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Lawyer Wang Quanzhang is seeking to have his conviction for subversion overturned. Photo: Handout

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang petitions to overturn subversion verdict

  • Wang says he has no confidence that the justice system will listen to his plea but ‘the law is the law’
  • Five years after the 709 crackdown, the state of civil rights has worsened, he says

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang has filed a petition with the Chinese judiciary seeking to overturn his guilty verdict of subversion against the state, saying it was fabricated and based on a false accusation.

Wang has also filed suits against individual police and court officials who handled his case for wrongful trial, defamation and torture.

Wang, who was released in April after being held for nearly five years, wrote about the petition on social media on Thursday – the fifth anniversary of a sweeping campaign against human rights lawyers and activists known as the “709 crackdown”. In July 2015, more than 200 lawyers and associates were rounded up by police on wide-ranging charges from subversion, to attacking the Communist Party and fraud.
Wang said his petition accused the court system in the megacity of Tianjin, where he was held and later tried, of acting illegally in his detention and trials. He said justice officials ignored evidence and broke the law in holding him incommunicado for over a year before putting him on trial.

Due to pandemic travel restrictions, Wang, who was reunited with his family in Beijing, mailed his petition to the courts in Tianjin and authorities in Beijing.

03:08

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang reunites with family

Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang reunites with family

Wang said the case of subversion against him was based on allegations that he and other lawyers challenged police in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang in 2014 over a civil liberty case.

He was also accused of setting up a company outside of China to solicit foreign funding, and of representing members of the banned Falun Gong religious sect in three court cases. He denied all charges of subversion.

“Holding the normal execution of duties of practising lawyers as subversive acts against the state is frightening,” Wang wrote in the article.

Freed Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang to challenge subversion conviction

He told the South China Morning Post that while he had no confidence the justice system would accept his petition, he felt obliged to take legal action to right the wrong.

“As a citizen, legal action is the only recourse in seeking justice,” Wang said. “To me, there is no better option [besides petition].

“I had seen [many cases] of false accusations before I went to prison. Today, I was the one who was falsely accused and [I believe] what I should do is to use my experience and knowledge as a human rights lawyer [to fight].

“I still want to fight for justice through the judicial system.

“I have learned that there were many wrongful cases when I was in jail. I believe that the judiciary must abide by the law even in political persecution cases because the law is the law.”

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Wang also said he was “tortured” during interrogations by police and prosecutors.

“For a month after my arrest in 2015, I was forced to put my hands up for more than 15 hours a day ... and there were many moments when I felt that I was going to die,” he said.

“I had represented Falun Gong members and they hold their hands up in a gesture of worship, so the police humiliated me in this way.”

Wang said jail had made him prone to anger and he felt guilty about the suffering his incarceration inflicted on his wife and his son.

Chinese human rights lawyer sentenced to four years in prison

He said human rights in China had worsened since the crackdown.

“Five years have passed and the civil rights environment [in China] is getting worse,” he said. “[Many of my] friends are being arrested and sent to jail one after another.

“I don’t know what the future holds ... but I believe that we – ordinary citizens, lawyers, academics, and [human rights] defenders – must do what we should do even if this means paying a heavy price.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Lawyer files petition to overturn subversion verdict
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