Human rights lawyer Zhang Wenpeng, sentenced to 4 years and 6 months, transferred to Unit 1 of Hainan Xincheng Prison to serve his sentence

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On June 12, 2026, this publication learned that human rights lawyer Zhang Wenpeng, who was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months, was transferred to Unit 1 of Hainan Xincheng Prison to serve his sentence on May 29, 2026.

Zhang Wenpeng was unable to obtain a lawyer’s practicing certificate after seven years as a trainee because he reported the lawyers’ association; on September 24, 2024, he was criminally detained on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble for speaking out online on behalf of the parties in the Shipping Group case, and was tortured during his detention. He was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months at first instance. After the verdict, Zhang Wenpeng appealed. On May 26, 2026, Zhang Wenpeng’s appeal was rejected, and the second instance upheld the original judgment.

Zhang Wenpeng’s background: Born in 1993. After graduating from university at the age of 23, Zhang Wenpeng passed the lawyer qualification examination. Under Chinese law, a person can obtain a lawyer’s practicing certificate after one year of training, but he has been a trainee for seven years and has still been unable to obtain a practicing certificate. The reason is that he has consistently opposed the “officially run lawyers’ association,” was placed on the Ministry of Justice’s blacklist, and was therefore continually obstructed by the Qingdao Municipal Justice Bureau, which refused to issue him a practicing certificate; this dragged on for seven years. Zhang Wenpeng was praised by the legal community as a famous trainee lawyer. He exposed corruption in the lawyers’ association and denounced lawyers who paid bribes, thereby offending 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: accepting bribes, squandering public funds, and dereliction of duty.

On March 21, 2024, Zhang Wenpeng, who was training at Shandong Xiaolin Law Firm, posted on Weibo that on March 20 he had been summoned in Shenzhen across provincial borders 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 government agency. After Zhang Wenpeng went to a local police station in Shenzhen to inquire, he 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 parties appeal their grievances. Just before he was criminally detained, lawyer Zhang Qingfang, a Peking University doctoral graduate and defense counsel in the case, was notified that his lawyer’s license would be revoked. This was clearly retaliation by the Sanya police against the Haiyun representatives through the use of public power. Zhang Wenpeng was sentenced on March 16, 2026, receiving a sentence of 4 years and 6 months. Sentence end date: March 22, 2028.

This publication will continue to follow Zhang Wenpeng’s circumstances in prison.