A picture showing Wang Quanzhang’s family and his detention notice [Thomas Peter/Reuters] Chinese police have locked down a courthouse in the northern city of…
A picture showing Wang Quanzhang’s family and his detention notice [Thomas Peter/Reuters]
Chinese police have locked down a courthouse in the northern city of Tianjin at the start of the trial of Wang Quanzhang, a prominent human rights lawyer who is accused of subverting state power.
Wang, who took on sensitive cases of complaints of police torture and defended practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, went missing in August 2015 during a sweeping crackdown on rights activists.
Most cases from that summer, known as the 709 cases for the first day of detentions on July 9,2015, have concluded. Wang, however, was incommunicado for more than 1,000 days.
An investigation said he had “for a long time been influenced by infiltrating anti-China forces” and had been trained by overseas groups and accepted their funding, according to a copy of the indictment seen by Reuters news agency.
Police outside the court in Tianjin told reporters they could not get near the building because it was a closed trial, according to Reuters.
