Zhang Kai (lawyer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zhang Kai (Chinese: 张凯; pinyin: Zhāng Kǎi) is a human rights lawyer known for defending churches in China that were being forced to remove their crosses and crucifixes.[1] He is also known for representing or campaigning on behalf of the disadvantaged, such as Feng Jianmei, a woman forced by government authorities to have an abortion in 2012.[citation needed]
Zhang was detained on 25 August 2015 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, a city with a strong Christian influence. He had been representing churches whose crosses were demolished by government officials, and was also accused of ‘masterminding illegal religious gatherings’.[2] He was charged with “endangering state secrets” and “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” and placed in criminal detention.[3]
Along with a group of religious leaders, Zhang had been scheduled to meet US envoy for religious freedom, David Saperstein, the following day.[4]
Officials in the province have been waging a campaign to remove crosses from more than 1,200 churches and other buildings. Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping was once the Party Committee Secretary of the province.[1] Since coming to power in 2012 Xi’s strict political regime has clamped down on human rights lawyers, liberal academics, journalists, bloggers and feminist campaigners.[5]
Rights groups say the campaign has affected hundreds of parishes.[2]
Zhang, like many of China's human rights lawyers, is a Christian, and earlier in 2015 had posted an online essay denouncing the Communist party’s treatment of Chinese churchgoers.[6]
Zhang made a televised confession, which was rejected by his supporters. Zhang Lei, a fellow human rights lawyer, said “it is utterly appalling for a person to be made to confess on the television”.[5]