Chang Weiping allowed first consultation with lawyer, recounts ill-treatment
China
For the first time since his arrest on 22 October 2020, Chang Weiping was finally able to consult his lawyer on 14 September 2021. Mr. Chang’s lawyer has reported that Mr. Chang was subjected to torture, as he was forced to sit on a ‘tiger chair’ for six days straight during which he faced round the clock interrogations.
Since 2013, Chang Weiping has represented victims of workplace discrimination over HIV/AIDS, litigated cases involving defective vaccines and defended human rights activists. He was arrested in January 2020 after he attended a gathering of lawyers and activists in Xiamen after the mass arrests during the ‘1226 crackdown’. After the arrest Mr. Chang was held under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (“RSDL”), in this case: a hotel, for 10 days. His license to practice law was suspended as well.
Mr. Chang was arrested again on 22 October 2020. His arrest followed six days after he openly accused Baoji police of torture during his January hotel detention. Mr. Chang spend six months under RSDL, after which he was transferred to a detention center for charges of ‘subversion of state power’. His applications for bail have been rejected several times, the last time on 11 March 2021. His requests for legal representation have been systematically denied, until 14 September 2021 when Mr. Chang was able to meet his lawyer for the first time since his arrest almost one year before.
Torture and ill-treatment
His lawyer has reported that Mr. Chang accuses the police of committing various acts of torture and other forms of inhumane punishment, such as, but not limited to:
- being subjected to the ‘tiger chair’ for six days straight;
- being subjected to sleep deprivation;
- being subjected to psychological torment, meaning the police lied to him and threatened him;
- being allowed to shower merely 5 times in 5 months and 16 days; and
- being subjected to constant video surveillance, meaning he had no privacy whatsoever.
It has been reported that during RSDL, Mr. Chang was kept in a small room, roughly three by three meters, which was also being occupied by several policemen.
Lawyers for Lawyers will continue to monitor Mr. Chang’s case.