Justice

All news and posts of our editorial team on the topic

New sentences in Hong Kong
Hong Kong courts have been making ample use of the broad legal framework of the National Security Act lately. On Saturday, a court sentenced five teenagers, aged between 16 and 19, to three-year prison terms. The defendants had called for a coup on social media, Judge Kwok Wai-kin ruled. They sought a “revolution” to remove […] continue reading →
Settlement of lawsuit against JD.com founder
The billionaire founder of the online department store JD.com, Richard Liu, settled a US sexual assault lawsuit against him outside of court just before the trial started. This was reported by the business magazine Caixin, citing lawyers on both sides. In April 2019, Liu Jingyao, 21 years old at the time and a student at […] continue reading →
709-Lawyer released
Zhou Shifeng is a free man. After seven years in prison, the Chinese lawyer was released over the weekend. Zhou had been arrested in 2015 during the so-called 709-crackdown, a nationwide operation targeting lawyers and activists. Under the National Security Law, which was just two weeks old at the time, more than 300 people had […] continue reading →
Former minister of justice sentenced to life
China’s former Minister of Justice, Fu Zhenghua, has been sentenced to death for corruption. However, the sentence, handed down by a court in Changchun, will not be carried out but will be commuted to life imprisonment. There is no possibility of parole. Fu Zhenghua previously held several high-ranking positions, including Beijing Police Chief and Vice […] continue reading →
Billionaire Xiao Jianhua sentenced
A Shanghai court sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua to 13 years in prison on Friday. It also fined his company Tomorrow Holdings ¥55 billion (€8 billion). Xiao disappeared five years ago and is believed to have been in custody ever since. Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings were accused of embezzling investor money and state subsidies. The […] continue reading →
Court removes verdicts from database
China’s Supreme People’s Court has restricted public access to court rulings on its China Judgements Online (CJO) web portal, according to media reports. Several million cases had already been removed from the CJO database by early 2021, Chinafile reports. A judge of the People’s Court told the online magazine that the court decisions and details […] continue reading →
Paul Harris – defender of the ‘Right to Demonstrate’
For Paul Harris, an explosive term ends in January 2022. “I will try to protect freedom in Hong Kong. I don’t know if I will succeed,” he had told the British newspaper The Times when he was elected chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association for a year in early 2021. He was aware that […] continue reading →
China’s global hybrid war
As the world’s largest, strongest, and longest-surviving dictatorship, contemporary China lacks the rule of law. Yet it is increasingly using its rubber-stamp parliament to enact domestic legislation asserting territorial claims and rights in international law. In fact, China has become quite adept at waging “lawfare” – the misuse and abuse of law for political and […] continue reading →
Three and a half years in prison for activist Tony Chung
His fight for an independent Hong Kong has ended for 20-year-old Tony Chung with a years-long prison sentence for the time being. A court sentenced the activist to three and a half years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to charges of secession. Chung was the founder and chairman of the Student Localism movement. It […] continue reading →
Hong Kong: Nearly six years in prison for “Captain America 2.0”
In Hong Kong, a democracy activist has been sentenced to a long prison term for the second time under the National Security Act. The 31-year-old was accused of shouting slogans at at least 20 gatherings between August and November 2020 and also spreading them via social media. He called for the city’s independence from the […] continue reading →
Chronicle of a political crime
A major matter between the US and China has been resolved. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is allowed to return home without punishment. At the same time, Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are granted amnesia after more than 1,000 days in Chinese custody. The chronology of events presents a politically loaded economic thriller caught between a power struggle between the rising and the acting world power. continue reading →
More prison sentences for pro-democrats in Hong Kong
The political purge in Hong Kong continues. On Tuesday, a court sentenced nine activists and former politicians to prison terms of up to ten months. The pro-democracy defendants were punished for organizing and participating in a vigil for the victims of June 4, 1989. The event last year had taken place in Hong Kong’s Victoria […] continue reading →
New prison sentences in Hong Kong
A Hong Kong court handed down further sentences against pro-democracy activists and former politicians on Tuesday. The case focuses on events surrounding an unsanctioned demonstration on October 20, 2019, when the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) called for a march against a public mask ban and police violence, which was followed by an estimated 350,000 […] continue reading →
Hong Kong activist accuses figurehead Lai after custody
Detained Hong Kong democracy activist Andy Li has pleaded guilty to violating the National Security Act, incriminating movement figurehead Jimmy Lai in the process. The 30-year-old, who used crowdfunding platforms to organize donations from overseas for the 2019 protest movement, and a 29-year-old co-defendant confessed in a court on Thursday to “colluding with foreign forces”, […] continue reading →
Harsh sentences for Canadians cause tension
Three Canadians have been caught up in the geopolitical maelstrom surrounding the possible extradition of Vancouver-based Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou to the US. They are currently held in custody in China. Two tough sentences were handed down this week. Relations between Canada and China are at an all-time low – as the verdict of Meng's extradition trial draws near. continue reading →
Controversial death sentence against Canadian upheld
Against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between China and Canada, several sentences are being handed down these days to Canadians imprisoned in the People’s Republic. The court of appeal in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning announced on Tuesday that the death sentence for Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg made in January 2019 would be […] continue reading →
Hong Kong pop star arrested
Popular Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong is facing backlash for a performance at an election rally three years ago. The artist was arrested by China’s anti-corruption authority on Monday for performing at an event hosted by pro-democracy candidate Au Nok Hin in 2018. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) called it a “corrupt conduct and […] continue reading →
Entrepreneur Sun Dawu sentenced to long imprisonment
Influential agricultural entrepreneur and billionaire Sun Dawu has been sentenced to a long prison term. On Wednesday, a court in Gaobeidian found the 67-year-old guilty of charges including “gathering people to attack state organs” as well as “obstructing public affairs” and “sedition” and sentenced Dawu to 18 years in prison, as news agency AP reported. […] continue reading →