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Chang Weiping 常瑋平

Lawyers' Database

Chang Weiping
常瑋平
Chang Weiping
Working Location(s)
Shaanxi
Current Practice Status
Revocation
Year Admitted to Practice
Practice Area(s)
Civil Rights
Free of Speech
Human Rights Defence
Labour Rights
Background

Born in China, Chang Weiping passed the bar exam in 2011 and began his legal practice in 2013, quickly specialising in human rights advocacy. He has represented numerous sensitive cases, including those related to Falun Gong, house churches, and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients. In 2014, he was detained and interrogated for 12 hours while representing a client accused of intentional homicide. He faced further professional challenges when he was suspended from practice for three months in 2018, and his law firm was deregistered. In January 2020, following his participation in the “Xiamen Gathering,” he was arrested and later placed under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), and has since been detained thereafter. During this prolonged period of detention, he endured torture that led to deteriorating health. In June 2023, he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for allegedly subverting state power.

Crackdown

2019 Xiamen Gathering Crackdown

Timeline

2011: Chang Weiping passed the bar exam

2013: Chang Weiping began his legal practice. Initially, he focused on various legal cases but soon ventured into human rights advocacy, representing numerous sensitive human rights cases, including those related to Falun Gong, house churches, and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients.

21 July 2014: Lawyer Chang Weiping went to the Central Station sub-bureau of the Jiaozuo City Public Security Bureau to submit his representation paperwork for a client accused of intentional homicide. Before he could do so, he was served with an "Interrogation Notice" requiring him to provide testimony against his client. Citing his duty of confidentiality as a defence lawyer, Chang declined to testify. Despite this, around 22:40, he was served another notice, this time summoning him under suspicion of "intentional homicide." He was then detained and interrogated for 12 hours.

October 2018: Chang was suspended from practice for three months by the Baoji City Judicial Bureau in Shaanxi Province.

November 2018: The law firm where he worked, Shaanxi Ligang Law Firm, was deregistered, limiting his ability to practise law as, in China, a lawyer's legal practice licence becomes invalid if one is not employed by a law firm. This may explain why, when Chang Weiping attempted to work in other law firms, despite liaising with at least ten law firms in Shaanxi over the following six months, all negotiations fell through, either through sudden changes of heart before contract signings or immediate termination after application submissions to the judicial department.

December 2019: Chang attended a conference in Xiamen. This gathering was also known as the "Xiamen Gathering", and was attended by other prominent human rights lawyers and activists like Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong.

14 January 2020: This year saw a significant escalation in the challenges faced by Chang. Pursuant to his participation in the Xiamen Gathering, he was taken away by police from his residence in Xi'an and soon placed under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) for alleged endangerment to national security. Chang Weiping was released after being detained for around 10 days. Despite being released, he was placed under bail with restrictions on leaving Baoji City.

March 2020: He started a daily vlog named "Qu Bao Diary" on his personal YouTube channel "Danny Crane," documenting his daily life and experiences.

16 October 2020: Chang Weiping uploaded a video on YouTube recounting the repeated torture he experienced during his earlier detention, including being tied to a "tiger bench" for ten days which caused a loss of sensation in his right index and ring finger, deprivation of sleep, inadequate food supply, and constant mental torment. He also clarified that he was not suffering from any severe illnesses and vehemently would not accept government-assigned lawyers.

22 October 2020: Following the posting of this video, he was detained again under RSDL on charges of "inciting subversion of state power." Despite his rapidly deteriorating health and symptoms like haematochezia, the detention centre ignored pleas from his wife to hospitalise him.

April 2021: Chang was formally arrested for inciting subversion of state power by the Baoji City Procuratorate. Despite numerous attempts, his family and lawyers were kept in the dark regarding his whereabouts and the progress of the investigation under the pretext of "state security."

14 September 2021: After over five months of persistent efforts, his lawyers were finally allowed to meet him. However, the authorities imposed a restrictive confidentiality agreement on the lawyers, preventing them from sharing case details with Chang's family, and severed Chang's access to his family and legal team until the pre-trial conference in June 2022.

September - October 2021: Chang Weiping's lawyers met with him three times. During these meetings, it was revealed that during the 2nd RSDL that Chang Weiping experienced, Chang Weiping suffered from various ailments, all of which are consequences of torture during interrogations. He has been left with a plethora of health issues due to more than five months of torture inflicted against him.

11 July 2022: A pre-trial conference for Chang's case, which unusually extended for a whole week, was held in the Fengxian Detention Centre. Details of the conference remain undisclosed due to the secretive nature of the trial. It was subsequently revealed that the trial of Chang Weiping would be undisclosed.

26 July 2022: The trial commenced in the Fengxian People's Court amidst strict prohibitions preventing family, friends, and supporters from attending. Efforts by his wife to attend the trial were thwarted as she, along with her mother and son, were intercepted by police en route. Furthermore, at least three of Chang's friends were detained to prevent them from witnessing the trial. This incident drew widespread attention, with ambassadors from the UK, Germany, France, and Switzerland publicly advocating for Chang and urging international scrutiny on the trial proceedings. Chang Weiping never met his lawyer or family members again after being tried on 26 July.

June 2023: Chang was sentenced to three years and six months of imprisonment for the alleged subversion of state power, a charge he vehemently denies. The sentence period is set to end in July 2024.

Latest Update

In June 2023, Chang was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment for the alleged subversion of state power, a charge that Chang Weiping denies. The sentence period is set to end in July 2024.

Relevant Crime(s)
Inciting subversion of state power
Date of Arrest
22 October 2020
Date of Start of Detention
7 April 2021
First Trial Date
26 July 2022
Detention Location
Fengxian Detention Centre, Shaanxi Province
Current Location
Fengxian Detention Centre, Shaanxi Province
Current Detention Status
Currently detained
Torture / Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
Was subjected to "tiger bench" torture continuously for six days and nights from 22 October to 27 October 2020. All case handlers participated in this torture, being provided only three cold buns per day and was deprived of sleep from the day of his capture on 22 October 2020, until the end of January 2021. Water intake and toilet usage were severely restricted. He could only drink water when the interrogators were sufficiently annoyed with his repeated requests.
Access to Lawyers during Detention
While under RSDL, Lawyers were not given any information regarding his whereabouts and the progress of the investigation under the pretext of “state security”. His lawyers were finally allowed to meet him on 14th September 2021, under strict confidentiality agreements. They met with him three times. They were then unable to meet with Chang Weiping until his pre-trial conference in June 2022. After his trial in July 2022, he was prevented from meeting with his lawyer or family members again.
Human Rights Violated
Arbitrary detention
Torture, Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
Freedom of opinion and expression
List of Case(s) Represented

Chang Weiping has been actively involved in a series of sensitive and high-profile cases throughout his career, including:

  1. Legal representation for practitioners of Falun Gong
  2. Cases involving house churches or family churches, which are Christian congregations operating independently of state-sanctioned Christian organisations.
  3. Cases of discrimination against individuals with HIV/AIDS.
  4. Legal representation for activists charged with disrupting public order or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a pocket charge used against activists and dissidents in China.
  5. Offering legal support to victims of sexual harassment as a part of China's "MeToo" movement.
  6. Providing legal consultation and support for human rights defenders, petitioners, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women facing workplace discrimination.