Chinese human rights lawyer Fang Xiangu in exile in the UK after helping legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and director Chen Pinlin of the “V for Vendetta” documentary in advocating for sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party during EU human rights events following a leaked information scandal.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on May 6, Fang Xiangu shared that while working as a human rights lawyer in China, he participated in human rights activities in Japan, Taiwan, and various parts of Europe to update on the status of Chinese human rights lawyers and dissidents. Last year, his participation in a human rights event in Brussels led to the leaked information scandal. Fang Xiangu expressed surprise at the incident, despite taking numerous security precautions during his overseas human rights engagements, such as not carrying his domestic phone and avoiding WeChat on his computer.
After leaving China, Fang Xiangu sought asylum in the UK with his family. He noted that the incident of leaked sanction advocacy reflects the extensive influence the Chinese Communist Party holds overseas, causing concerns for international organizations engaging with Chinese human rights lawyers.
Fang Xiangu lamented the decreased international attention on Chinese human rights issues, as organizations are wary due to the heightened control by the Chinese government. Having worked as a human rights lawyer in China for over a decade, he highlighted the deteriorating human rights conditions he witnessed over the years, from defending religious rights cases like the removal of crosses in Wenzhou to the crackdown on human rights lawyers during the 709 crackdown.
Initially trained in engineering, Fang Xiangu shifted to law inspired by a documentary on the 1989 student movement and specialized in handling sensitive cases to advocate for the public, including defending Xu Zhiyong and Chen Pinlin in the “V for Vendetta” documentary.
He praised the “V for Vendetta” documentary for its value in preserving collective protest movements and expressed a sense of achievement in representing the filmmakers. While grappling with the unfinished cases and defendants he left behind in China, Fang Xiangu believes that continuing to share Chinese human rights stories abroad contributes to advancing human rights in China.