Uyghur activist faces trial in France over China protest
Activist faces trial near Paris for alleged property damage after protest denouncing Beijing’s abuses against Uyghurs
PARIS, France (MNTV) — A court outside Paris will begin the trial of Dr. Dilnur Reyhan, a prominent French-Uyghur scholar and president of the European Uyghur Institute, on October 13 over charges of “degradation of property belonging to others.”
The case stems from a protest held in September 2022 at a Paris-area music festival, where Reyhan allegedly threw red paint on a banner belonging to China’s embassy in France. Embassy staff accused her of causing minor damage — including a €25 shoe-cleaning fee — and filed a complaint that led to her prosecution.
Reyhan has described the case as an attempt to silence her activism. “For the Chinese embassy, the aim is not to win or lose the case, but to impose a psychological and financial cost to silence criticism,” she said during a March hearing. “I should be protected against China’s attempts to silence me, not prosecuted for them.”
The Chinese government initially alleged that Reyhan’s actions constituted a “racist attack,” though that charge was later dropped. The protest was part of her ongoing campaign to raise awareness about Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs in northwest China, where international rights groups have documented mass arbitrary detention, torture, cultural persecution, and forced labor.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have concluded that some of these abuses amount to crimes against humanity.
French prosecutors had dismissed the complaint in 2023, but the case was unexpectedly reopened a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to France in May 2024 — a trip that drew large demonstrations by Uyghur, Tibetan, and Hong Kong activists.
The first hearing in March 2025 was postponed when representatives of the Chinese embassy failed to appear.
Rights advocates say Reyhan’s prosecution reflects a broader pattern of China’s transnational repression — efforts to intimidate critics and suppress dissent beyond its borders. In July, French authorities reported that Chinese student Tara Zhang Yadi was arrested in China on charges of “inciting separatism” after advocating for Tibetan rights while studying in Paris.
Human rights defenders argue that Reyhan’s case raises serious concerns about the influence of authoritarian states on democratic institutions in Europe. They have urged French authorities to drop the charges and reaffirm citizens’ right to peaceful protest.
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