Link
August 23, 2009
BEIJING — Chinese authorities unexpectedly released three political activists from detention on Sunday, including one whose case had drawn global attention.
Officials offered no reason for the releases, but they occurred one day after the new American ambassador to China, former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah, arrived in Beijing.
The government did not say whether it had also suspended criminal tax-evasion charges made last week against the most prominent of the freed men, Xu Zhiyong, a public-interest lawyer, that could result in a prison sentence of seven years were he to be convicted.
The prosecution of Mr. Xu in particular has attracted scrutiny abroad because of his role in other cases that are seen as a test of the Chinese legal system’s fairness. Mr. Xu, 36, and a co-worker, Zhuang Lu, were released more than three weeks after they were seized in their homes on July 29. The authorities also shut down Mr. Xu’s Gongmeng legal center, also known as the Open Constitution Initiative, from which Mr. Xu and others had taken on cases against government authorities.
Recently, Mr. Xu’s center represented parents whose children were sickened by chemical-tainted milk, a regulatory scandal that embarrassed the government and led to the collapse of one of the nation’s biggest dairy companies.
In a separate case, Beijing authorities also released Ilham Tohti, an economist, Internet activist and ethnic Uighur detained after deadly riots erupted in the western Xinjiang region in early July.
Mr. Tohti, 39, ran a Web site called Uighur Online, a popular forum for ethnic Uighurs, who live mostly in Xinjiang, to discuss issues important to them. After the July rioting, Xinjiang’s governor, Nur Bekri, charged that the site had helped foment the violence by spreading rumors. The Web site has since been closed.
The government has accused Mr. Xu of evading taxes on a $100,000 grant that Yale University gave the Gongmeng center for legal programs. The charges are widely regarded by outsiders as punishment for Mr. Xu’s advocacy of the rule of law.
China’s court system is controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and legal decisions — especially in cases with important political or social ramifications — are often regarded as skirting written law to reflect the dictates of party officials.
The accusation against Mr. Xu was filed during a general crackdown by Chinese authorities on independent activists, and particularly on those activists who receive financing from foreign sources. In a recent speech, China’s justice minister warned lawyers that their primary duty was to support the Communist Party and promote a “harmonious society,” and said that party minders would be sent to law firms to enforce that doctrine.
China scholars and political analysts have speculated for months about whether the crackdown is temporary, perhaps linked to government concerns about disruption of the October celebration of the 60th anniversary of modern China’s founding, or whether it is part of a broader and longer-lasting effort to curtail free speech.
Mr. Xu’s detention and later arrest have surprised many here because his Gongmeng center is regarded as among the most cautious and conservative of China’s small band of public-interest organizations.
While the center has pursued some high-profile cases, it has been careful to work within the parameters of Chinese law and to focus on helping Chinese citizens secure already recognized legal rights.
Showing posts with label rule of law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rule of law. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"Chinese Lawyers "Disappear" After Seeking Justice" by NTDTV
Link
August 17, 2009
It's a chain of events that's becoming familiar: Chinese authorities are causing well-known lawyers to “disappear.”
Beijing attorney Xu Zhiyong was detained last month on alleged tax issues, and he hasn’t been seen since. He upset authorities by taking on cases involving civil rights violations and unfair imprisonment.
Xu had always fought for justice within the bounds of China’s legal system and constitution. But now he himself has been abducted and detained.
[Gao Wenqian, Senior Policy Advisor, Human Rights in China]:
“This judgment against Xu Zhiyong that the Chinese government is preparing is in fact not a judgment on Xu, but on the very nature of the Chinese legal system... The methods they are using against these civil rights groups really just display the cynicism with which they use these terms like 'rule of law.'”
But rule of law is precisely what Xu and many other lawyers are seeking. They’re involved in what's being called a “legal rights” movement. Some lawyers have been disbarred, some imprisoned.
Rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was arrested and tortured several times. He’s defended clients like Falun Gong practitioners and house Christians—two groups persecuted by the Chinese regime. He went missing again in February this year and his current whereabouts are unknown.
In 2006, legal rights activist Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to four years in prison. He had drawn attention to the plight of victims of China’s forced abortion program.
And in 2007, six lawyers from top Beijing law firms defended a Falun Gong practitioner—arguing that the Communist Party had violated her freedom of belief as guaranteed by the constitution. As a result, authorities intimidated them, and even abducted several of them, including prominent rights lawyer Teng Biao.
Clive Ansley works with Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada, an organization that supports lawyers whose rights are threatened in their home countries.
[Clive Ansley, China Country Monitor, Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada]:
"They see them [these lawyers] as a very real threat, and for very good reason, because these are people who genuinely believe in the rule of law. And the rule of law is just basically incompatible with political monopoly of power by a single party."
Just days ago, China’s justice minister announced that all lawyers should serve the Communist Party first, and that law firms would soon receive “Party liaisons.” Some see this as part of the Party’s attempt to control lawyers—and stifle dissent from within the legal profession.
Lawyer Clive Ansley says the Party feels it has no choice.
[Clive Ansley, China Country Monitor, Lawyers' Rights Watch]:
"The implementation of genuine rule of law, meaning that the law is the ultimate authority, would be the end of the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly of power."
August 17, 2009
It's a chain of events that's becoming familiar: Chinese authorities are causing well-known lawyers to “disappear.”
Beijing attorney Xu Zhiyong was detained last month on alleged tax issues, and he hasn’t been seen since. He upset authorities by taking on cases involving civil rights violations and unfair imprisonment.
Xu had always fought for justice within the bounds of China’s legal system and constitution. But now he himself has been abducted and detained.
