Personal Chronicle: Human Rights Incidents Involving Chinese Lawyers in 2014

On May 4, Beijing lawyer Li Hsiung-ping was barred from leaving the country when attempting to depart from Beijing Capital International Airport for a visit to Chicago, USA. The stated reason was that his departure might endanger national security. When Attorney Li Hsiung-ping asked, "But I haven't done anything!", border control or special agents replied, "Everyone knows what you're thinking in your heart!"

On May 4, Beijing lawyers Hu Kuei-yun and Li Kuo-pei posted on Weibo exposing that the Intermediate People's Court of Songyuan City, Jilin Province, refused to allow lawyers from outside Jilin Province to defend certain individuals accused of the crime of "using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law." It is reported that this practice is enforced throughout Jilin Province.

On May 4, Attorney Lo Ming of Guizhou Ting Chun Law Firm disclosed on Weibo that Huishui County, Guizhou Province, required all out-of-town lawyers handling various types of cases in the county to register with the county bureau of judicial administration, and that judicial organs could only accept their representation after obtaining a registration letter.

On May 5, lawyers Chen Lei and Wang Hsing discovered in Guangzhou that when lawyers visited a detention center for the first time, in addition to the "three certificates" required by law, the detention center also demanded a copy of the client's identity card stamped with the law firm's seal, marked with the note "consistent with the original."

On May 6, Beijing lawyer Pu Chih-Chiang was criminally detained by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on suspicion of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, allegedly for attending a gathering to commemorate the "June 4th" incident, and was held at the Beijing No. 1 Detention Center.

On May 12, Shandong lawyer Liu Wei-Kuo issued an announcement that the administrative inaction lawsuit filed by Hunan lawyer Hsieh Yang against the Department of Justice of Hunan Province and the Changsha Municipal Bureau of Justice (for failing to lawfully process his firm-transfer application) would be tried on May 16 in the Furong District Court of Changsha City.

On May 12, Beijing lawyer Li Kuo-pei posted on Weibo that her law firm's annual inspection began that day, but she had already been tipped off about unfavorable news. Later, because Attorney Li Kuo-pei applied to hold a protest march over the Jiansanjiang incident, her law firm, Beijing Liangao Law Firm, under the concerted pressure of the Beijing Lawyers Association and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice behind the scenes, forced her annual inspection to be deferred with a three-month delayed endorsement. Attorney Li Kuo-pei went on a hunger strike in protest.

On May 12, Beijing lawyer Yu Wen-sheng went to the Supreme People's Court to submit an appeal for a case, but the Supreme People's Court refused to accept it. Attorney Yu Wen-sheng requested the Supreme People's Court to issue a notice of refusal to accept the case in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law, and was forcibly carried out by eight judicial police officers. During the process of being carried out, Attorney Yu Wen-sheng's trousers were torn.

On May 12, Beijing lawyer Kuo Hai-Yueh, holding the "three certificates," lawfully requested to meet with a detained criminal suspect, but was illegally refused by the Meihekou City Detention Center in Jilin Province (headed by Warden Sun Chang-hsing) and was forcibly pushed out of the detention center by police officers.

On May 13, Beijing lawyer Chou Tse and Shandong lawyer Li Chin-hsing were scheduled to attend the trial of the Tsai Ta-piao case (May 6 to 9), which was scheduled and tried first by the Guangzhou Intermediate Court. Because of this, they were unable to attend the trial of the Chou Chien-hua case scheduled later by the Jiangxi Higher People's Court, which opened on May 8. Consequently, they were illegally, unreasonably, and forcibly stripped of their status as defense counsel by the Jiangxi Higher People's Court, which further instructed the Yichun City Detention Center to deny lawyers Chou Tse and Li Chin-hsing visits with Chou Chien-hua.

May 14: Attorney Chao Yung-lin went to the Shilin County Detention Center in Yunnan to conduct a legal visit, but the detention center demanded a certificate from the Kunming Municipal Bureau of Justice in addition to the "three certificates," threatening to deny the visit otherwise. Deputy Warden Shen of the detention center (police badge number 019059) stated, "The law is correct in theory, but it doesn't work in practice."

