(New York) – A court in China sentenced the prominent human rights lawyer Xie Yang to five years in prison on March 23, 2026, on politically motivated charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” Human Rights Watch said today. The Chinese government should immediately quash the conviction, which followed serious procedural violations and years of persecution, and free Xie unconditionally.
The Changsha Intermediate People’s Court cited several of Xie’s WeChat posts as the basis for the verdict, Xie’s former wife, Chen Guiqiu, posted on social media. The court also ordered the confiscation of 100,000 yuan (US$14,500).
“The Chinese authorities’ prosecution of Xie Yang and the court’s harsh sentence reflects Beijing’s utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Maya Wang, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This case not only aimed to persecute a brave human rights lawyer like Xie, but to intimidate all lawyers seeking to protect Chinese people’s rights.”
The legal proceedings against Xie were marred by serious violations of due process protections, Chen said. The authorities extended his pretrial detention 13 times for a total of over four years and barred his lawyers from participating in his hearings. Xie’s October 2025 trial was held in secret, police only told his family afterward.
Xie’s trial violated the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial court as provided under international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said. In addition, the proceedings violated China’s Criminal Procedural Law, which guarantees a right to a defense (articles 33-35), public trial hearings (article 188), and time limits for a criminal investigation. With time served, Xie’s sentence is expected to go to January 2027.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has recognized Xie’s detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
Xie, 54, from Changsha, Hunan province, began practicing law in 2011. He has defended activists and victims of rights abuses in politically sensitive cases, including cases of religious persecution and land rights disputes.
Xie has faced repeated retaliation for his work. In July 2015, during the nationwide arrests of human rights lawyers known as the “709 crackdown,” Xie was tortured and subjected to enforced disappearance, convicted of “inciting subversion,” and imprisoned until 2017.
The authorities detained him again in January 2022 after he pressed for the release of a young teacher who had been forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility for criticizing censorship in education. Police raided Xie’s home, tortured him in custody, and held him on charges of “inciting subversion” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” said the US-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
“Foreign governments should continue to speak out for human rights lawyers like Xie Yang because this kind of support is most important when the circumstances are so dire,” Wang said. “Vocal international support could improve Xie’s treatment, and crucially, help give him and others in China the strength to persevere.”
