Chinese lawyer who exposed baby milk scandal jailed for subversion
A Chinese lawyer has
been sentenced to seven years in prison in the third of a series of subversion
trials demonstrating the ruling Communist party’s determination to shut down
independent human rights activists and government critics. Zhou Shifeng was
director of Beijing’s Fengrui law firm that took on sensitive cases and
represented people who dared challenge the party.
Zhou accepted the
ruling and would not appeal, the official Xinhua news agency reported. His half-day trial in
the northern city of Tianjin followed
those of two related legal activists earlier this week, one of whom
was sentenced to 7 ½ years and the other given a suspended sentence, both for
subversion. As with the others,
Zhou was detained in July of last year amid a sweeping roundup of activists and
lawyers. About 300 lawyers and activists were initially seized and questioned
before most were released.
Zhou established
Fengrui in 2007 and the next year took on one of the country’s biggest dairies
in a scandal over tainted
baby formula that the government had tried to squelch. The firm has
also represented clients targeted by the government, including members of the
banned Falun Gong meditation sect and activist artist Ai Weiwei.
Zhou’s final case
involved Zhang Miao, a news assistant for the German weekly Die Zeit who was
detained for nine months after helping with the magazine’s coverage of
pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Zhou had been meeting Zhang at a hotel in
suburban Beijing following her release when he was seized, hooded and driven
away by agents.
This week’s trials
were part of a pattern established under president Xi Jinping to use more
sophisticated legal means to attack perceived opponents as it maintains
pressure on activists and non-governmental organisations. Several of those
detained, including Zhou and fellow Fengrui lawyer Wang Yu, have made televised
apologies for their alleged crimes, saying their legal activism was directed by
unidentified “hostile foreign forces” to smear and attack the Chinese
government.
Fengrui often worked
with activists to gather evidence of government abuses and lead clients and the
disgruntled in street protests while spreading word online. Their actions were
harshly denounced by the authorities as thuggery and interference in the legal
process.
Many family members of
those being held say they and their retained lawyers have been denied access to
the detainees for more than a year, receiving only occasional updates by word
of mouth. Some have been briefly detained themselves while seeking information.
Zhou and others were assigned government-appointed lawyers who work closely
with the court.
