Ding Jiaxi
来自China Digital Space
Dīng Jiāxǐ | 丁家喜
Ding Jiaxi (b. 1967) is a lawyer-turned-activist and one of the founding members of the New Citizens Movement. He has been detained since December 2019 on a charge of subversion of state.
Ding Jiaxi was trained in engineering and worked as an aerospace engineer before pursuing a career in law. He was named one of the top ten intellectual property attorneys in Beijing in 2011.
Ding began his work in civil rights advocacy in 2010, pushing for equal access to education for migrant workers’ children. In 2012, he cosigned an open letter calling on President Xi Jinping and other high-level officials to release their finances. Along with Xu Zhiyong and several other activists, Ding helped found the New Citizens Movement, a loose network of scholars and legal advocates promoting transparent governance and social equality.
Ding was detained in April 2013, then disbarred and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. He was released in 2016 before being detained again in December 2019. In January 2020, the police informed Ding’s lawyer that he was being held for “posing harm to the national security” and would not be allowed to see an attorney. Ding was finally allowed to see his lawyer in January 2021, though his charge was upgraded to subversion of the state, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Ding's family and lawyer allege that he has been tortured by the police. His wife, Luo Shengchun, currently residing in the United States, continues to advocate for her husband’s release.
