The Center for Human Rights at the Catholic University of America has recently published an op-ed by Chen Guangcheng commemorating the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. To view this article, check the link in the description or go to humanrights.catholic.edu.
Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. This is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello everyone. Hello Will, yeah.
W: Yeah. So today we have a breaking news story concerning Jimmy Lai, an update on his trial. Guangcheng, can you tell us what’s going on?
G: Yes, yes. The CCP arrested Jimmy Lai several years ago. Now, you know, the CCP sentenced him to prison for three crimes, right?
W: Okay, yeah.
G: But of course, the whole world understands that [the] CCP just wants to use that horror law to prosecute Jimmy Lai because he supported freedom, democracy and the rule of law in Hong Kong.
W: Right.
G: Several weeks ago, the US President, Donald Trump, mention about Jimmy Lai when he met Chairman Xi. And the CCP ignored all his support from the whole world.
W: Right.
G: You know, Jimmy Lai is 78, and when the CCP released the news to sentence him, and a lot of people went to the court to try to hear the sentencing. Including some officials from foreign countries, you know, from, the embassy.
W: And what day was this on, Guangcheng? This was on…
G: On December 15th, right?
W: Okay. So you’re saying on December 15th people gathered to hear the sentencing and then what happened, Guangcheng?
G: Of course the CCP rigged the sentencing to make sure the courtroom was packed with pro-CCP members. Yeah.
W: And then what was the verdict? I mean, probably, most of our listeners can guess but what was the verdict that they found?
G: They found him guilty of three crimes.
W: Gotcha. Okay.
G: So the CCP will put him in prison for life.
W: Wow.
G: Yeah. So that is so evil and, you know, Jimmy Lai, his body has some problems. He has to use some medicine every day, so his daughter said he will die in prison. So democratic nations should think [about] how to punish the CCP. Of course, for me, I’m not surprised. I know how evil the CCP is. The CCP never thinks to try to resolve the problems, they just want keep the people silent. So no justice under the CCP’s regime. We can’t keep letting them do this.
Another thing is very important. You know, several years ago when the CCP arrested Jimmy Lai, a lot of people in mainland China [who] support [the] CCP said, “Oh, because he did the bad thing, so [the] CCP arrested him.” But now after the court have the decision and sentenced him to prison, someone share the information on TikTok.
W: Okay.
G: And [in] just [a] short time, [there were] more than 1,581 comments, and all [the] comments supported Jimmy Lai.
W: Okay.
G: That is a new situation, you know.
W: That’s very interesting, yeah.
G: Yeah, very different than before.
W: So, Guangcheng, in the past if people had done that… if a video of Jimmy Lai had been put on TikTok, in the past, what would have happened? What would have been different?
G: Oh, before, several years ago when the CCP arrested him, a lot of people supported [the] CCP. The people said, “Oh, Jimmy Lai is [a] bad guy. He’s a Western spy,” blah, blah, blah. Like that.
W: Right.
G: But now all the comments are support[ing] him.
W: Why do you think that happened, Guangcheng? Do you have any ideas?
G: One thing is, more and more people understand the truth, understand the CCP wants [to] control Hong Kong. Another thing is, before, you know, the CCP ordered the comments to try to let the people see, “Our people support us. And if you support Jimmy Lai, the CCP will delete your comments immediately.” But now this time I think more people are awake. But when the CCP saw all the comments were supporting him, they closed the comment function.
W: Okay. Well, I know this story is ongoing and we’ve made plenty of content about Jimmy Lai, including an interview with Father Robert Sirico, the man who sponsored his conversion to Catholicism. So we encourage you to check that out on our podcast platforms, including our website at humanrights.catholic.edu, and Guangcheng, we’ll make sure to provide additional updates on this developing story. Right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah. Thank you, Will. Thank you everyone. Let’s keep focused on his case. I hope we [can] work together to push [the] CCP to release him. If the CCP [doesn’t] want to release him, we should think [about] how to punish the CCP.
W: Right. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you very much for listening to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. And thank you, Guangcheng, for this information as always.
G: Thank you. Thank you everyone.
The Catholic University of America’s Center for Human Rights has published a documentary on the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The documentary features world-class human rights experts from former state department officials to ambassadors and human rights activists. It can be found on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu.