UNSCRUPULOUS LAWYER
Zhou, 51, is originally from Anyang City, Henan Province. He was director of the Fengrui Law Firm, which was suspended from operations in 2015 after a police investigation into several of its employees.
Zhou confessed he was unsatisfied with current judicial systems and the government. He has long been influenced by anti-China forces and gradually established ideas to overturn the country's political system.
Since 2011, Zhou has used the law firm as a front for his subversive agenda, recruited like-minded lawyers and other staff and together they discredited judicial organs, attacked the judicial systems and promoted anti-government sentiment by interfering in and inflating the importance of sensitive cases.
According to a prosecution witness who used to work at Zhou's firm, Zhou recruited two key administrative assistants, surnamed Wu and Liu, neither of whom were lawyers. Liu's duty was to analyze sensitive cases and to identify loopholes, while Wu was responsible for promoting them.
Zhou hired them to distort facts, cause confusion and social instability, and attack the country's judicial system.
In March 2015, while a local court in Hebei Province was hearing an extortion case taken on by Zhou's firm, he instructed lawyers to take pictures of prosecutors and judges and post them online, fabricating rumors about their moral characters.
Lyu Hongbing, vice head of the All China Lawyers Association who was present at the court this week, noted that these cases serve as a lesson for all lawyers.
"Revere the law, stick to the facts and protect you clients' legitimate interests," Lyu urged.
FOREIGN SUPPORT
The activities of this group had received foreign supports over the years, investigations found.
In March and April 2014, Gou was sent by Hu to attend a program abroad that trained the participants with theories and techniques of how to subvert a government.
"Some separatists seeking 'Tibet independence' and 'Xinjiang independence' also took part in this 'leader camp' to learn anti-China theories and skills to confront the government and law enforcement agencies," Hu Shigen confessed.
"I found the program was actually a gathering of members from all anti-China groups," Gou said. "Hu himself could not leave the country so he planned to make me his agent in activities of 'civil movements' abroad and a right-hand man in domestic operations. Once the movement picks up at home, I can organize people through what I learnt in the program."
Wang Yu, a lawyer working for Zhou, also went to training programs in Britain, Switzerland, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong, together with her husband Bao Longjun, sponsored by foreign organizations.
"They contacted me and offered me free chances to learn about the judicial system and humanitarian programs in the West. During these visits, I was instilled with Western ideologies and also learnt how to use encryption softwares and softwares for bypassing Internet firewall," said Wang, who was investigated in a separate case.
Foreign organizations also offered financial assistance. According to Li Heping, another lawyer close to Zhou, he had received funds from a foreign foundation since 2013 for a three-year project.
According to Li's assistant, surnamed Gao, the project trained a selected group of lawyers and paid petitioners to organize protests and manipulate public opinion.
Training programs or operations were approved by the foundation and thus all the cost were covered, Gao said.
The protest organized by Wu in front of a provincial-level court of Jiangxi last year was sponsored by the foundation, he said.
In September 2015, some foreign organizations even helped smuggling Wang's son out of China to Myanmar. Before he left for Thailand on his way to a Western country, the minor was intercepted by Myanmar police and returned to China.
Zhou admitted that foreign organizations showed keen interest in his activities.
"Their purpose of approaching me is to use us to challenge China's court order and judicial system and cause trouble for the Chinese government. Their ultimate goal is to overthrow the rule of the Communist Party of China," Zhou said.
Wang Zeqing, a legislator with the Tianjin Municipal People's Congress, noted that a "color revolution" is in essence a malign political attempt by some Western countries or interest groups to instigate domestic conflicts and collude with the country's insurgent forces to intervene in its domestic affairs, cause chaos, subvert state power and sway international political landscape and then reap benefits.
"It runs counter to real democracy and progress and will cause huge damage to society," Wang said, adding that such attempts -- mere noise compared with the mainstream rhythm of national social and economic development -- are doomed to fail.
