China: Halt Sham Trial and Release Human Rights Lawyer Xie Yang

July 30, 2025 Comments Off

Three-year pre-trial detention, torture and other abuses violate fair trial rights

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders—July 30, 2025) On July 30, 2025, the Changsha Intermediate Court in Hunan Province tried human rights lawyer Xie Yang behind closed doors on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” Those charges stem from Xie Yang’s remarks online and to foreign journalists about political and legal affairs, and human rights violations, in China. Authorities convened the trial after Xie Yang had been held in pre-trial detention for over three and a half years, during which he alleged he was repeatedly tortured.

“Xie Yang did nothing other than exercise his rights to free speech as guaranteed by China’s Constitution and international law,” said Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director of the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “Chinese authorities compounded his wrongful detention by holding him in excessive pretrial detention, ignoring his allegations of torture, and denying him the right to a fair trial.”

The July 30 hearing was marred by numerous legal violations, including authorities failing to notify one of Xie Yang’s lawyers of the hearing, and opening the trial despite denying Xie and his other lawyer access to copy case files during the pre-trial meeting on July 28 that would be used as evidence. Authorities classified all 18 case files as confidential despite eight not bearing a “secret” classification marking. To protest these violations of his fair trial rights, Xie dismissed his lawyer, Li Guobei at the July 30 hearing. The trial has not yet concluded.

Xie Yang is a human rights lawyer who represented many human rights defenders before facing government retaliation for his work. He was detained and tortured during the government’s “709” Crackdown on human rights lawyers in 2015, an unprecedented assault on human rights lawyers and rule of law activists, and then stripped of his law license in 2020.

Changsha police initially detained Xie Yang in January 2022 on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “inciting subversion of state power.” Both offenses are often used against human rights defenders, and United Nations (UN) experts and officials have called for the offenses to be repealed or revised. In August 2022, a Changsha procuratorate indicted Xie on a sole charge of “inciting subversion,” citing Xie’s social media posts on Twitter (now “X”) and WeChat, and foreign media interviews. The procuratorate claimed those comments had “attacked and denigrated state power, the socialist system, and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Xie Yang has been subjected to multiple human rights violations. During his first seven months in custody—January to August 2022—he was denied access to the lawyer hired by his family. Guards at Changsha No. 1 Detention Center hindered his family’s efforts to locate Xie for months by refusing to acknowledge he was being held there. From October 2022 to May 2023, he was again denied access to the lawyer he had hired, and authorities tried to force him to accept a state-appointed lawyer.

Xie Yang has also credibly alleged to have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment by police while held at Changsha No. 1 Detention Center, including being beaten, shackled for days, sexually harassed, and denied food, as part of an effort to force him to confess and punish him for trying to assert his rights. Xie Yang’s treatment is in contravention of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China ratified in 1988, and of Chinese law.

UN experts wrote to the Chinese government in September and November 2024, raising concerns about Xie Yang’s status and well-being. In its response to both interventions, Chinese authorities failed to respond to many specific allegations and falsely claimed that “all of Xie Yang’s legitimate rights have been protected” and “there are no so-called ‘enforced disappearances,’ ‘torture’ or other violations of human rights.”

In January 2025, Xie wrote a note from his detention cell, stating that it was “Better to lose my head than bow it [to Chinese authorities],” indicating his determination to endure mistreatment rather than confess that his protected human rights activities were criminal acts. Xie Yang’s ex-wife Dr. Chen Guiqiu expressed in June 2025 her sorrow at seeing Xie spend so many years of his life in detention for trying to uphold rule of law in China: “If free, he’d be raising his kids, caring for his parents, and doing the work he loves as a lawyer.”

“Beijing has acted with impunity for far too long, and courageous individuals like Xie Yang are paying the price,” said Richardson. “Concerned governments should immediately call on Beijing to release Xie Yang, and increase support for defenders and their families.”

For more information, please contact:

Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, sophierichardson@nchrd.org, +1 917 721 7473

Angeli Datt, Research and Advocacy Coordinator, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, angelidatt@nchrd.org, +1 934 444 6155

Shane Yi, Researcher, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, shaneyi@nchrd.org