Chinese lawyer pleads guilty

Jiang wanted to overthrow socialist system

A former Chinese lawyer pleaded guilty on Tuesday before a court in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province for inciting State subversion.

Jiang Tianyong, 46, who was tried on Tuesday before the Changsha People’s Intermediate Court, admitted to having gone overseas five times to attend legal workshops.

“The workshops were mainly about the Western constitutional system. They had an impact on me, and helped develop ideas on overthrowing China’s [ socialist] system and implementing the Western system in China. All these have motivated me to criticize the Chinese government and its judicial organs,” Jiang said in court. Jiang said his comments both on Twitter and Sina Weibo had misled Chinese netizens and incited discontent.

In a written confession released in court, Jiang wrote that “I wish to convey to the public my dissatisfac- tion toward the Communist Party of China, the government, the police and the judicial system, to influence them and incite discontent … in order to achieve the goal of changing the current system and overthrowing the Party.”

Prosecutors said Jiang had posted over 33,000 tweets on Twitter and Sina Weibo since 2009, of which 214 had directly criticized the Chinese government or incited subversion. He had been interviewed by overseas media 148 times and in more than 70 interviews, Jiang criticized the government.

Jiang said he regrets his behavior and actions.

“Since 2009, I had this sense of urgency and hoped that by hyping sensitive cases, more people would know me so my cases wouldn’t dry up,” Jiang said.

The verdict will be announced at an undisclosed date.

Jiang became a lawyer in 2004 but was barred from practicing law by the Beijing Justice Bureau in 2009.

He said many of his actions were motivated by “friendship” with the “709 lawyers” and their families.

The “709 lawyers” refers to Zhou Shifeng, Li Heping and other lawyers, many of whom from the Fengrui Law Firm. The police had accused them of sensationalizing cases in the name of safeguarding human rights and justice. Zhou was sentenced to seven years in jail for subversion in 2016. Li received a four- year reprieve in 2017.

Prosecutors accused Jiang of mobilizing people to surround the Tianjin courthouse where Zhou and other lawyers were tried in July 2016. He also “smeared Chinese judicial organs and caused negative political impact” during his interview with the Voice of America after the Tianjin trials, prosecutors said.

Jiang admitted to having fabricated a story that another “709 lawyer,” Xie Yang, was tortured while under detention.

Xie was also charged with inciting subversion and was tried at the same Changsha court in May.