Skip to content

BBC Chinese: The U.S. Condemned China on Human Rights Lawyer Case

BBC Chinese recently reported that the United States government officially condemned the Chinese authorities for forcing human rights lawyer Zhang Kai to “plead guilty” on national TV. The U.S. pointed out that this move was against legal principles and was against China’s own constitution. Washington also urged China to take immediate action to release the lawyer and the Christians who had been arrested. Human rights lawyer Zhang Kai defended the Christians in Zhejiang Province who had joined the movement to prevent the local authorities from demolishing crosses. In 2014 and 2015, the Zhejiang government removed over 1,300 crosses and demolished over 20 churches. In the same period, they detained over 500 Christians. The Chinese authorities accused Zhang Kai of organizing several recent “illegal religious gatherings.” They arrested Zhang and forced him to “plead guilty” on national public television.
Source: BBC Chinese, February 27, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2016/02/160227_china_church_us_condemn