On March 23, 2026, the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court sentenced human rights lawyer Xie Yang, 54, to five years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” with 100,000 yuan (approximately $14,500) confiscated. Human Rights Watch documented that the verdict was based primarily on WeChat posts rather than any criminal conduct, that the trial was conducted entirely behind closed doors in October 2025, and that the proceedings violated Xie’s right to a fair trial under both international human rights law and China’s own Criminal Procedural Law, which guarantees rights to a defense, a public hearing, and adherence to time limits for criminal investigations. Xie has defended activists in politically sensitive cases involving religious persecution and land rights disputes; he was previously tortured and subjected to enforced disappearance during China’s 2015 “709 crackdown” on human rights lawyers, serving an earlier sentence before his re-arrest in January 2022. With time served, his sentence is expected to run until January 2027. The case is part of a sustained campaign to eliminate the independent defense bar in China, now entering its second decade.

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