bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Jun Mai

Nectar Gan

A court in Tianjin on Friday wrapped up the first trials of rights lawyers and activists arrested in a massive nationwide crackdown last year, convicting a Christian activist for subverting state power.
The fate of up to 14 others in custody, including rights lawyer Li Heping, remained unknown.
The Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People’s Court handed down a three-year jail term, suspended for three years, to Gou Hongguo, 55.
Gou was among roughly 300 lawyers and legal activists ­detained or interrogated in the ­so-called “709 crackdown”, named after the date of the first ­arrests on July 9 last year.
The court had already ­sentenced rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng, who headed Fengrui law firm that was at the centre of the crackdown, to seven years in ­prison.
Chinese democracy veteran Hu Shigen jailed for subversion
Veteran pro-democracy activist and underground church leader Hu Shigen was ordered to serve 7½ years in jail and another rights activist Zhai Yanmin was given a three-year sentence, suspended for four years.
Citing court proceedings, state news agency Xinhua highlighted alleged ties between underground churches, rights lawyers, petitioners and media outlets outside the mainland that the prosecution claimed colluded to use social grievances to put pressure on the mainland government.
Xinhua said Gou was represented by lawyers he had appointed. Families of defendants in the trials had said the court rejected their appointed lawyers.
Head of Beijing law firm gets seven years as crackdown on rights activists continues
Prosecutors said Gou, a member of Hu Shigen’s church and his firm follower, took part in an interfaith and interethnic training seminar in Taipei in April 2014 that was also said to be attended by advocates of independence in Xinjiang and Tibet.
“Gou Hongguo was sent ­outside of the mainland by Hu Shigen to receive training related to subverting the government,” Xinhua quoted the prosecution as saying.
The prosecution also said Gou organised and paid for a lunch gathering in Beijing on February 1 last year, during which lawyers, petitioners, underground church members and pro-democracy ­activists discussed social ­movements.
Brothers of Chinese activist barred from trial and forced to return home
Gou pleaded guilty and said he would not appeal.
Gou’s wife Fan Lili was sent back to her hometown in Shanxi province from Tianjin on Tuesday and has been under surveillance since then.
Their child was only three months old when Gou was detained last July.
“I found the whole thing quite absurd, but I don’t want to say anything anymore,” Fan said.
“At least he can come back home, and our child can be with his father.”


Chinese national Guan Heng, who filmed Xinjiang facilities, granted US asylum

‘No soil for corruption’: China’s Chen Weijun latest among Xinjiang officials investigated

China’s LGBTQ community loses key lifeline as Blued, Finka dating apps vanish

China quietly curbs abuse of detention procedure linked to suspect deaths

Human rights in China

Rights crackdown: Chinese Christian activist convicted for subversion

In this image taken from video, human rights activist Gou Hongguo stands trial at the Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court on Friday. Photo: AP

Activists in profile: four faces of the Chinese rights movement

scmp

Chinese democracy veteran Hu Shigen jailed for subversion

Rights activist Hu Shigen. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Head of Beijing law firm gets seven years as crackdown on rights activists continues

Zhou Shifeng on trial at the Tianjin court. Photo: CCTV

Chinese rights activist first among those in massive crackdown to get jail term as wife claims she was barred from trial

Zhai Yanmin speaks with reporters after his sentencing. Photo: Jun Mai

Yuan Shanshan, left, the wife of detained Chinese lawyer Xie Yanyi, is questioned by a police officer near the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in northern China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The court in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin has begun to try the first of four human rights advocates charged with subversion of state power, marking the first publicly acknowledged hearing in a yearlong case shrouded in secrecy and involving hundreds of Chinese human rights activists.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In this image from video released on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016 by China's CCTV and made available via AP Video, Zhai Yanmin wears a white shirt is escorted by policemen as he arrives the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in northern China's Tianjin Municipality. A Chinese court issued a suspended three-year prison sentence Zhai, a human rights activist charged with subversion of state power after a brief trial Tuesday, the first publicly acknowledged hearing in a secrecy-shrouded yearlong case involving hundreds of rights activists. (CCTV via AP Video)

Brothers of Chinese activist barred from trial and forced to return home

Hu Shigen faces the court in Tianjin on Wednesday morning. Photo: Xinhua

Four activista will face trial in the Tianjin court.

News

China

Politics

Sentencing of Gou Hongguo caps four days of trials in Tianjin, a year after rights advocates rounded up across the country


Religion in China

Rights crackdown: Chinese Christian activist convicted for subversion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sentencing of Gou Hongguo caps four days of trials in Tianjin, a year after rights advocates rounded up across the country

Sentencing of Gou Hongguo caps four days of trials in Tianjin, a year after rights advocates rounded up across the country