From the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders

There has not been any resemblance of justice in today’s show trial of human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) for “subversion of state power” at the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate Court. The Chinese government and Xi Jinping, who touted “ruling the country with law” along his ascendance to power, should instead be on trial for violating Wang Quanzhang’s legal rights written in Chinese law and for abusing his human rights.

Chinese authorities subjected Wang Quanzhang to 3.5 years arbitrary and incommunicado detention, during which he was reportedly tortured. Authorities put Wang’s wife, Li Wenzu, under house arrest on December 25 to block her from attending the trial. In the early morning on Christmas day, she found police blocking all the exits from her housing compound when she tried to get out.

This morning’s trial, conducted behind closed doors, appeared to end without a verdict being announced. A brief notice appeared on the court’s official website in the early afternoon: “the case involves state secrets, the court decides not to conduct public trial. The case’s verdict will be announced on a selected date.”

Short of freeing Wang Quanzhang and compensating him for depriving him of his liberty and abusing his human rights, no trial or any verdict against him could possibly be fair. The Tianjin No. 2 Procuratorate’s 2017 indictment indicates that the harsh persecution of Wang Quanzhang is in reprisal for his human rights activities. The indictment cited as “evidence” of “subversion” Wang’s collaboration with a Swedish activist in registering an NGO in Hong Kong and receiving overseas funding for legal assistance, trainings, and publishing human rights reports. Authorities also cited Wang’s participation in protests against the 2014 detention and torture of four rights lawyers in Heilongjiang, where Wang himself was briefly detained and tortured. His legal representation of criminal cases involving “evil cults,” referring to prosecuted Falun Gong practitioners, in 2013-14 was also cited as “criminal activities.” The Beijing Fengrui Law Firm, where Wang practiced law, became the main target of a sweeping government crackdown on human rights lawyers launched in July 2015.

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