Tiananmen Square protester stabbed to death in his law firm’s office in New York

The 66-year-old legal scholar continued to advocate for those jailed or killed by Chinese authorities

A Chinese dissident immigrant lawyer was stabbed to death allegedly by a woman in his law firm’s office in New York, where he had settled after seeking asylum in the US.

Li Jinjin, 66, had served nearly two years in prison for participating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and had continued to advocate publicly for those jailed or killed by Chinese authorities during the nation’s democracy movement.

Mr Li was fatally stabbed by a 25-year-old woman identified by police as Xiaoning Zhang on Monday after he reportedly refused to take on her case.

Police have recovered two knives from the crime scene and taken the woman into custody, who faces murder charges. However, it wasn’t clear when she would be arraigned or if she had retained an attorney.

Mr Li’s friend and lawyer Wei Zhu along with Chuang Chuang Chen, the chief executive of China Democracy Party, said the killing might have stemmed from his refusal to take Ms Zhang on as a client.

“I can't believe it. She not only destroyed his life but the hope of our community. He wanted to realise democracy in China. He will never realise that dream,” Mr Zhu told New York Daily News.

He added: “Even when this woman made trouble in the office, police came to drive her away. Mr Li told the police ‘please, do not arrest her’.”

Su Xu, a receptionist for an insurance broker that shared an office with Mr Li, said the lawyer’s white shirt “was covered in blood” and he was lying unconscious.

The receptionist added that when the accused walked in she was very quiet and then she attacked the lawyer.

According to Mr Chen, the accused had arrived in the US in August on an F-1 visa to go to a school in Los Angeles.

The legal scholar was often quoted by news organisations looking for insight or commentary on the Chinese dissident community or on relations between China and the west.

Prior to his imprisonment in China, he had been a legal adviser to a labour union that had challenged the government on worker rights.