The United States has condemned China’s sentencing of two prominent human rights lawyers to more than a decade each in prison.
Lawyers Xu Zhiyong, 50, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and Ding Jiaxi, 55, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and deprived of political rights for three years by a court in eastern China’s Shandong Province on April 10, for supporting internationally recognized freedoms such as freedom of assembly and speech. They were first detained in December 2019.
Xu and Ding, both prominent members of the New Citizens’ Movement, were charged with “subversion of state power” by authorities for meeting in early December 2019 to discuss current affairs with Chang Weiping and other citizens and lawyers in the seaside city of Xiamen in southeastern Fujian Province to discuss China’s future and their experience in promoting the construction of civil society.
“We urge the PRC to immediately and unconditionally release these two unjustly detained human rights defenders and to cease any harassment of their family members,” he said.
“We similarly call upon the PRC to release others who were unjustly detained or imprisoned, to reinstate the lawyers who were unjustly disbarred, and to allow all individuals to exercise their fundamental freedoms.
“The United States will always stand with the brave individuals in the PRC and around the world who defend human rights.”
On Dec. 26, 2019, authorities launched a massive interprovincial search and arrest action of those involved in the Xiamen gathering. More than 20 citizens and lawyers were either disappeared, summoned, or detained and tortured.
They were accused of subverting state power and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely defined offense that’s used to muzzle dissent.
This incident is regarded as the largest targeting of a Chinese citizen movement since the “709” incident, in which the communist regime unlawfully arrested hundreds of rights lawyers beginning on July 9, 2015.
Most of those involved in or who attended the Xiamen gathering and were detained by police were released on bail pending trial, while Xu and Ding were officially arrested.
Lawyer Chang Weiping, an attendee at the Xiamen gathering, was secretly detained twice and tortured before being officially arrested. Human Rights in China reported that Chang is currently jailed in a detention center in a remote mountainous area in Shaanxi Province.
Condemnation
The sentencing of Xu and Ding has attracted wide condemnation in the international community, including by rights group Amnesty International (AI).“The disgraceful sentencing of prominent Chinese human rights defenders Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi is a blatant violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” said AI’s China researcher Alkan Akad. “They should be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Renowned Chinese lawyers and activists posted on Twitter to condemn the sentencing and show their support for the lawyers.
Yu Wensheng, a Beijing human rights lawyer, posted: “Strongly condemn the heavy sentence given by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to Dr. Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi! Salute Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi who have worked hard for freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law! I believe that a better China will surely come true in the future.”
Wang Qingpeng, a human rights lawyer based in the United States, posted: “I met lawyer Ding Jiaxi in 2017. He had been to the United States after he was released from prison in 2016. I asked him, since the CCP let you out, why did you come back [to China]? Lawyer Ding said if everyone left, who would build a better China? I just learned that lawyer Ding was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and I was so angry that I couldn’t speak! The CCP is running wild before reaching the end!”
Chen Jiangang, a human rights lawyer based in the United States, said people shouldn’t have any illusions about the CCP’s tyranny.
“The CCP sentenced Ding Jiaxi to 12 years in prison and deprived of political rights for 3 years—have the Chinese ever had political rights?”
Tried in Secret
Xu and Ding were tried in secret in the Linshu County Court of Linyi City in Shandong Province on June 22 and 24, 2022, respectively, but no verdict was pronounced at the time.On April 7 and 8, Ding Jiaxi’s wife, Luo Shengchun, who lives in the United States and has long campaigned for their release, publicized the oral manuscripts prepared by Xu and Ding before they were tried in secret.
“I long for a free country, a China without power mongers running amok: We have freedom of belief. What religion and doctrine we believe in is a personal nature ... We have freedom of speech, and there’s no large-scale censorship on social media posts and accounts. There is no restricted area for political speech, and no one will be imprisoned for expressing political opinions,” Xu said in the manuscript.
“A battle between democracy and autocracy is unfolding,” Ding said in his manuscript. “Their lifelong dictatorship and long-term one-party dictatorship are coming to an end. Even encircled by the high wall, I can clearly feel it.”