On May 15, Shandong lawyer Hsi Hsiang-tung accepted a mandate from a client's family to appear as defense counsel in the Intermediate People's Court of Songyuan City, Jilin Province. He was jointly blocked from entering the courtroom by public security special police, the presiding judge of the court, the public prosecutor from the procuratorate, and officials from the bureau of judicial administration. Furthermore, he was ordered by Political and Legal Affairs Commission officials to be carried out of the court by special police, and was subsequently harassed, verbally abused by unidentified individuals, and tracked by an unmarked vehicle.

On May 19, Shandong lawyer Liu Wei-kuo was denied a client visit at the Kunming Municipal Detention Center under the pretext that the leadership did not approve it.

On May 19, Hunan lawyer Ch'en I-hsuan and Guangxi lawyer Chen Tai-ho requested a meeting at the Pingxiang City Detention Center in Jiangxi Province with Chen Kang-lin, a criminal suspect placed under criminal investigation by public security authorities on suspicion of commercial bribery. The public security authorities denied the meeting on the grounds that approval was required. In fact, meetings regarding commercial bribery do not require approval from the handling authorities; local public security organs had overly expanded the interpretation of Article 37, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

On May 21, Guangxi lawyer Wu Liang-shu was defending a second-instance case in the Hezhou Intermediate People's Court of Guangxi. When he requested the court to summon defense witnesses to testify and merely raised his hand to speak, Presiding Judge Chen I-lin ordered judicial police to expel him from the courtroom. Attorney Wu Liang-shu was struck in the face by a judicial police officer's fist.

On May 21, Beijing lawyer Yang Tsai-ming, after representing villagers in an administrative lawsuit against the local government in Pingtu, Shandong, was forcibly detained by police at the Gaomi Railway Station for more than ten hours under the pretext of disturbing social order.

In May, Beijing lawyer Chang Ching-fang was pressured by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice for representing the Hsu Chih-yung case. Having no other choice, he applied for a three-month delayed endorsement of his annual inspection himself, and later successfully completed the "annual inspection" following resistance.

On May 23, Beijing lawyer Chou Tse was ordered by the Jiangxi Higher People's Court (with hearings held at the Yichun Intermediate Court) to be dragged out of the courtroom by judicial police twice in one day—first from the defense counsel seating area, and the second time from the gallery. The Jiangxi Higher People's Court also forcibly, unreasonably, and illegally stripped Chou Tse and Li Chin-hsing of their rights to defend Chou Chien-hua.

In May, Beijing lawyer Chang Szu-chih's multiple requests to visit detained lawyer Pu Chih-chiang and Kao Yu were illegally denied by the Beijing No. 1 Detention Center.

Around May 12, Pu Chih-chiang's defense counsel, Beijing lawyer Chu Chen-hung, was criminally detained on suspicion of the crime of illegally obtaining citizens' personal information.

On May 13, Attorney Liu Shih-hui was criminally detained in Shanghai on suspicion of gathering a crowd to disrupt social order. He was released on the 26th, at which point his detention was converted to administrative detention, and he was forcibly escorted back to his hometown of Ch'ifeng, Inner Mongolia.

On May 16, Guangzhou lawyer Tang Ching-ling was criminally detained on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

On May 28, Henan lawyer Chi Lai-sung was criminally detained on suspicion of gathering a crowd to disrupt public order.

On May 29, Henan lawyer Chang Po-yang was criminally detained on suspicion of gathering a crowd to disrupt public order.

On May 29, Guangzhou lawyer Wu Kuei-ming was subjected to an exit ban when he attempted to travel abroad with his family; he was stopped by border control and barred from leaving the country.

On June 10, Wuhan lawyer Chang Ko-ko began a hunger strike at the Wuhan Lawyers Association to protest the malicious harassment and unjustified, forced delay in renewing his lawyer practice license by the Wuhan Lawyers Association and the Bureau of Justice. Several lawyers, including Hunan lawyer Hsieh Yang, went to the scene in support. Two days later, the matter was resolved, and Attorney Chang Ko-ko successfully passed his "annual inspection."

