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Zhang Sizhi, hailed as ‘conscience of Chinese lawyers’, dies in Beijing at 94
- Zhang led defence team in historic 1980 trials of ‘counter-revolutionary’ Gang of Four and those close to disgraced Mao protégé Lin Biao
- Also represented defendants in many sensitive cases that no other mainland lawyers dared to touch
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Veteran Chinese criminal defence expert Zhang Sizhi, hailed by many as the conscience of Chinese lawyers, died in a Beijing hospital on Friday afternoon at the age of 94.
Zhang was among the first lawyers to practise in the People’s Republic of China following its establishment in 1949, and he was still active in his 80s.
Born in Henan province, Zhang started studying law in 1947. But he only managed to handle a couple of cases in the 1950s before he was thrown into a labour camp for 15 years for being a “rightist”.
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Not long after his release and return to the legal profession, Zhang was asked by the authorities to lead a team of defence lawyers in the historic trials in 1980 of the infamous “Gang of Four” and people close to late Communist Party vice-chairman and defence minister Lin Biao – a protégé of Mao Zedong later branded a national traitor after he died trying to flee the country in 1971.
The Gang of Four, made up of Mao’s infamous third wife, Jiang Qing, and three other members of the party elite, was indicted of various crimes for harsh policies implemented during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.
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Zhang did not represent Jiang at her trial, as she turned down the authorities’ offer to provide defence lawyers. But he did defend other members of what the party labelled a “counter-revolutionary clique”, including Li Zuopeng, a general and a key ally of Lin.
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