Thread by @WilliamYang120

5 weeks after their initial detention, the case of the 12 #HK people detained in Shenzhen is becoming a clear example of how #China's criminal justice system operates. What the families are going through is the reality facing millions Chinese families.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep…

The family of Chinese dissidents often have to wait for months to years until some information about their family members begins to emerge. Lawyers hired by their families are often harassed or sometimes even debarred for taking on the case. In the end, they have no choice ...

... but to let a government-appointed attorney to take over the case. Some recent examples include Chen Mei and Cai Wei from the #Terminus2049 case. (@tansunit).

The biggest difference in the case of the 12 #HongKong people is that they are used to a judicial system that operates by the law but now, they are tried in a system where the real rule of law is vague and murky.

Lots of things will happen during the lengthy extrajudicial detention period, where defendants could be detained at a designated location by himself/herself for up to six months and during that time, the police can interrogate them whenever they want.

Forced confession on television is a known tactic that the Chinese judicial system uses to justify a court ruling. The process leading to a trial can be lengthy, as in the case of Chinese human rights lawyer @yuwensheng, it took him 1000 days to finally be handed a sentence.

Some high-profile trials will never be public and family members will never be informed about the time of the trial. Yu's wife @xuyan709 only learned about the result of the trial after it was conducted secretly. She never received any official documents that explained ...

... her husband's jail sentence. That's how the Chinese legal system works, which is the complete opposite of what #HongKong's legal system normally is.