《TAIPEI TIMES》 Fucha prohibited from leaving China after prison release

Gusa Press editor-in-chief Li Yanhe is pictured in an undated screen grab from his Facebook page under his alias, Fucha. Photo: Screen grab from Facebook

By Chen Yu-fu and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan-based Gusa Press editor-in-chief Li Yanhe （李延賀） was released from a Chinese prison last month, but is barred from leaving China due to a one-year deprivation of political rights imposed as part of his sentence, preventing his return to Taiwan, a source said yesterday.

Li, better known by his penname Fucha （富察）, was born in China’s Liaoning Province and obtained Taiwanese citizenship after living in Taiwan for many years.

During a trip to Shanghai in March 2023 to renounce his Chinese household registration, he was arrested by the Chinese Communist Party （CCP） government for charges related to literature published by Gusa Press contradicting the CCP’s historical narrative and running counter to its ideology.

In February last year, the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to three years in prison for “inciting secession,” along with a one-year deprivation of political rights and a fine of 50,000 yuan （US$7,390） in confiscated personal assets.

A source yesterday said that Li was released last month, but is not allowed to leave China due to an exit ban.

He must remain in China, but was reunited with his family who are in the country, including his parents, while his Taiwanese wife is allowed to visit him in China, they said.

Asked about Fucha’s case, Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che （李明哲） yesterday aid that the worst-case scenario is not the extra one-year sentence, but whether Fucha would be considered a Chinese citizen afterward and subjected to travel restrictions by the Chinese government.

Lee was himself arrested on suspicion of “harming China’s national security” when he traveled to China in 2017.

After being detained for six months, Lee appeared in court in Hunan Province in September 2017, and was accused of working with a Chinese defendant to circulate comments attacking the CCP, the Chinese government and its political system.

Lee pleaded guilty and was in November 2017 sentenced to five years in prison.

Lee said his case was somewhat unusual in that he was not required to serve any additional penalty after his release and was instead immediately deported back to Taiwan.

Fucha faces an even more complicated situation because he still holds Chinese household registration, Lee said.

“If Fucha is treated as a Chinese citizen, the [Chinese] government has the authority to bar him from leaving the country,” Lee said.

Being subjected to such “border control” could effectively make Fucha a political prisoner in China, Lee said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES