Zhang Zhan, a Shanghai-based female lawyer who traveled to Wuhan during the outbreak to report on the situation, has been charged in court. Zhang’s lawyers were informed of the news by the prosecution on September 18. The Chinese Lawyers for Human Rights issued a statement on Sunday (September 20) condemning the authorities’ persecution of Zhang Zhan.
There has been widespread concern about Zhang’s health and the development of her case, as she is rumored to have been on a prolonged hunger strike in the detention center, where she was reportedly so weak that she was force-fed.
Radio Free Asia reported on Monday that it checked with Zhang’s lawyer, Wen Yu, who confirmed that he had been informed by the Shanghai Pudong New District Prosecutor’s Office that Zhang’s case had entered the review and prosecution process. He said that Zhang’s case was sent to the prosecutor’s office on the 18th of last month, and that the court will assign a specific judge to try the case after the transfer.
The Chinese Lawyers for Human Rights issued a statement on June 20 saying that Zhang Zhan had been arrested and prosecuted illegally, and that he had gone to Wuhan despite the risks involved, and that he had gone to the front lines of the epidemic, including residential areas, hospitals, train stations and funeral parlors, and had provided a great deal of information in the form of text, video and on-the-spot explanations that had not been reported by the official media, winning widespread praise.
The statement said, “However, in a media environment that has been unified and “positive” for a long time, like Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, and Li Zehua’s live reports from Wuhan, which were regarded as negative energy and provocative, Zhang Zhan naturally could not escape arrest.
According to the statement, Shanghai police illegally arrested Zhang Zhan on May 14, 2020 in Wuhan, and the next day illegally detained her on trumped-up charges of provoking and provoking trouble, and on June 19 she was illegally arrested on the same charges.
In a statement, the Lawyers for Human Rights in China condemned the political persecution of Zhang Zhan and said that the Shanghai police and the prosecution have illegally imposed restrictions on defense lawyers and maliciously made things difficult for them, restricting and disguising the rights of the defense lawyers appointed by Zhang Zhan’s mother to meet with her and review her case files, and revealing the abusive practices of the police and the prosecution that have always existed in many places.
The Human Rights Lawyers of China demanded that, based on the fact that Zhang Zhan does not constitute any crime at all and on humanitarian grounds, the prosecution’s illegal charges be dismissed, she be acquitted and released immediately.
Zhang Zhan, 40, is a former lawyer who was later disbarred by authorities for her involvement in human rights advocacy. She has been repeatedly summoned and threatened by police for posting comments criticizing “one-party dictatorship” and corruption and abuse of power on online platforms.
Since 2019, Zhang has forwarded numerous videos and graphic materials of Hong Kong’s “anti-delivery” protests, and has written her own articles in support of the protests. Last September, she was detained by the Shanghai Huangpu Public Security Bureau on suspicion of “provoking and provoking trouble,” and was released after 65 days in jail. She was released after 65 days in custody, during which time she went on hunger strike twice.
Recent Comments