{"id":196324,"date":"2016-08-30T21:38:26","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T04:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=196324"},"modified":"2016-08-30T23:49:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T06:49:22","slug":"lawyer-zhang-kai-says-criticism-fellow-lawyers-coerced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/lawyer-zhang-kai-says-criticism-fellow-lawyers-coerced\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Kai Says Criticism of Lawyers Was Coerced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rights lawyer <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/08\/christians-who-opposed-cross-removals-detained-in-zhejiang\/\">Zhang Kai was detained in August 2015 after working with Christians in Wenzhou<\/a>, Zhejiang who were protesting the removal of crosses and demolition of churches in the city. Before being released in March, Zhang <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/world\/christian-lawyers-confession-renews-fears-of-chinese-clampdown\/article28924970\/\">issued a public &#8220;confession,&#8221;<\/a> which his wife and other supporters claimed at the time was forced. He also was interviewed by Phoenix Television after <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/zhou-shifeng-sentenced-7-years-subversion\/\">the trial of fellow rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng<\/a> in August, when he expressed support for the government&#8217;s round-up of lawyers over the summer of 2015, known as the &#8220;709&#8221; (for July 9, the date it was launched) or &#8220;Black Friday&#8221; crackdown. Zhang has now disavowed the interview and says it was made under duress:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lawyer Zhang Kai: I was forced to make comments on #709 trials on Aug4. I regret &amp; withdraw them. h\/t @FRJonathanLiu <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GnYRRdGV0z\">pic.twitter.com\/GnYRRdGV0z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YaxueCao\/status\/770441809264771072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/policies-politics\/article\/2011418\/rights-lawyer-says-he-was-forced-smear-fellow-activists\"><strong>Mimi Lau of the South China Morning Post reports<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>During the interview earlier this month, Zhang said that from the perspective of a lawyer, the court in Tianjin had handled Zhou\u2019s case fairly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI personally think they might have gone too far,\u201d Zhang said during the interview, referring to activists Zhai Yanmin, Hu Shigen and Zhou, who were among the first three detainees to go on trial over the crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;] \u201cMy elderly parents were living in fear and worry during the six months of detention in which I was held in darkness. [I was] powerless to resist the pressure imposed by a strong regime,\u201d Zhang wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am willing to confess to God for [my] weakness and fear in my heart and spirit and I ask the forgiveness of other family members of 709 [victims],\u201d he added. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/policies-politics\/article\/2011418\/rights-lawyer-says-he-was-forced-smear-fellow-activists\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Televised or otherwise publicized confessions <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/drawing-news-black-friday-confessions-trials\/\">have been a routine feature of the Black Friday crackdown<\/a>, as lawyers and activists have been paraded in official media denouncing not only their own actions<a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/07\/state-media-more-confessions-from-black-friday-lawyers\/\"> but those of their colleagues <\/a>and of foreign groups which fund or otherwise support their work. In his original confession in February, Zhang spoke out against the role of foreign &#8220;hostile forces&#8221; in legal activism. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/world\/christian-lawyers-confession-renews-fears-of-chinese-clampdown\/article28924970\/\"><strong> Nathan Vanderklippe of the Globe and Mail reported at the time<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In his confession, he said he had broken Chinese law, disrupted social order and endangered state security, adding that \u201cforeign forces\u201d had contributed to his work as part of an effort to \u201csmear\u201d China.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zhang said he knew some of the demolished churches were illegal structures, but had instead told churches that they were being oppressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese acts violated the law of China and went against the code of lawyers,\u201d he said, adding that he had sought fame and money.<\/p>\n<p>The broadcast showed Mr. Zhang sitting alone on a chair wearing a black sweater \u2013 a posture that has become familiar in China, where authorities have used a new campaign of televised confessions to strike fear in groups that might stand against the government. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/world\/christian-lawyers-confession-renews-fears-of-chinese-clampdown\/article28924970\/\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Such language condemning &#8220;hostile forces&#8221; was <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/black-friday-courtroom-confessions-veered-off-script\/\">heard in the trials of rights lawyers earlier this month<\/a> and a <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/hk-activist-branded-us-backed-separatist-govt-video\/\">surrounding propaganda campaign<\/a> as authorities have attempted to link foreign funding to efforts to overthrow the Communist system. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/2016\/08\/30\/constitutional-hostility-the-language-of-the-states-fundamental-law-haunts-chinas-activists-and-lawyers\/\"><strong>In a recent post for Hong Kong Free Press<\/strong><\/a>, China Media Project&#8217;s David Bandurski writes that President Xi Jinping has returned to &#8220;ideologically extreme&#8221; language in the constitution to justify the crackdown on rights activism, noting that such language hasn&#8217;t been officially employed in the media since just after the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on protesters:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Praising the recent verdicts against four legal rights advocates, all of whom were found guilty of \u201csubversion of the state\u201d in cases stemming from the arrest last year of more than 300 lawyers and activists, an August 6 commentary in the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s People\u2019s Daily newspaper said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOur nation\u2019s constitution points out in a clear-cut manner, that, \u2018The Chinese people must carry out struggle against domestic and foreign hostile forces and hostile elements that antagonise and damage our country\u2019s socialist system.