Franco-Chinese couple’s fate still unknown a week after Liu Xiaobo tribute unveiled
Friends and reporters unable to contact French residents Marine Brossard and Hu Jiamin after a mural in Shenzhen honouring the late dissident was covered up
A French citizen and her husband have been incommunicado for a week after the couple travelled to southern China to paint a tribute to the late democracy activist and dissident Liu Xiaobo, friends and witnesses said on Friday.
Marine Brossard and Hu Jiamin painted a mural at the entrance of a public exhibition in Shenzhen on December 15, but city authorities covered the wall with a banner the same evening, as the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. Tributes to Liu are censored in China.
Brossard is a French national, but Hu’s nationality is unclear, a friend who has known them for over five years said.
AFP tried to call Hu several times this week, but an automated message said his phone was switched off.
The couple had travelled from their home in the French city of Lyon to participate in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism Architecture.
“We have been trying to reach them but we haven’t been able to confirm anything,” said the friend of the couple, who asked for anonymity due to safety concerns.
