Dissident Couple Stand Trial Over Criticism of Beijing, Foreign Media Interviews

Wang Zang and Wang Li are tried behind closed doors in Yunnan for ‘incitement to subvert state power.’

By Gao Feng

A dissident poet and his wife stood trial on Wednesday in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan for “incitement to subvert state power” in connection with his public support for the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, RFA has learned.

The trial of Wang Zang and his wife Wang Li was held behind closed doors at the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court, Wang Zang’s lawyer Zhang Lei confirmed.

“It’s under way,” Zhang said, but declined to comment further amid a clampdown on lawyers speaking to the media about cases.

Wang Li’s lawyer Zhang Tingyuan also declined to comment.

“Today’s session is over,” Zhang said. “I can’t tell you anything more; I hope you understand.”

Fellow defense attorney Lu Siwei said Wang Zang and Wang Li had both pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers had put up a defense in court, in a trial that lasted just one day. A verdict and sentence will be announced at a later date.

“Wang Zang is doing okay, because he’s fairly young and in good health, but his wife’s health is much worse,” Lu said. “She should have been put in a [psychiatric] hospital.”

“She has depression.”

Lu said the case was likely linked to Wang Zang’s public support for the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

“[He also] made some criticisms about during the worst part of the pandemic in February and March 2020,” he said. “He also wrote poems which the Chinese authorities deemed to contain [political] meanings.”

“He also won an award from the Independent Chinese PEN Association, so perhaps that counted as so-called evidence of criminality too,” Lu said.

Lu was part of Wang Zang’s defense team but wasn’t allowed to appear in court because his license to practice law has been revoked.

“There are restrictions on what I can do as a defense attorney,” Lu said. “I can’t appear in court as his defense lawyer, but I can write a public defense of  him.”

Access to donations cut off

Lu said Wang Zang and Wang Li’s four young children have been living with their grandmother for the past year under house arrest, with their access to donated funds cut off by the authorities.

“There is a [police] car in their residential compound around the clock, and people watching the corridor [outside their apartment,” Lu told RFA. “The worst thing is that gifts and books sent by friends all over the country to the kids have been intercepted by the authorities, who should guarantee the normal delivery of mail.”

“This is really pretty evil,” he said.

In their application for Wang Zang’s indictment, local police cited his recent poetry, essays, interviews with foreign media, and performance art since his last release from prison in 2015.

Wang Zang was initially detained in May 2020, while Wang was taken away on June 27, 2020.

According to notifications of arrest received by the family in September 2020, Wang Zang and Wang Li were formally arrested by the Chuxiong Prefecture Public Security Bureau on July 3 and July 24 that year, respectively, for “incitement to subvert state power.”

The charges against Wang Li appear to stem from her speaking out about her husband’s arrest via social media and interviews she gave to foreign journalists, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

Wang Li is being held in the Chuxiong Prefecture Detention Center, HRIC said.

Wang Zang was previously a resident of Beijing’s Songzhuang artists’ village, and has previously been targeted with repeated forced evictions and a jail term for showing online support for the 2014 Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. https://www.rfa.org

North Korea Opens More App Stores for Smartphone Users

North Korea is opening more information technology exchange centers across the country – facilities that sell apps to the growing number of smartphone users, residents told Radio Free Asia.

Read More

UN Officials Assess Impact of El Niño on Malawians,Assure Help

The widespread drought in Malawi, which is linked to the El Nino climate pattern, will be assisted in its recovery by the United Nations. According to officials, the crisis has caused a food scarcity that affects about half of the nation’s population. After visiting Malawi to assess the damage firsthand and identify ways to provide support.

Read More

Report: 76 Million People Internally Displaced Due to Wars in Sudan, Gaza, DRC

A record number of people have been internally displaced globally as a result of conflict; these people were forced to flee their homes but are still living in their own countries, frequently in refugee camps.

Read More

Jailed Activist’s Death During Hunger Strike Sparks Calls for Thai Justice Reforms

Human rights advocates and lawyers are demanding the Thai justice system be reformed after a jailed 28-year-old activist who was on a hunger strike while in custody died of apparent heart failure Tuesday.

Read More

UN Security Council Meets to Discuss Situation in Libya

Permanent Representative of the Republic of Mozambique to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of May, Pedro Comissário Afonso, chairs the Security Council meeting on the situation in Libya.

Read More

Widespread Myanmar Water Shortage Kills Scores of People

Nearly 50 villages in western Myanmar are facing shortages of water, residents told RFA on Tuesday, after the hot season brought record high temperatures across the region.

Read More

Russia Blames Ukraine of Carrying Out Lethal Apartment Block Strike

Russia blames fragments of a falling Ukrainian missile of causing the fatal explosion in a Belgorod housing complex. Ukraine has not yet commented. This is happening while Russian forces continue the capture of Ukrainian territory in the north

Read More

Bangladesh Court: No Solitary Confinement for Death Row Inmates Until Appeals End

Read More