First dissident goes on trial in China following 2015 crackdown

A Chinese court has begun to try the first of four human rights advocates charged with subversion of state power. It marks the first publicly acknowledged hearing in a year-long case shrouded in secrecy and involving hundreds of Chinese human rights activists. In a microblog post on Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said that a trial had begun for the activist Zhai Yanmin, who was arrested last July as part of a countrywide government campaign that paralysed China's activist legal circles. Roughly 300 lawyers and activists were initially seized and questioned before the majority was released. Prosecutors announced last month they would try a lawyer, Zhou Shifeng of the Beijing law firm Fengrui - which worked extensively on human rights cases - and three activists, including Zhai. More than a dozen others remain jailed, their legal status uncertain. Police cordoned off the Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday, a day after protesters flanked by foreign diplomats demanded more information about the cases. Xinhua said the trial would be open and attended by five foreign media outlets and other observers, in an apparent attempt to address criticism from the...

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