Chinese rights activist in court on subversion charge
Jiang Tianyong faces lesser charge of inciting subversion and is the latest campaigner to appear in court after the huge crackdown on rights activists two years ago
The Chinese lawyer and civil rights advocate Jiang Tianyong has been charged with the less serious offence of inciting subversion as he appeared in court in central China on Tuesday.
Jiang was previously charged in May with subverting state power, according to his family and previous media reports
Jiang is a prominent former rights lawyer whose clients have included the blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng and members of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, which is banned in mainland China.
Some of Jiang’s supporters and about half a dozen foreign diplomats gathered outside the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan province on Tuesday.
His supporters included the wives of other lawyers and activists caught up in the “709 crackdown” on civil rights campaigners on the mainland in July 2015.
The crowd was closely monitored by plainclothes policemen.