China has placed a prominent human rights lawyer on trial for subversion.<\/p>\n
Wang Quanzhang went missing in a crackdown on hundreds of lawyers and activists in 2015, and is one of the last to be tried or released.<\/p>\n
He defended political campaigners and followers of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong, and worked with a Swedish human rights activist.<\/p>\n
There is tight security outside the court, with several supporters being bundled away by police.<\/p>\n
Mr Wang’s wife Li Wenzu, who has not seen him since he disappeared in 2015, says police have surrounded her home in Beijing, preventing her from attending the trial.<\/p>\n
Journalists and foreign diplomats have also been barred from entering the courthouse in the northern city of Tianjin.<\/p>\n
Some activists gathered outside the court, shouting slogans or holding up signs supporting Mr Wang, before being pulled away from the scene by security officials.<\/p>\n
Mr Wang is accused of subverting state power. Court documents say he worked with Swedish activist Peter Dahlin and others to “train hostile forces”.<\/p>\n
Mr Dahlin, who worked in a legal aid organisation, was detained in China in January for three weeks, before being deported.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, he said he had kept all the documents related to Mr Wang’s work with his organisation, and would “release anything needed to dispel that it constitutes subverting state power”.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International researcher Doriane Lau said the scheduling of the trial, on 26 December, appeared to be a “deliberate” decision by the Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n
“Obviously a big part of the world will be having a holiday and will not be able to respond,” she told AFP.<\/p>\n
China’s crackdown on lawyers, known as the “709” crackdown because it began on 9 July, is seen by activists as a sign of a growing intolerance of dissent under President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
More than 200 were detained, with many given jail terms, suspended sentences or house arrest.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"