AUG. 2, 2016
Zhai Yanmin at court Tianjin, China, on Tuesday. He is expected to face strict surveillance and restrictions on his activities. Credit CCTV, via Associated Press
BEIJING — A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced a human rights activist who had criticized the government to a suspended three-year term in prison, in the first of several trials apparently intended to showcase the Communist Party’s hard-line attitude toward dissent.
The activist, Zhai Yanmin, was arrested last year as part of a sweeping crackdown on human rights lawyers and their associates. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to subverting state power, according to state news media, reportedly telling the courtroom that he had organized protests and exaggerated grievances with the aim of undermining the government.
Mr. Zhai’s supporters denounced the trial, saying it was scripted and inordinately secretive. Mr. Zhai’s wife was barred from attending the proceedings, and the government permitted only news outlets it had approved to observe the three-hour trial.
“If Chinese authorities are so confident in their cases against these human rights lawyers, why try them in secret?” said Maya Wang, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. “Those lawyers’ allies around the world already know the case is a sham.”
Mr. Zhai, 55, was given a relatively light punishment, considering the gravity of the charges. He is not expected to serve any jail time since the sentence was suspended, provided he does not violate the law for four years. The court said Mr. Zhai would also be deprived of his political rights for four years, and he is expected to face strict surveillance and restrictions on his activities.
Mr. Zhai worked for a Beijing law firm that was at the center of the crackdown on rights lawyers last year, which ensnared about 250 people. This week, officials are expected to announce punishments for three other employees of the firm, including Zhou Shifeng, its director.
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During the trial on Tuesday in Tianjin, a city about 80 miles from Beijing, officials said Mr. Zhai and his colleagues had “conspired and plotted to subvert state power,” according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.
In his plea before the court, Mr. Zhai echoed many of the themes that party leaders have used to cast aspersions on foreigners in China.
In the past four years, Xi Jinping, the Communist Party secretary who is now also president, has sought to limit Western influences and tighten his control of civil society. Among other things, he has increased oversight of rights organizations, fearful that they might pose a threat to the party.
“I want to remind everybody to wipe their eyes and clearly see the ugly faces of hostile forces overseas,” Mr. Zhai said, according to Xinhua. “Never be fooled by their ideas of ‘democracy,’ ‘human rights’ and ‘benefiting the public.’ ”
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Zhai’s wife, Liu Ermin, said that she doubted the statement he delivered was genuine and that she planned to appeal the court’s decision.
“What I heard was not what my husband would say,” she said. “It’s not what he believes in his heart, because as his wife I know him best. He can’t deny all the things he has achieved over so many years.”
On Monday, the state news media reported that Wang Yu, a prominent human rights lawyer who was also detained in the crackdown last year, had been set free. As part of her release, Ms. Wang recorded a video in which she disavowed her work and disparaged her colleagues, but they said her confession was probably coerced.
