China officials question Weiwei’s wife

Lu Qing’s summons to Beijing office suggests authorities may seek to bring tax-related charges against detained artist Chinese tax officials have summoned the wife of detained artist Ai Weiwei for questioning, bolstering the theory that authorities may seek to bring tax-related charges against him. Lu Qing spent about an hour at the tax office in Beijing. She was asked to take documents with her, but was unable to do so as they had already been confiscated by police, according to Radio Television Hong Kong. Officials have said that Ai is under investigation on suspicion of economic crimes , but police have yet to inform the family that they are detaining him. He has not been seen since the morning of 3 April, when officials stopped him at Beijing airport . Relatives and supporters say the allegations are a pretext for detaining him because of his political and social campaigning. Economic cases have been brought against several activists in the past. “The police officer who led the searches of his workshop was from state security. That says a lot,” his sister Gao Ge told Reuters. “If this is just an ordinary investigation, why haven’t we heard from Ai Weiwei?” Supporters of the artist said another of his collaborators, architect and designer Liu Zhenggang, had been missing since police took him away at 11pm on Saturday. The Guardian has been unable to verify the claim independently. No one has been able to contact Ai’s friend Wen Tao, 38, since he was reportedly detained on the same day as the artist. On Monday assistants from the studio said Ai’s accountant and driver, Ms Hu and Zhang Jingsong – also known as Xiao Pang – had gone missing . The artist’s detention has sparked an international outcry. The Chinese government said on Tuesday it was unhappy with overseas support for him. “The Chinese people also feel baffled – why do some people in some countries treat a crime suspect as a hero?” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular news briefing. “The Chinese people are unhappy about this. No matter what influence they have had, they will be punished according to the law.” Ai Weiwei China Human rights Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.