Frenchman tells plight of husband's 'state secret' jailing

France and China on Saturday mark 60 years of diplomatic relations – but not everybody is celebrating. When Frenchman François Dupouy married the love of his life, Chinese man Wu Xianle, he did not anticipate that his husband would disappear in a Beijing jail. Three years on, RFI interviews Dupouy about his plight and China's opaque state security laws.

Dupouys, the 77-year-old former executive of a French construction multinational, met Wu when he retired and travelled to China to study at Beijing's Language University.

He was 62 when he met Wu, and the two fell in love. Given same-sex marriage is not legal in China, the pair went to Paris where they married in the summer of 2009. 

Wu comes from a "red" family. This means his father and other family members are long-standing members of China's Communist Party (CCP) and its armed wing, the People's Liberation Army (PLA.)

Wu made a career within China's bureaucratic establishment, going from the prestigious Central Party School via the PLAir Force. He wound up as marketing director of the Friendship Centre of the United Front Department, a powerful CCP organ that is responsible for maintaining contact between the CCP and non-communists, minorities and Chinese abroad. 

Three years ago this week, on 26 January, 2021, Wu suddenly disappeared.

RFI: Describe the circumstances under which that happened? 

François Dupouy: He was arrested on the way to his office. He was driving his car, and the authorities stopped him and took him away to a detention centre somewhere in Beijing. 

A few days later, the boss of his office called his daughter to say her father had been arrested. They wanted the keys of the apartment so  they could search it. When she went there two days later, the computer and his tablet were gone. All the books and documents from the bookshelves were gone. And the rest of the apartment was a mess. 

For the next 12 months, there were no news at all. We didn't know whether he was dead or alive. Then, in January 2022, she was told that her father would stand trial. She started looking for a solicitor. But all the lawyers she saw in Beijing refused to deal with the case, because it was political. EU diplomats told me that human rights defenders either left China are in hiding, stopped working altogether or were in jail. 

In February 2022 a trial was held somewhere behind closed doors, with a lawyer selected by the CCP. My husband was not even present at the trial. They said that because of Covid, it was too dangerous for him to go.

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RFI: What is he accused of?
FD: The CCP lawyer told his daughter this was a "state secret". So where do you go from that? Two months after the trial, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, starting from the day of his arrest. He also had to pay a fine of 300,000 yuan (€40,000). Oddly enough, they have not claimed that yet but they will.

RFI: How is he being treated?
FD: At the beginning he was allowed to have visits once a month for 30 minutes and the right to write and receive letters. After a month, he was transferred from the Beijing jail to a prison in Tianjin. 

His daughter is allowed to visit him in Tianjin once a month, either alone or with one of her eight siblings. Every time she visits he gotten thinner and thinner. So I don't know in the end how thin he will be.  

Last August he broke two fingers of his right hand supposedly by falling on his bed. He's been diagnosed with retinal detachment on both eyes. Because he is not short-sighted and only 56 years old, my doctor said that it was most certainly caused by a blow to his head.

It's quite scary because retinal detachment, if not cured rapidly, could lead to blindness. Who gave him a blow on the head? The inmates or the guards? We don't know. But that's the situation at the moment.  

*Dupouy has since told RFI by mail that Wu's retinal detachment has now been treated using laser surgery. He also has access to a general store where he can buy food, toiletries and books.

RFI: Can you describe the other inmates?
FD: There are 12 people aged between 20 and 30 years. There are several murderers and a pimp. There's a religious man, a Christian. The others are criminals. Wu's daughter asked him if they had touched him, because gays in prison can be mistreated by other inmates. He said that he hadn't been, but was insulted all the time. I guess he ignores that.

RFI: By going public, are you not afraid this case will get worse?

FD: How worse could it be? They broke his fingers. They ruined his eyes. And they underfed him. Of course, it can always be worse. I've been waiting for three years. I haven't made any noise for three years because I didn't want to ruin his chances to be given leniency. They don't let him write to me so I have no contact with him. They can't accuse him of pulling the strings for actions abroad and so I do it on my own. That's why I've decided to go public. I want the people to know how awful the government in China behaves towards its own people.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity