The lawyer of detained Chinese publisher Geng Xiaonan has failed to reach her despite earlier approval granted by the Beijing police bureau.

Shang Baojun turned up at the detention center on Tuesday but learned from officials there that Geng had been taken to court, Radio Television Hong Kong reported, despite the police’s promise that the lawyer could see her in the morning.

Shang waited for an hour before he left and would now wait for further arrangements by the detention center, the report said, citing an interview with Geng’s friend Xu Zhangrun, a former law professor at Tsinghua University and critic of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The police were deliberately barring Shang from meeting Geng, so she would eventually break down and admit to the crimes that she was accused of, Xu said.

Xu was fired by the university and detained in July after he called for political reform. Geng drew attention to his case and that was when she began to be targeted as well, according to a Radio Free Asia report last week. She and her husband Qin Zhen, who ran publishing company Ruiya Books, were taken away by police last Wednesday, Shang said.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play