Ai Weiwei's wife has said that her husband will use the flood of donations given (and paper-airplaned) to them in order to appeal China's $2.4 million in tax fines levied against the artist, multiple outlets reported. In interviews with both the Associated Press and New York Times she appeared to make clear that the money will help appeal the fine: "We demand the case be reopened because all procedures were wrong and most were illegal," she told The Times, which noted that Ai has received more than $1 million dollars in donations from well-wishers. In order to begin the fighting against the tax evasion fines, BBC News notes, he "will have to put up more than half of that [donated] amount as collateral to allow him to start legal proceedings. ... [Ai] said the case could take a year to resolve."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ehayden at nationaljournal dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden