IAPL
Chinese authorities should immediately quash the lengthy sentences on baseless charges handed down to two of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers and activists, Human Right Watch said today. On April 10, 2023, a court in Shandong province sentenced Xu Zhiyong to 14 years in prison and Ding Jiaxi to 12 years after convicting each for the crime of “subversion of state power.” Their trials were conducted behind closed doors and riddled with procedural problems and allegations of mistreatment.
“The cruelly farcical convictions and sentences meted out to Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi show President Xi Jinping’s unstinting hostility towards peaceful activism,” said Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Governments around the world should join in calling on the Chinese authorities to release the two lawyers immediately and unconditionally.”
The authorities detained Ding, 55, in December 2019, after he and Xu participated in a gathering in Fujian province where a group of rights lawyers and activists discussed human rights and China’s political future. In February 2020, the police apprehended Xu in Guangzhou, where he had gone into hiding. Li Qiaochu, Xu’s partner and a Beijing-based women’s rights and labor activist, has been detained since February 2021 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and is awaiting trial.
Xu, 50, a former lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, was a cofounder of the now-banned legal aid center Open Constitution Initiative and the New Citizens’ Movement, a nongovernmental group advocating for civil rights, government transparency, and education equality. Ding, a former commercial lawyer, played key roles in both groups.
For their activism, Ding was imprisoned from 2013 to 2016 and Xu served four years in prison, from 2014 to 2018.
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https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.hrw.org/zh-hans/
Xu Zhiyong sentenced to 14 yrs, c.f. 9 yrs for the husband of the “chained woman” is a mockery of the legal system. https://t.co/Lvuc0qUfsw
— Lynette Ong (@onglynette) April 10, 2023
This is unjust and a travesty. Who is Xu Zhiyong ? #China https://t.co/tlF7NzfBcb https://t.co/fnTqhq9lSP
— Liddokun (@Liddokun) April 10, 2023
Politician (???), a documentary about #Xuzhiyong‘s human rights activism.
(with English and Chinese subtitles)https://t.co/Tzx4E0DYmd — Teng Biao (@tengbiao) April 10, 2023
A reminder: both Xu Zhiyong & Ding Jiaxi were tortured, and both were found to have been arbitrarily detained by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which urged for their immediate release.
Today’s sentencing shows how far China is from complying with international law.
— William Nee (@williamnee) April 10, 2023
