。今天我想告诉于：你现在所面对的难道不就是当初我们义无反顾选择的原因吗？任重而道远，请保重身体，珍惜生命！