US calls for release of lawyers and rights activists in China

WASHINGTON: The US has condemned the recent conviction of prominent lawyers and human rights activists on charge of "subversion of state power" by a Chinese court and called for their immediate release.

"Last week, a Chinese court convicted prominent human rights attorney Zhou Shifeng, director of the Fengrui law firm and activists Hu Shigen, Zhai Yanmin and Gou Hongguo of the apparently politically motivated charge of 'subversion of state power'," State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said yesterday.

More than a dozen other attorneys and activists were detained on and around July 9, 2015. They remain in pretrial detention without access to their families or to legal counsel of their own choosing, she claimed.

"This campaign undermines China's development of a judicial system that respects the rule of law.

"We urge Chinese authorities to release the lawyers and rights defenders who are imprisoned or are in detention, including those already sentenced," Trudeau said.

"We call for an immediate end to the cases brought against them and to restrictions on their freedom of movement and professional activities," she added.