Starting June 3, the Third Detention Center of Zhengzhou City (Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau) continuously and illegally refused nearly ten batches totaling dozens of lawyers who requested to visit Ch'ang Po-yang, Chi Lai-sung, Chia Ling-min, and eight other detained citizens. The stated reason was involvement in national security, yet the alleged crime was gathering a crowd to disrupt public order—representing an abuse of power and an overexpansion of the application of "national security" by public security organs.

On June 15, Beijing Ching Lun Law Firm lawyers Li Hai-hsia and Chang Chih-t'ung went to Nantong, Jiangsu, to provide pro bono legal popularization to evicted residents, and were forcibly taken away by local public security police and special police.

In June, Beijing lawyer Cheng Hai failed his annual performance assessment after the Haidian Court filed a complaint against him with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice. The complaint alleged that during his defense of Ting Chia-hsi in the Haidian Court, he walked out of court and filed a complaint against the court for illegal adjudication, thereby disrupting trial order.

On June 16, Shandong lawyer Chao Yung-lin and Beijing lawyer Ch'en Chien-kang were illegally refused a visit with Chang Kun at the Xuzhou City Detention Center in Jiangsu Province. When the two lawyers argued based on the law, they were forcibly taken to a police station by local police, subsequently abducted by Xuzhou secret police, and released six hours later.

On June 19, lawyer Sui Mu-ching was detained for 3 hours by the Shuangliu County Court in Chengdu. The incident occurred because when the trial concluded on Thursday, the court announced that the hearing would resume the following Monday, yet no court session was held on Friday. When Attorney Sui went to negotiate with the presiding judge, the presiding judge remained entirely silent. Attorney Sui remarked, "You can't just play turtle hide," whereupon the judge and court clerk ordered judicial police to illegally detain him for a total of three hours.

In June, Shenzhen lawyer Wang Sheng-sheng was reportedly placed on a certain blacklist, causing her firm-transfer application to be blocked, rendering her unable to complete the transfer.

In June, Shandong lawyer Liu Chin-hsiang had his lawyer's license registration deferred due to the Jiansanjiang incident.

On June 25, Shanghai lawyer Szu Wei-chiang, Beijing lawyer Kung Sun-hsueh, and Beijing lawyer Ch'en Lei were attacked and beaten by the victims' family members and a mob they rallied outside the gates of the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court as they prepared to enter the court to attend the trial of the Nien Pin case.

On July 2, Beijing lawyers Chou Tse, Chen Lei, and Li Chin-hsing were assaulted and beaten by security guards at the entrance of the Jiangxi Higher People's Court for taking photographs, an assault lasting half an hour. Among them, Attorney Chou Tse's clothes and leather bag were torn, and he sustained multiple scratch marks on his body; Attorney Chen Lei was choked and dragged by the neck, injuring his neck and lower back.

On July 3, citizen representative Pao Lung-chun was subjected to multiple beatings by judicial police at the Fangshan District Court in Beijing after stating he would file a complaint against the judicial police over security screening issues. He was illegally detained for 6 hours, handcuffed, locked in an iron cage, denied food and access to the restroom, resulting in his hands swelling from the handcuffs.

On July 3, Beijing lawyer Wang Yu attempted to enter the Qingdao Court and was subjected to security screening demands. When she requested exemption from security screening for lawyers in accordance with the law, she was shoved and pushed out of the court by judicial police.

On July 3, Guangzhou lawyer Wu Kuei-ming, along with twelve other citizens in Panyu, prepared to have a dinner gathering to study administrative law knowledge together. They were forcibly taken to a police station by police. The pretext used by the police to illegally detain the thirteen citizens was that someone had reported illegal pyramid scheming, and a citizen was injured during the process of being escorted away.

On July 5, Beijing lawyer Li Fang-ping was intercepted by Shenzhen border control while attempting to travel to Hong Kong for family visits and vacation. Border control claimed that the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau deemed Attorney Li Fang-ping's departure a potential threat to national security and thus imposed an exit ban, suspected to be related to the "splittism" case of Ilham Tohti handled by Attorney Li.

