BEIJING — The Chinese police have recommended prosecution on a charge of subversion for Zhou Shifeng, a prominent lawyer whose arrest last year formed the focus of a campaign to discredit and dissolve networks of rights-focused defense lawyers who challenged the government, one of his former colleagues said on Monday.

Nearly a year has passed since Mr. Zhou and other lawyers, legal associates and rights advocates were rounded up by the authorities, who accused them of abusing court proceedings and stirring up protests in a bid to win personal fame and discredit the Communist Party. About 25 remain in detention or missing, presumed detained, and their families and supporters have adamantly rejected the allegations, although they have had no access to the detainees.

Over the weekend, the police told Mr. Zhou’s family that they had recommended indictment on suspicion of “subverting state power,” said Liu Xiaoyuan, a former colleague of Mr. Zhou’s, citing word from Mr. Zhou’s family. Mr. Liu said the subversion charge was particularly serious and, if successfully prosecuted, could lead to a prison term of at least a decade.

The charge suggested that under President Xi Jinping, the government would continue its intense drive to silence organizations and activists who even a few years ago survived in a margin of official tolerance, said Maya Wang, a researcher on China for Human Rights Watch.