Ren Zhiqiang behind bars: Jailed for corruption or simply silenced

(Patria) – Chinese authorities have sentenced an influential former leader of a state real estate group and critic of President Xi Jinping to 18 years in prison – for corruption.

Ren Zhiqiang (69), former chairman of the Huayuan group, will also pay a fine of 4.2 million yuan (approx. 526,400 million euros).

The court ruling states that Zhiqiang 'voluntarily confessed to all charges' and will not appeal the court's decision.

However, human rights activists accuse Xi and the Communist Party of using corruption charges to silence dissenters.

Namely, Ren is known as a long-time critic of the Chinese Communist Party who called the Chinese president a 'clown' for his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, which led to him being investigated in April on charges of 'serious violation of discipline and law'.

However, that's not all – this retired real estate tycoon disappeared last March after writing a critical article about the handling of the coronavirus epidemic. Ren's friends then contacted Reuters, stating they were unable to contact him and were 'extremely concerned'.

In his article, Ren referred to a speech Xi gave on February 23, which he said revealed the party's 'governance crisis'. Although he did not mention any names, Ren wrote that he saw 'not a ruler standing and showing off new clothes, but a naked clown insisting on continuing to rule'.

Slightly earlier, in 2016, Ren received a one-year suspended sentence for publicly criticizing government policy. His social media profiles, which had millions of followers, were all shut down.

Reuters writes that since Xi came to power in 2012, the Chinese government has intensified efforts to crack down on civil society, introducing new restrictions on freedom of speech and imprisoning hundreds of activists and lawyers.