Zhang Shichao, a former lawyer in Jinan, Shandong Province, fled China in 2018 after police summoned him for filing class compensation lawsuits against developers.
Zhang told the Epoch Times that he represented many property owners in class lawsuits against developers, mostly against state-owned enterprises. In September 2018, Jinan Public Security Department summoned him and threatened to prosecute.
“The police threatened me saying that they have on file all the lawsuits I represented in the past ten years and that all these lawsuits have brought huge losses to state-owned assets, which may constitute the crime of extorting the Chinese government,” Zhang said.
Foreseeing the looming danger, Zhang fled China on Oct. 8, 2018, with great difficulties, making transits in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Fiji, and finally arriving in the United Kingdom.
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