On 31 March 2023, the Nanning Municipal Intermediate Court in Guangxi province convicted human rights lawyer Qin Yongpei of “inciting subversion to State power” and sentenced him to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of “deprivation of political rights”. The human rights defender said he would appeal.

According to the verdict, the court’s decision was based on the human rights defender’s online speech on Twitter and on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo criticising government wrongdoing and corruption, the interviews he gave to overseas media outlets, and his role in establishing a support group for disbarred human rights lawyers. The court said these acts amount to disinformation and libel against the government, the judiciary, and the Chinese Communist Party, and thus constitute “incitement to subversion of State power” under article 105(2) of the Criminal Law.

The human rights defender has been in detention since late October 2019 and was tried on 31 December 2021. In September 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Qin Yongpei’s detention is arbitrary because his fair trial rights were not guaranteed and that the charge of “inciting subversion of State power” is so ill-defined that it fails to meet the principle of legal certainty. The Working Group also ruled that the human rights defender’s arrest and detention were in retaliation against his exercise of his human rights, including the rights to defend human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of association. The Working Group called for his release and for the Chinese government to amend its Criminal Law, including article 105, to align it with China’s human rights obligations under international law.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemns today’s verdict against Qin Yongpei as it believes it is solely in retaliation against his peaceful and legitimate human rights work. We call on the relevant authorities in China to promptly quash the conviction and sentence against Qin Yongpei and immediately release him.