Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Human rights defenders in China are concerned about the fate of Zhang Wenpeng, a young lawyer detained in Sanya, Hainan province. Charged with ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ - a charge used to suppress all forms of dissent - he was indicted on 14 July 2025 and, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defender (CHRD) network, there are fears that a heavy prison sentence could be handed down at any moment.
Zhang was arrested on 24 September 2024 by the Sanya police on charges of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’, presumably in retaliation for his advice in a case involving one of his clients accused of corruption by the authorities.
He is currently being held in Sanya Detention Centre No. 2. Zhang is alleged to have been tortured: his lawyer reported that in December 2024, Zhang was shackled with heavy chains for seven days and seven nights.
His complaints of abuse have been ignored or met with unsatisfactory responses. Although Zhang has been granted access to lawyers of his choice, in February 2025 the detention centre denied his lawyer the opportunity to review the case files with him. Their meetings were monitored.
Zhang is a 32-year-old human rights lawyer from Shandong Province. He passed the bar exam in 2016 but was never able to obtain a licence to practise law because of his opposition to the government-controlled bar association. Because he does not have a licence, he has worked as an intern at law firms.
Zhang was briefly detained in 2022 after accusing the director of the Qingdao Justice Bureau of corruption. In 2023, he co-signed a letter addressed to the National People's Congress calling for the repeal of the offence of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, for which he is now being prosecuted.
The Chinese government, CHRD points out, is obliged to prevent and investigate allegations of torture under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China ratified in 1988. United Nations human rights experts have also called for the repeal of the charge of ‘provoking quarrels’ because of its vague wording and its recurrent use against those exercising their rights.
‘Instead of continuing with the trial,’ the CHRD statement concludes, ‘the Chinese authorities should immediately drop the charges against Zhang Wenpeng and promptly restore his bar licence. They should also investigate and prosecute the officers involved in his arbitrary detention and ill-treatment while in custody.’
