Under the brutal Xi Jinping’s dictatorship, the so-called “public trial” has long become a hollow formality. Trials of political prisoners are either conducted in secret or selectively opened to hand-picked audiences, while journalists, family members, and independent observers are completely shut out. Even worse, confessions are often broadcast on state-run CCTV before the trial even begins, stripping defendants of any real chance to claim innocence or mount a defense.