On July 6, Hebei Xingtai lawyer Wang Ch'ing-hu was robbed by individuals rallied by the opposing party while handling a traffic accident case in Anyang, Henan. He was beaten and injured, and his personal sedan was stolen.

On July 9, Beijing lawyer Li Fang-ping represented Hunan lawyer Tsai Ying at the People's Procuratorate of Hunan Province to voice grievances regarding the illegal criminal investigation launched against Attorney Tsai Ying by the Yiyang Municipal Public Security Bureau. After presenting his lawyer's license, security personnel searched his bag. When he reasoned with them, security personnel pushed him out the door and repeatedly shoved and struck him, causing Attorney Li Fang-p'ing to fall to the ground and sustain injuries three times.

On July 21, Shaanxi lawyer Chang Wei-ping was performing his defense duties in the Chungchan District of Chiaotso, Henan, defending Chang Hsiao-yu and Hsu Yu-ch'en. He was summoned by the Chungchan District Public Security Bureau, which demanded call logs between him and Chang Hsiao-yü, subsequently forcibly extracted his mobile phone call logs, and subjected him to compulsory summons, restricting his personal freedom for nearly 24 hours.

Attached is a Weibo post of mine from that time:

On July 30, Shandong lawyer Li Chin-hsing and Guangzhou lawyer Liu Hao requested a meeting at the Chiaotso City Detention Center in Henan with Chang Hsiao-yu and her husband, who were suspected of stabbing and killing a petition-intercepting police officer. They were denied a visit for over 48 hours, and the hotel where they stayed was besieged by a large group of unidentified individuals. After calling the police, two police officers responded and escorted the two lawyers to the detention center, but dropped them off midway under the pretext of being outside their jurisdiction and departed. Thereafter, lawyers Li and Liu were besieged and attacked by a large group of unidentified individuals outside the Chiaotso City Detention Center. Attorney Liu Hao was choked, slapped across the face, struck on the top of the head, and his glasses were knocked off, resulting in injuries.

On July 30, Beijing lawyer Wang Yu was forced to withdraw from representing the Ilham Tohti case.

On August 6, Beijing lawyer Chou Tse accepted a mandate from the relatives of Yang Chia-p'ing, former deputy director of the Qingdao Public Security Bureau, to submit representation documents to the Dongying Intermediate People's Court. He was rejected by Sang Ai-hung, the case handler at the Dongying Intermediate Court, under the pretext that Yang Chia-p'ing was not permitted to replace his defense counsel.

On August 7, Beijing lawyer Chu Hsiao-ting went to the Third Detention Center of Zhengzhou City to request a meeting with Chai Yen-min, but was illegally refused by the detention center under the pretext that Attorney Chu had taken photographs the previous day while visiting Chia Ling-min, who was detained in another case. The previous night, police from the Zhengzhou Third Detention Center had called demanding that Attorney Chu write a profound self-criticism.

On August 8, Shandong lawyer Liu Shu-ching went to Chiaotso to request a meeting with Chang Hsiao-yu, who was suspected of stabbing and killing a secret petition-intercepting police officer, but was illegally refused by the detention center. When he argued based on the reason, he was shoved by police and subsequently taken away by the Chiaotso High-Tech Public Security Branch, which restricted his personal freedom for nearly six hours. The police at one point threatened to administratively detain Attorney Liu Shu-ching under the pretext of disturbing office order.

On August 11, Beijing lawyer Ch'en Lei accepted a mandate from the relatives of Ch'en Liang-kang, former director of the Department of Land and Resources of Anhui Province, to submit representation documents to the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court. He was illegally refused in advance by the presiding judge of the court, who claimed that defense counsel had already been forcibly assigned for Ch'en Liang-kang.

On August 12, Beijing lawyers Wang Yu, Li Chun-fu, and Li Tun-yung went to the Mudanjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau in Heilongjiang Province to negotiate matters concerning lawyers' right to meet clients, and were illegally restricted in their personal freedom by the bureau.

