Human rights lawyer Zhang Wenpeng, sentenced to 4 years and 6 months at first instance, has his appeal rejected; second instance upholds original verdict

On June 1, 2026, this outlet learned that on May 26, 2026, the appeal of human rights lawyer Zhang Wenpeng, who was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months at first instance, was rejected, and the second instance upheld the original verdict.

Zhang Wenpeng has been unable to obtain a lawyer's practice certificate after seven years as a trainee because he reported the lawyers' association; on September 24, 2024, because he represented the Haiyun Group case and spoke out online on behalf of the client, he was criminally detained on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and was tortured during his detention. He was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months at first instance. After the verdict was announced, Zhang Wenpeng decided to appeal.

Zhang Wenpeng's profile:Born in 1993. After graduating from university at the age of 23, Zhang Wenpeng passed the examination and obtained a lawyer qualification certificate. Under Chinese law, a person can obtain a lawyer's practice certificate after one year as a trainee, but he has been a trainee for seven years and has still been unable to obtain a practice certificate. The reason is that he has consistently opposed the “officially run lawyers' association” and was placed on the Ministry of Justice's blacklist, so the Qingdao Municipal Justice Bureau has continually made things difficult for him and refused to issue him a practice certificate, dragging the matter out for seven years. Zhang Wenpeng has been praised by the legal community as one of the renowned trainee lawyers. He exposed corruption in the lawyers' association and denounced lawyers who paid bribes, and therefore also offended certain vested interests, to the extent that he was permanently barred from practicing.

In 2022, Zhang Wenpeng published a real-name report online accusing Wan Zhendong, director of the Qingdao Justice Bureau, of three major offenses, including bribery, squandering public funds, and dereliction of duty.

On March 21, 2024, Zhang Wenpeng, who was serving as a trainee at Shandong Xiaolin Law Firm, posted on Weibo that on March 20 he had been summoned across provincial borders in Shenzhen by the Shinan Branch of the Qingdao Municipal Public Security Bureau. He was stripped naked, was not even allowed to wear underwear, and was subjected to an eight-hour summons on the grounds that he had disrupted the order of a work unit. Zhang Wenpeng went to a local police station in Shenzhen to inquire and learned that the reason for the cross-provincial summons was that he had “previously entered the Qingdao Justice Bureau without authorization.”

On September 24, 2024, Zhang Wenpeng was again criminally detained by Sanya police on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble because he represented the Haiyun Group case and helped the client appeal a grievance. Just before he was criminally detained, the defense lawyer in the case, Peking University doctoral graduate lawyer Zhang Qingfang, was notified that his lawyer's license would be revoked. This was clearly the Sanya police using public power to retaliate against the Haiyun representative. On March 16, 2026, the verdict was announced, and Zhang Wenpeng was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months. Sentence term until: March 22, 2028.

This outlet will continue to follow Zhang Wenpeng's situation in prison.