IAPL
In China, Hao Jinsong (???) is very well-known as a public interest litigator who, for the better part of seven years between 2004 and 2010, sued various authorities such as the Beijing Subway Company, the Ministry of Railways, Shaanxi provincial Forestry Department, and the Shanghai traffic police, and confronted the National Development and Reform Commission, for its practices which, Hao argued, are not right. Hao Jinsong wielded “the legal axe” and was winning one case after another.
He had a graduate law degree in criminal litigation from China University of Political Science and Law (CUPSL). For several years, he worked at a law firm in Beijing, directing its Public Interest Department. But by choice, he did not become a lawyer because, had he become a lawyer, he would have to place himself under too many constraints of government management, such as the Justice Bureaus. Instead, pursuing administrative lawsuits as a citizen or citizen proxy was his thing.
Sometime around 2009 he moved back to his hometown of Dingxiang in northern Shanxi (?????) and ran the Jinsong Legal Consultancy Co. (????????). He has been less visible in recent years, not appearing in the news or on magazine covers as before.
On December 17, 2019, Hao Jinsong was given 15 days of administrative detention for “picking quarrels and provoking disturbances” after being repeatedly summoned by local police in Dingxiang, Shanxi. Fifteen days later on January 2, 2020, he was criminally detained on the same charges. On November 15, 2020, he was indicted on three charges: “picking quarrels and provoking disturbances” for retweets and comments on current events on social media; “defamation” for derogatory comments about Chinese leaders; and “fraud” in two cases he had represented. The third charge was not among the initial charges against Hao.
Hao Jinsong is still awaiting trial. It was first scheduled on December 10, 2020, and postponed eventually to October 12 and 13, 2021, and then postponed again.
I will start with a brief summary of Hao Jinsong’s story and come back to his indictment.
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