A rights lawyer accused of subversion recently appealed to the court not to invite his family members to his trial.

The first trial of Zhou Shifeng, director of the Beijing-based Fengrui Law Firm who was accused for subverting State power, would soon begin, according to a post on the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court's official Sina Weibo account on Wednesday.

The court also posted a photo of Zhou's handwritten application, in which Zhou repeated his request not to invite his family to his trial.

"They are all farmers and not well-educated. Their attendance at my trial would not benefit me or my family members," Zhou wrote.

According to the post, Zhou's trial would be open to the public and the court would strictly prepare for it in accordance with legal procedures.

Tianjin's secondary intermediate court on Friday publicized the notice about his trial and Zhou submitted his application for the first time the same day.

Zhou were detained together with seven others in July 2015 "for organizing paid protests to sway court decisions in the name of rights protection," the Xinhua News Agency reported.

On July 15, following an investigation, the Tianjin procuratorate decided to conduct public prosecutions of Hu Shigen, Zhai Yanmin, Gou Hongguo and Zhou in Tianjin's secondary intermediate court for the alleged crime of State subversion.