On 11 September 2020, Cheng Yuan’s wife, Shi Minglei, telephoned the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court and was told by a court official, speaking on behalf of the presiding judge in the case, that the trial of the three defenders took place the previous week and that the trial had been “open to the public”. However, when Shi Minglei went to the court and asked an officer at the information desk to search for the names of the three defenders in the court’s electronic database, the officer said the search returned no results.
Since the detention of the defenders in July 2019, the lawyers appointed by the families have not been permitted to meet their clients, despite multiple requests. The lawyers were told in March this year that the defenders had “dismissed” them and that the government had assigned them new lawyers under the State’s legal aid scheme. The families believe that the dismissals were made under duress and contested the legality of the government-appointed lawyers. The State-appointed lawyers have never made contact with the families, despite multiple attempts by family members.
Front Line Defenders condemns the secret trial of the three defenders and the serious violations of their right to a fair trial. It is also deeply concerned about the participation of lawyers from private law firms who accepted the government’s appointment to “represent” the defenders against the will of the defenders’ families, which raises serious questions about the lawyers’ compliance with domestic laws and regulations as well as international standards governing the professional conduct of lawyers. It calls on the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court to exonerate the three defenders, release them immediately, and provide compensation to them for their arbitrary detention.
