The space for those who dared to take on sensitive cases was never wide, yet it has narrowed even further. That is the assessment of several Chinese lawyers, 10 years after the major wave of repression that redefined the boundaries the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed on the legal professionals willing to defend those who criticized the regime, or who – by standing up to injustice – were labeled as enemies. The date remains etched in memory: "7/09."

On the morning of July 9, 2015, and in the days that followed, around 300 lawyers and legal assistants were targeted in a police raid on their offices in Beijing and elsewhere. All were interrogated at length; some disappeared for months. 10 of them were sentenced to prison in the months and years following their arrests. Among them was Wang Quanzhang, who was eventually sentenced in 2019 to four and a half years in prison after a lengthy process, for having defended expropriated farmers and members of the banned Falun Gong sect throughout his career.

Retaliation also targeted families. Wang's family was forced to move 13 times in two months in 2023 – from rented apartments to hotel rooms – while his 12-year-old son had to repeatedly enroll in new schools due to police pressure to expel him.

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