Chen Jiangang
Chen Jiangang is a human rights lawyer, known most recently for his willingness to take on sensitive cases related to China’s “709” crackdown on human rights lawyers, activists, and other defenders. Chen Jiangang took on legal cases for numerous other detained human rights lawyers, among them Li Heping, Wang Quanzhang, and Jiang Tianyong. Chen Jiangang also represents detained human rights lawyer, Xie Yang, whose trial was recently rescheduled without any justification. Chen Jiangang’s release of documents alleging that Xie Yang had suffered multiple instances of torture during the latter’s ongoing incarceration drew considerable attention from both Chinese authorities and the international community.
Lawyers who take on human rights cases are frequently singled out for special attention by the authorities and are routinely subjected to various forms of surveillance and pressure, including harassment, house arrest and imprisonment. Many of the most well-known human rights defenders in China are lawyers who have been punished by the state for attempting to hold authorities accountable to China's own laws.