On August 15, Guangdong lawyer Wang Chuan-ping checked with the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province and discovered that his lawyer practice license had been cancelled by the department on the grounds that no law firm had accepted him for six months.

On August 20, Beijing lawyers Tung Chien-yung and Wang Yu appeared in the Xiangfang District Court of Harbin City to defend a defendant accused of the crime of using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law. Merely because they raised a motion for recusal, they were forcibly expelled from the courtroom by the trial court and subjected to brutal treatment by judicial police.

On August 20, Beijing lawyer Li Gang participated in a court trial at the Ningkuo County Court in Anhui Province, and was ordered by the presiding judge to be thrown out of the courtroom by judicial police for protesting court procedural violations.

On August 20, Shandong lawyer Liu Shu-ching and Henan lawyer Chang Chun-chieh went to the Xuzhou City Detention Center to request a meeting with dissident Chang Kun, but were illegally refused by the detention center under the pretext that the power of attorney was written in advance by Chang Kun himself.

On August 30, a seminar marking the second anniversary of the Hsiaoho Case and grievance appeals, attended by nearly seventy lawyers in Kweiyang, was disrupted by Kweiyang police. Five consecutive conference venues were rendered unusable, and a meeting relocated to Chianlingshan Park that day was disrupted, with multiple lawyers beaten and conference staff member Huang Chia-te illegally detained for 9 hours.

On September 5, because Attorney Cheng Hai walked out of court during the defense of Ting Chia-hsi to file a complaint against the Haidian Court for infringing upon Ting Chia-hsi's and the defense lawyers' rights, he faced a proposed penalty of a one-year suspension of practice by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice and the Changping District Bureau of Justice. A hearing was held on September 5. Subsequently, Attorney Ch'eng Hai was penalized with a one-year suspension of practice.

On September 5, nine lawyers—Wang Yu, Hu Kuei-yun, Li Kuo-pei, Tung Chien-yung, Yu Wen-sheng, Chen Chien-kang, Wang Hsing, Li Chin-hsing, and Chen Lei—went to observe (some as testifying witnesses) the scheduled disciplinary hearing of Attorney Ch'eng Hai, and were illegally detained by Beijing police for 14 hours.

On September 8, due to representing human rights cases, Guangzhou lawyer Sui Mu-ching attempted to travel to Malaysia and was barred from leaving the country at the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport.

On September 12, the Tianhe District Court of Guangzhou held a trial for the case of Kuo Fei-hsiung and Sun Te-sheng on charges of "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." Because the court refused to allow defense lawyers to copy core evidence and failed to notify defense lawyers of the trial three days in advance, the defense lawyers refused to enter court. Thereafter, the Tianhe Court deprived Ch'en Kuang-wu, Chang Hsueh-chung, Ke Wen-hsiu, and Ke Yung-hsi of their defense rights under the pretext that the lawyers refused to enter court, and further notified the Tianhe District Detention Center to refuse lawyers visits with the clients.

On September 20, Beijing lawyers Chou Ning-tse and Wang Ta-wei were besieged, beaten, pulled, and illegally detained by demolition personnel while rescuing illegally detained villagers in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang.

On October 8, Hunan lawyers Hu Lin-cheng and Lung Lang-pen were taken to the public security bureau by local secret police while handling a case in Hongjiang City, Huaihua, Hunan, because they were accompanied by "sensitive person" Lo Chi. They were released about three hours later.

On October 13, Beijing lawyer Yu Wen-sheng was criminally detained on suspicion of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, detained at the Daxing District Detention Center in Beijing, and was illegally denied lawyer visits for the subsequent 100 days until his release.

In late October, Beijing lawyer Hsia Lin was criminally detained on suspicion of the crime of fraud, held at the Beijing No. 1 Detention Center, and has been illegally denied lawyer visits to this day.

On November 10, Beijing lawyer Chen Lei attempted to travel to France to participate in the annual Chinese lawyers' visit to France organized by the French Embassy in China (his third time), but was illegally intercepted by border control at the Beijing airport. Border control stated that the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau decided to bar Attorney Chen Lei from leaving the country on the grounds that his departure might endanger national security.

