Zhang Zhan interrupted the judge several times: don’t you think your conscience will tell you it’s wrong if you put me in the dock?
Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan questioned the absurdity of the judge’s questions during the trial and therefore refused to answer them, adding that he was not guilty of slandering the government in the Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhan also said that this is the court to judge you, not me, and that his trial is a judicial game.
Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist, was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday (28th) by the Shanghai Pudong New District Court for “provoking and provoking trouble”. The following day, Zhang’s defense attorney released the tit-for-tat remarks he made with the judge during the trial. The indictment accused Zhang of posting “false information” on social media and giving interviews to foreign media. In response to the authorities’ allegations, Zhang argued that she “did not fabricate any false information.
According to the defense attorney, the presiding judge asked Zhang Zhan for her personal information so that he could verify it, but Zhang Zhan did not answer in silence. The judge said that since Zhang did not answer, he asked the clerk to put it on record. Zhang Zhan said to the presiding judge, don’t you think your conscience will tell you it’s wrong if you put me in the dock?
“This is your judicial game.”
The presiding judge was momentarily speechless. At the stage when the panel informed the parties of their rights and obligations, the trial judge announced the panel’s list, after the public prosecutor’s list. Asked what comments? Zhang Zhan said to the presiding judge, until you correct your mistakes, can not answer. This is a court to try you, not a court to try me. Subsequently, Zhang Zhan interrupted the presiding judge again and said, “This is your judicial game.”
When the public prosecutor finished reading the indictment, the presiding judge asked Zhang Zhan, “Is it true? Answer directly.” Zhang Zhan replied, “In the Han Dynasty, it was not a crime to slander the government.” Zhang Zhan’s answer at the early stage of the trial is said to have left the prosecutor and the judge on the scene looking at each other in disbelief, not knowing how to respond.
Our reporter called Zhang Zhan’s defender, lawyer Zhang Keke, on this issue, but he was reluctant to answer about the trial. He said, “It’s not very convenient to accept interviews from foreign media.”
Reporter: Will an appeal be filed?
Lawyer: Because the judge did not tell her, and did not ask her whether to appeal, and she did not answer, waiting for the follow-up (to get the verdict) she will make a decision.
“This country is in decline precisely because you have these ridiculous problems.”
According to Zhang Zhan’s defense disclosed that when the prosecutor interrogated Zhang Zhan about when she entered Wuhan and whether she had released information about it through Twitter and YouTube and accepted interviews with overseas media, Zhang Zhan replied, “This country is in decline precisely because you have these absurd questions.
When defense attorney Ren Quanniu asked Zhang Zhan what her comments were on the indictment, Zhang Zhan spoke again. She said that the government accuses the people of speaking, and that accusation itself is wrong. Because it means that every word I say has to be censored. Does the state have the power to censor citizens’ speech? Zhang Zhan continued, saying that the public prosecutor believes that what she said was a rumor. It is this kind of speech control that makes society unsafe. The videos she posted were all other people’s words or retweets of other people’s words, and the public prosecutor can put anyone in court if they want to censor the people. The fear of the state comes from the mistrust of the people.
An anonymous lawyer for Zhang Zhan told the station that Zhang Zhan has been in custody for more than seven months and has fought in two ways.
One is to protest her arrest, persecution and trial by going on a hunger strike, and the other is to express her protest against the so-called trial of her by refusing to answer and by protesting in silence, the lawyer said.
Pompeo Condemns China’s Four-Year Prison Sentence for Zhang Zhan
Guo Yuhua, a professor at Tsinghua University, admired Zhang Zhan’s actions.
Guo Yuhua said: “Starting with Chen Qiushi and continuing with Zhang Zhan, I think they are very remarkable and very admirable. Although I didn’t cross paths with them directly, I have always paid special attention to them and supported them. But at the same time there is a feeling of powerlessness, knowing that nothing can be done for them.
Secretary of State Pompeo issued a statement on the same day of the trial condemning the Chinese government’s sentencing of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan to four years in prison, stating that the Chinese Communist Party had restricted and manipulated information about the Wuhan Xin Guan epidemic from the beginning and severely suppressed “truth tellers” such as Li Wenliang, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin. Because of the CCP’s gross malfeasance, other countries have had to rely heavily on the real reports of citizen journalists like Zhang Zhan to learn about the situation in Wuhan. The authorities’ hasty trial of Zhang Zhan reflects how much the CCP fears those citizens who dare to speak the truth.
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