Opinion | Lawyers protest against the detention of human rights activist

Outrage followed when prominent defence lawyer Wang Quanzhang was detained in a Jiangsu courtroom on Tuesday. The arrest of the outspoken human rights defender has prompted Beijing lawyers to travel to the court to challenge the decision.

On Tuesday, the Jingjiang City People’s Court placed Wang under judicial detention for ten days, saying he disrupted court order while defending the case of a Falun Gong practitioner.

Beijing-based defence lawyer Wang took on defence of Zhu Yanian along with a colleague last year. Their relationship with the Jingjiang authorities was difficult right from the start. When they were barred from seeing their defendant, they in vain challenged the decision.

Wang stayed on and started by submitting an application to disqualify a judicial officer because of his long-standing obstruction of visiting rights for Zhu’s defence team. The court rested to deliberate but rejected the motion. When proceedings resumed, Wang made his case for Zhu's  innocence, adding that his client had been tortured in pre-trial detention.

When the hearing adjourned in the late afternoon, the judicial officer asked everyone but Wang to leave the courtroom. That was the last time Wang has been seen in public, according to the law firm’s account.