A court in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has handed down a two-year, nine-month prison sentence to an activist who opposed the national security law imposed on Hong Kong.
The Qingcheng District People’s Court found Zhang Wuzhou guilty of “obstructing public officials” and “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.”
She held up a placard in public to show her opposition to the security law imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Zhang’s indictment also cited her use of slogans to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Guangzhou’s Baiyun Mountain Park in June 2020.
The activist also allegedly “assaulted” a police officer during her detention, read a report from Radio Free Asia, adding that Zhang has yet to decide whether or not to appeal the verdict and sentence.
The legal system in mainland China is controlled by the ruling Communist Party.
Zhang’s son, Xu Hongbo, said his mother had kept repeating “This isn’t the truth” and “I was framed” after she heard the sentence.
“She’s in a poor way, not in a good state mentally or physically,” Xu said in the RFA report.
“The police hurt her while she was in the police station, leaving her fingers bent out of shape and deformed,” Xu reportedly said. “She also has problems in her abdomen, her uterus.”
Zhang, who has already served time in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” made headlines in 2015 alongside her sister Zhang Weichu after their brother Zhang Liumao died in police custody.
Zhang Liumao died inside the Guangzhou No. 3 Detention Center on Nov. 4, 2015, with his family reporting that his body showed multiple signs of severe physical assault.
Zhang Weichu, an experienced gynecologist, has lost her job and been evicted from her home along with her young son since taking up her brother’s case with the authorities.
She has been unable to secure another job as a doctor since being fired from the Vanke Hospital in Guangdong’s Qingyuan city on Aug. 31, 2018.
