Chinese lawyers accuse court officials of interfering in trial, slam ‘blatant sabotage’ of legal system

Viral photo appears to show judicial officers and court staff instructing lower court judge via WeChat during criminal trial in northwest China

Lawyers involved in the trial report the actions to police and provincial prosecutors, calling for malpractice probe and criminal investigations

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A photo taken by a lawyer during a trial in Qinghai province appears to show a judge receiving real-time instructions from his supervisors. Photo: Weibo

Published: 4:00pm, 19 May 2024

Most Chinese lawyers have low expectations about the independence of Chinese courts, but many were still shocked to see a judge in northwest China receive real-time instructions from his supervisors in the middle of a trial earlier this month.

The incident took place on May 11 at the Tianjun county court in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan autonomous prefecture in the northwestern province of Qinghai.

About an hour into the trial, the presiding judge suddenly adjourned the proceedings, according to a public letter published on microblogging site Weibo by a group of lawyers who were defending clients in the case.

“Afterwards, we accidentally found the criminal court judge of the Haixi intermediate court and the director of the Tianjun county court were remotely giving instructions in a WeChat group,” the letter said, referring to a messaging and social media platform.

According to liberal-leaning newspaper Southern Weekly, one of the lawyers involved in the trial, Liu Zheng of the Beijing Zebo Law Firm, took a photo of the judge’s computer screen, which displayed a WeChat group that included several judicial officers and staff of local courts.

The photo showed county court director Fan Xuhua saying in the group chat: “You don’t have to communicate with him about it.”