When is civil disobedience legal?

By Tom LlamasJanuary 06, 2020 10:53:49When you think of the Civil Law in China, you’re likely to think of its role in upholding the rights of citizens to exercise their fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, assembly, association, association rights, and freedom of peaceful assembly.

The Chinese Civil Law, however, goes further.

Its core idea is that the state is not responsible for the civil actions of its citizens, including acts of civil disobedience. 

The government can punish civil disobedience as “criminal offenses” or “criminal acts” and, when it does, it has a very wide discretion in how to respond.

This is the case in China. 

One of the most widely discussed cases in recent years, the case of a Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, was the result of a case of civil disobedientness.

Chen was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his refusal to abide by an order of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to remove his pro-democracy banner. 

Chen’s case, and others like it, have helped push the CCP’s power to its limits.

In his case, the CCP tried to use the law to prosecute him for his peaceful protest. 

On January 12, 2018, Chen was in Beijing for a protest of his choice.

When he was arrested by police, he was carrying a black backpack and a red-and-yellow flag.

He was wearing a red bandana, and his hair was tied in a bun.

He had a placard reading “Long live the people!” on his back.

During the incident, Chen’s mother was also arrested, as were his supporters.

The CCP attempted to detain Chen’s family members and supporters, which is the most serious legal offense under the Chinese Civil Code. 

In response to the case, President Xi Jinping launched an anti-corruption campaign, which has seen more than 30 people detained. 

But the CCP has a lot more tools at its disposal to deal with people who resist its authority.

The state can impose fines, jail sentences, and even the death penalty, if necessary.

If Chen and his supporters did not comply with the government’s wishes, the state has the option of taking the protesters into custody and sentencing them to a long jail term.

The CCP has an enormous amount of discretion in dealing with its citizens who have taken up non-violent protests. 

“Chen Guangchendong’s case is one of the few that we have seen in which the CCP did not seek to prosecute Chen’s supporters, who were peaceful, but instead opted to target those who were actually engaging in disobedience, rather than those who merely refused to abide the CCP order,” said Paul Zaremba, a visiting professor at Yale Law School. 

“[This] is a good example of the CCP exercising its power to silence dissent.

It has the power to take those who engage in disobedience into custody, and to imprison them for a long time.” 

 Criminal charges are not the only tool the CCP can use to silence protestors.

In April, it also tried to force a prominent political commentator to leave the country, calling him “an agent of the foreign powers” and “a criminal,” according to the South China Morning Post. 

It is not clear how much of a chilling effect this could have had on the media, who could be targeted, but it could have an even more chilling effect on the people involved in civil disobedience, since the CCP is able to punish those who express their dissent without repercussions.

The Chinese government has used this power to crack down on protests, with a number of activists and activists imprisoned and threatened with a lengthy jail term, often after their supporters failed to show up at court. 

As an example, Chen Guangwen, the leader of the anti-CPC protests in Beijing, was sentenced in May 2019 to six years in jail for his role in the protests.

According to the Wall Street Journal, he had been sentenced on October 12, 2020, on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government.”

The case is still pending in China’s supreme court.

“It is an irony that Chen Guangchen is facing such severe prison time while his supporters are still free,” Zarebi said. 

 According to Zarebna, this means that “the CCP’s ability to shut down the internet and prevent dissidents from communicating is even more powerful than before, given that it can jail, prosecute, and possibly imprison people without a trial, or without any due process whatsoever.” 

The Chinese Communist party has the ability to impose severe fines, imprisonment, and death sentences on anyone who expresses dissent against the CCP or its leaders. 

China’s laws against civil disobedience are one of its most effective tools for intimidating dissenters. 

For example, it is not uncommon for Chinese activists to face charges of violating the country’s “one-child policy” and for “disobe