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Beijing broke its silence on Meng Hongwei, the president of Interpol who disappeared after his trip to China, stating that he had arrested him and was investigating allegations of corruption.
Meng disappeared after leaving France, where he lives with his wife, to visit China on September 29. His wife Grace said that she had not heard from him since and that Meng had sent him an emoji with a knife, probably to warn him that he was in danger.
Interpol m said in a statement Sunday night that Meng had resigned from his presidency of the executive committee of the agency "with immediate effect". He did not say why.
On Sunday evening, the Chinese Central Inspection Commission of Discipline wrote on its website in a succinct statement: "Meng Hongwei, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, is suspected of breaking the law and is currently under the supervision of the State Supervisory Commission. "
The details of Meng's alleged violations are unclear, but his detention appears to be part of a broader "anti-corruption campaign" promulgated by President Xi Jinping since his ascendancy to the Chinese authorities.
In his announcement of Meng's allegations of corruption, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security – where he previously held the post of deputy minister – said that the investigation was "correct, wise and showed the determination of [Xi’s] the administration to continue its anti-corruption action, "according to the BBC.
Public security officials also said Monday that the investigation "fully demonstrated the absence of privilege or exception before the law," the South China Morning Post reported.
Grace Meng denied allegations of corruption on Monday, adding that her husband had been arrested by the Chinese authorities for "political persecution". according to CNN's producer, David Gelles.
Xi Jinping's "anti-corruption campaign"
Xi has already severely repressed many officials as part of its anti-corruption campaign, and Beijing has a long history of disappearing senior officials to punish dissidents.
Sophie Richardson, Chinese director of Human Rights Watch, told Business Insider on Monday that "as is often the case, especially in highly politicized cases like this, we have no way of knowing whether the evidence are credible ".
"But we are absolutely convinced that the way he [Meng] – and many others, like him, who disappeared and were denied access to family and lawyers of their choice – is incompatible with the meaning of the term "rule of law", just as President Xi likes to insist that this is the case in China today, "she continued.
Roderic Wye, a former British diplomat in Beijing, also told Business Insider that public disappearances were not unusual, especially in politics.
"It's often the sign that someone has problems if he does not show up in public to do his usual job for a while," he said.
The screen shot below shows the latest texts from Meng to his wife, which were sent on September 25th. He wrote: "Wait for my call", before sending an emoji with a knife four minutes later.
Meng has always fought Chinese dissent
Meng was elected to the Interpol presidency in 2016 and his term is expected to last until 2020. (Since then, Interpol has appointed an acting president, Kim Jong Yang, of South Korea, and has declared that his secretary general, Jürgen Stock, was normally in charge of his day's activities of the day.)
Rights groups protested against Meng's election to the Interpol presidency at that time, citing his previous work at the Xinjiang-Tibet Public Security Ministry. These two regions are home to the Uyghur and Tibetan ethnic minorities in the country, which Beijing has tried to muzzle, respectively.
During Meng's tenure, China has submitted several "red notices" – Interpol warrants – to dissidents around the world. Among them, Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire who has fled to New York and continues to make an hour strikes with unverified information about Chinese leaders.
Richardson told Business Insider on Sunday that China's disappearance of Meng was "a new record for the country" and accused Beijing of "misuse of the Interpol system".
"China's long-standing abuse of the Interpol system for political purposes and its appointment to the top spot of President Meng's post, despite his past as high-ranking abusive Chinese police chief, especially against Xinjiang and the efforts of Fight against terrorism, show the total lack of credibility of the government His arrest only reinforces these concerns with regard to the execution of specific cases.
"Interpol, which claims to adhere to the principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to promote credible enforcement of the law, must do more than shamelessly accept Meng's resignation. An explanation be provided by the Chinese authorities and to publicly indicate whether the charges have been filed are credible.
"Having accepted Meng as president, he should denounce disappearances and politicized prosecutions."
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