On November 18, Beijing lawyer Cheng Hai was illegally intercepted by Shenzhen border control and barred from leaving the country when attempting to travel to Hong Kong.

In November, four defense lawyers for Kuo Fei-hsiung and Sun Te-sheng—Chen Kuang-wu, Chang Hsueh-chung, Ke Wen-hsiu, and Ke Yung-hsi—refused to enter court because the Tianhe District Court of Guangzhou refused to let lawyers copy case-file materials, failed to lawfully notify them of trial times, and barred lawyers from bringing their own computers into the courtroom. In retaliation, the Tianhe District Court issued judicial recommendations to the departments of justice in the respective localities where the four lawyers were registered, demanding disciplinary penalties against them.

On December 10, lawyers Chih Su-sheng, Chen Chien-kang, Liu Chin-pin, Kuo Chen-hsing, Su Jui, and others were attending a trial in Shanmen, Guangdong. Because the court held trials all day without providing lunch to the defendants, family members became emotionally agitated upon learning of this and broke into conflict with judicial police. During the altercation, lawyers Liu Chin-pin and Kuo Chen-hsing narrowly avoided being beaten, and Attorney Su Jui's mobile phone was snatched.

On December 11, during a trial in the Anxi District Court of Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, Presiding Judge Chou Feng-wu prohibited lawyers from presenting legal defenses and repeatedly interrupted their courtroom statements. After court debate commenced, as Attorney Chang Ko-ko barely began to speak about the constitutional guarantee of freedom of belief, he was ordered by Chou Feng-wu to be directly escorted away from the defense counsel seating area by Chin Chen-yu, the head of the "State Security Protection" (Guobao) squad sitting in the gallery. Attorney Chang Ko-ko was illegally arrested and detained for 6 hours.

On December 17, nine lawyers—Wang Yu, Wang Chuan-chang, Lin Chi-lei, Chang Wei-yu, Hsi Hsiang-tung, Tang Tien-hao, Chen Chih-yung, Liu Lien-he, and Chang Kai (observing)—went to Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang, to serve as defense counsel for four defendants, including Meng Min-li and Shih Meng-wen, who were accused of using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law. Amidst freezing snow and ice, they were intercepted at multiple checkpoints by numerous police officers, but ultimately broke through the blockade to reach the court and commence the trial.

On December 17, Attorney Chu Ming-yung was escorted out of the courtroom by four judicial police officers assigned by the court while appearing as defense counsel in the Nanchang Intermediate People's Court of Jiangxi Province to defend Chou Wen-pin, the former president of Nanchang University accused of accepting bribes.

On December 17, Beijing lawyer Wang I was forcibly expelled from the courtroom while appearing as defense counsel in the Huizhou Intermediate People's Court of Guangdong Province to defend a defendant accused of organizing, leading, and participating in mafia-style criminal syndicates (according to a Weibo post by co-counsel Chang Yen-sheng).

On December 19, Attorney Huang Chin-ru of Beijing Dacheng Law Firm was twisted by the collar, manhandled, and threatened by the presiding judge and judicial police while participating in litigation at the Luojia Tribunal of the Qingshanhu District Court in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. The original text of Attorney Huang's Weibo post:

On December 18, 2014, while appearing as defense counsel at the Chienchin Farm Tribunal in Jiansanjiang to defend against charges of using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law, Beijing lawyer Wang Ch'uan-chang had his phone vibrate once, whereupon the presiding judge immediately announced the revocation of his defense qualifications and forcibly confiscated all of his personal belongings.

On December 18, 2014, while appearing as defense counsel at the Chienchin Farm Tribunal in Jiansanjiang to defend against charges of using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law, Tianjin lawyer Liu Lien-he had his defense qualifications revoked by the Chienchin Court under the pretext of accepting a case privately (the so-called private case acceptance meant the Chienchin Court claimed to have called the law firm where Attorney Liu Lien-he was registered, and the firm stated Attorney Liu had not reported accepting the Jiansanjiang case to the firm, which the court used as an excuse to determine that Liu had accepted the case privately), and his personal belongings were forcibly confiscated.