The British refused Ai Weiwei in a long -term visa

The validity of the British visa of the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei was reduced from six months to 20 days due to the fact that he did not tell in the questionnaire about his criminal record.

This is stated in a letter that the artist received from the British Embassy in Beijing. He laid out the scans and letters on Instagram. “From open sources it is known that you had a criminal criminal record in China, but you did not report this,” the letter says.

In 2011, in China, Ai Weiwei was under arrest, but was not convicted, BBC notes.

As a result, the artist will have time in London to open his personal exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, but will not be able to be present during the installation of the exposition.

In April 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at the Beijing airport and accused of tax evasion. After three months of detention in the summer of the same year, he pleaded guilty and was released on bail . According to Ai Weiwei, the criminal case against was opened due to the fact that he criticized the political regime of the PRC.

In July 2015, the PRC authorities returned to Ai Wayvei a passport, and he again got the opportunity to go abroad.