{"id":196159,"date":"2016-08-22T17:45:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T00:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=196159"},"modified":"2016-08-22T22:31:42","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T05:31:42","slug":"black-friday-courtroom-confessions-veered-off-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/black-friday-courtroom-confessions-veered-off-script\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday Courtroom Confessions Veer Off-script"},"content":{"rendered":"
Over a year after the “Black Friday” crackdown on rights lawyers and activists<\/a>, four of those detained stood trial earlier this month<\/a>, receiving sentences of up to 7.5 years in prison. All four of the defendants tried in the first round\u2014Zhai Yanmin<\/a>,\u00a0Gou Hongguo<\/a>, Hu Shigen<\/a>, and Zhou Shifeng<\/a>\u2014pled guilty. Their pleas, however, are widely believed to have been coerced by authorities, and contained language highly similar to a parallel propaganda campaign<\/a>\u00a0lashing out at “foreign hostile forces<\/a>” for training the activists in order to foment a “color revolution” in China. At the South China Morning Post Jun Mai notes that\u00a0official court transcripts and state media coverage did not accurately or fully reflect what the defendants said in the courtroom<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n In a 10-minute final statement, the Peking University law school master\u2019s degree holder [Zhou Shifeng] praised China\u2019s legal system, saying it was \u201cso much beyond the Western rule of law\u201d, and that the trial would \u201cstand the test of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n The praise was not included in the official transcript published hours later. His speech was condensed into a few paragraphs, in which he pleaded guilty and thanked the court for its fairness.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0\u201cThe trial fully represents the fairness of a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics,\u201d Zhou said after the verdict.<\/p>\n It was unclear if Zhou was being sarcastic or genuine, and the same confusion hung over two interviews arranged by the authorities later that day. Former colleague Huang Liqun was one of two interviewees designated to speak to the media.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0After the trial of activist Hu Shigen, a court summary turned Hu\u2019s reference to \u201cthoughts of Western democracy\u201d into simply \u201creactionary thoughts\u201d.<\/p>\n A slight change was also made to Hu\u2019s statement about China\u2019s transition to a democracy. The public transcript quoted him as saying: \u201cOnce bloodshed breaks out between the government and the people, it will create a chance for international intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n But it omitted the start of Hu\u2019s sentence in court: \u201cWe don\u2019t want bloodshed to happen, but …\u201d [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Authorities have increasingly relied on the tactic of promoting, and often televising, confessions<\/a> that many believe to have been made under duress. Prior to the latest trials, rights lawyer Wang Yu was reportedly released\u00a0after Hong Kong\u2019s Phoenix Television aired\u00a0a confession-style interview with her<\/a>, but has not yet been confirmed to be free. An editorial from\u00a0The Yomiuri\u00a0Shimbun warns that so-called “confessions”\u00a0are being\u00a0widely publicized in order to suppress dissent<\/a><\/strong>, and ties the tactic to other efforts by the Xi administration to crack down on free expression<\/a>, attack western values<\/a>\u00a0and foreign NGOs<\/a>, and bolster Party rule under the banner of rule of law<\/a>:<\/p>\n Authorities may believe that having open court proceedings will more effectively discourage lawyers and others from opposing the regime than holding such trials behind the scenes as they normally do.<\/p>\n It is inevitable to believe that law-enforcement authorities have forced the lawyer and others to make a confession in exchange for having their punishments commuted or the surveillance of their family members lifted. Although China, a country with one-party rule, advocates the rule of law, the country does not have an independent judiciary. The rule of law is used only as a tool for the regime to rule the country.<\/p>\n […] China\u2019s intensification of its control over the freedom of speech is serious.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0The Xi administration has also established a law intended to control foreign nongovernmental organizations operating in China. Aimed at preventing such values as human rights and democracy from spreading in Chinese society, the new law will be enforced next January. The law is likely to be used to crack down on activists. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More activists and lawyers detained last July are expected to stand trial soon, including\u00a0prominent rights lawyer Li Heping. China Change has translated a recently published interview that artist and activist Ai Weiwei conducted with the lawyer in 2010<\/a>. In their intro to the translation, China Change commented that “if the spectacle of the four show trials in\u00a0early August is any indication, the entire 709 crackdown is spurred by unfounded fears and is a mockery of the rule of law.” Read more about the “Great Subversion Case” in a recent essay by Mo Zhixu<\/a>, translated by CDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over a year after the “Black Friday” crackdown on rights lawyers and activists, four of those detained stood trial earlier this month, receiving sentences of up to 7.5 years in prison. All four of the defendants tried in the first round\u2014Zhai Yanmin,\u00a0Gou Hongguo, Hu Shigen, and Zhou Shifeng\u2014pled guilty. Their pleas, however, are widely believed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":985,"featured_media":184816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,10,14744,14745,14746,100,1051],"tags":[16948,17241,4902,17249,5548,15579,757,16578,8159,16954],"class_list":["post-196159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-top-article","tag-black-friday-2015","tag-black-friday-trials","tag-forced-confessions","tag-foreign-hostile-forces","tag-li-heping","tag-rights-lawyers","tag-rule-of-law","tag-televised-confessions","tag-trials","tag-zhou-shifeng","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n\n