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The deployment against human rights activists of this constitutional passage about \u201chostile forces\u201d is a sobering reminder of a contradiction that lies deep in the political DNA of the Chinese Communist Party\u200a\u2014\u200athe notion that the flesh-and-blood people of China are ruptured into two struggling camps: those who willingly submit to the will of the Party, and those \u201cenemies\u201d who oppose \u201cthe people\u201d and the \u201csocialist transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This idea has its origins in Mao Zedong\u2019s infamous February 1957 speech on \u201cinternal contradictions among the people,\u201d a shrill call to arms that urged ahead the Anti-Rightist Movement, sentencing millions of writers, artists, teachers and journalists to \u201cre-education through labour\u201d and other forms of punishment. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/2016\/08\/30\/constitutional-hostility-the-language-of-the-states-fundamental-law-haunts-chinas-activists-and-lawyers\/\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the wake of the Black Friday crackdown, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/aug\/31\/chinese-dissidents-urge-obama-press-xi-jinping-human-rights-g20\"><strong>a group of Chinese activists and dissidents met with the U.S.\u00a0National Security Advisor Susan Rice before the G20 summit in\u00a0China <\/strong><\/a>to encourage President\u00a0Obama\u00a0to raise the issue of human rights with Xi.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, cartoonist Badiucao has drawn a series of portraits of family members of the Black Friday lawyers. The portraits resemble<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2015\/07\/13\/china-roundup-lawyers-portraits_n_7782034.html\"> a series\u00a0he drew of the detained lawyers last year<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portraits for supporting  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/709lawyers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#709lawyers<\/a> and their families. Li Wenzu, Wife of Wang Quanzhang <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E7%8E%8B%E5%85%A8%E7%92%8B?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u738b\u5168\u748b<\/a> \u59bb\u5b50 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E6%9D%8E%E6%96%87%E8%B6%B3?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u674e\u6587\u8db3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/badiucao?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#badiucao<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AFbowQWboW\">pic.twitter.com\/AFbowQWboW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5df4\u4e22\u8349  Badiucao (@badiucao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/badiucao\/status\/770432323279990784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portraits for supporting  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/709lawyers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#709lawyers<\/a> and their families. Yuan Shanshan, Wife of Xie Yanyi <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E8%B0%A2%E7%87%95%E7%9B%8A?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u8c22\u71d5\u76ca<\/a> \u59bb\u5b50 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E5%8E%9F%E7%8F%8A%E7%8F%8A?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u539f\u73ca\u73ca<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/badiucao?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#badiucao<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/baGuYe3Ij1\">pic.twitter.com\/baGuYe3Ij1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5df4\u4e22\u8349  Badiucao (@badiucao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/badiucao\/status\/770447990230179841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portraits for supporting  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/709lawyers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#709lawyers<\/a> and their families. Wang Qiaoling, Wife of Li Heping <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/badiucao?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#badiucao<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E6%9D%8E%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u674e\u548c\u5e73<\/a> \u59bb\u5b50 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E7%8E%8B%E5%B3%AD%E5%B2%AD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u738b\u5ced\u5cad<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0GDEdknndG\">pic.twitter.com\/0GDEdknndG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5df4\u4e22\u8349  Badiucao (@badiucao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/badiucao\/status\/770503252395888640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rights lawyer Zhang Kai was detained in August 2015 after working with Christians in Wenzhou, Zhejiang who were protesting the removal of crosses and demolition of churches in the city. Before being released in March, Zhang issued a public &#8220;confession,&#8221; which his wife and other supporters claimed at the time was forced. He also was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":191798,"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":[16351,16948,17241,4902,17249,15579,471],"class_list":["post-196324","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-badiucao","tag-black-friday-2015","tag-black-friday-trials","tag-forced-confessions","tag-foreign-hostile-forces","tag-rights-lawyers","tag-wenzhou","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zhang Kai Says Criticism of Lawyers Was Coerced<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/lawyer-zhang-kai-says-criticism-fellow-lawyers-coerced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zhang Kai Says Criticism of Lawyers Was Coerced\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rights lawyer Zhang Kai was detained in August 2015 after working with Christians in Wenzhou, Zhejiang who were protesting the removal of crosses and demolition of churches in the city. Before being released in March, Zhang issued a public &#8220;confession,&#8221; which his wife and other supporters claimed at the time was forced. He also was [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/08\/lawyer-zhang-kai-says-criticism-fellow-lawyers-coerced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-31T04:38:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-31T06:49:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ZhangKai-1024x708.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" 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Before being released in March, Zhang issued a public &#8220;confession,&#8221; which his wife and other supporters claimed at the time was forced. 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