[Gao Wenqian, Senior Policy Advisor, Human Rights in China]:
“This judgment against Xu Zhiyong that the Chinese government is preparing is in fact not a judgment on Xu, but on the very nature of the Chinese legal system... The methods they are using against these civil rights groups really just display the cynicism with which they use these terms like 'rule of law.'”
But rule of law is precisely what Xu and many other lawyers are seeking. They’re involved in what's being called a “legal rights” movement. Some lawyers have been disbarred, some imprisoned.
Rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was arrested and tortured several times. He’s defended clients like Falun Gong practitioners and house Christians—two groups persecuted by the Chinese regime. He went missing again in February this year and his current whereabouts are unknown.
In 2006, legal rights activist Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to four years in prison. He had drawn attention to the plight of victims of China’s forced abortion program.
And in 2007, six lawyers from top Beijing law firms defended a Falun Gong practitioner—arguing that the Communist Party had violated her freedom of belief as guaranteed by the constitution. As a result, authorities intimidated them, and even abducted several of them, including prominent rights lawyer Teng Biao.
Clive Ansley works with Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada, an organization that supports lawyers whose rights are threatened in their home countries.
[Clive Ansley, China Country Monitor, Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada]:
"They see them [these lawyers] as a very real threat, and for very good reason, because these are people who genuinely believe in the rule of law. And the rule of law is just basically incompatible with political monopoly of power by a single party."
Just days ago, China’s justice minister announced that all lawyers should serve the Communist Party first, and that law firms would soon receive “Party liaisons.” Some see this as part of the Party’s attempt to control lawyers—and stifle dissent from within the legal profession.
Lawyer Clive Ansley says the Party feels it has no choice.
[Clive Ansley, China Country Monitor, Lawyers' Rights Watch]:
"The implementation of genuine rule of law, meaning that the law is the ultimate authority, would be the end of the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly of power."
Friday, August 14, 2009
¨Jailing Xu Zhiyong A legal scholar's case tests China on the rule of law¨ by The Washington Post Opinion
Link
August 14, 2009
AT THE CONCLUSION of the Strategic Economic Dialogue on July 28, the United States and China issued a news release affirming "the importance of the rule of law to our two countries." One day later, Chinese police led prominent legal scholar Xu Zhiyong out of his apartment to be detained indefinitely.
Few people embrace the rule of law in China as openly or as wholeheartedly as Mr. Xu. After graduating from one of China's most prestigious law schools, he has dedicated his life to fighting for justice by means of the Chinese legal system. He has represented the parents of more than 300,000 children affected by melamine-contaminated milk, opposed secret "black jails" and fought for the rights of death row inmates. Mr. Xu is a strong proponent of working within the system for change -- so much so that he ran for office in one of China's rare contested elections and won. Along with his colleagues at the Open Constitution Initiative, which he helped establish, Mr. Xu is a highly visible legal figure to whom people have increasingly turned as they gained awareness of their constitutional rights.
Nongovernmental organizations such as the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, occupy an uneasy place in China. Many register as businesses to avoid dealing with a system that limits the number of NGOs and that requires government agencies to oversee their operations. This decision leaves them in a legal gray area, and in July, Chinese authorities charged that Gongmeng was improperly registered and had failed to pay taxes. Officials entered the organization's offices and confiscated dozens of files.
Mr. Xu was confident that he could defend his organization against these allegations by his usual means: through the system. But scarcely a week before he was to appear in court, police took him from his home.
He is not the first to see his trust in the system backfire. Last month, China refused to renew the licenses of 53 human rights lawyers whose cases troubled the Communist Party. But by taking on a figure as public and as scrupulously law-respecting as Mr. Xu, the Chinese government has crossed a new line. China frequently affirms its commitment to the "rule of law." But because the Chinese judiciary is not independent -- its chief justice is a longtime party member who lacks a law degree -- and court decisions often depend upon policy calculations, it is thanks only to the tireless efforts of those such as Mr. Xu that the "rule of law" might come to mean anything at all.
According to Chinese practice, Mr. Xu can be held for 30 days while the government decides whether to press charges; during this interval, protests from abroad might have some impact. In February, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that human rights issues should not "interfere" in the discussion with China. But engaging with China does not mean abdicating the responsibility to strenuously object to its human rights violations -- especially in such an egregious case as the detention of Mr. Xu.
August 14, 2009
AT THE CONCLUSION of the Strategic Economic Dialogue on July 28, the United States and China issued a news release affirming "the importance of the rule of law to our two countries." One day later, Chinese police led prominent legal scholar Xu Zhiyong out of his apartment to be detained indefinitely.
Few people embrace the rule of law in China as openly or as wholeheartedly as Mr. Xu. After graduating from one of China's most prestigious law schools, he has dedicated his life to fighting for justice by means of the Chinese legal system. He has represented the parents of more than 300,000 children affected by melamine-contaminated milk, opposed secret "black jails" and fought for the rights of death row inmates. Mr. Xu is a strong proponent of working within the system for change -- so much so that he ran for office in one of China's rare contested elections and won. Along with his colleagues at the Open Constitution Initiative, which he helped establish, Mr. Xu is a highly visible legal figure to whom people have increasingly turned as they gained awareness of their constitutional rights.
Nongovernmental organizations such as the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, occupy an uneasy place in China. Many register as businesses to avoid dealing with a system that limits the number of NGOs and that requires government agencies to oversee their operations. This decision leaves them in a legal gray area, and in July, Chinese authorities charged that Gongmeng was improperly registered and had failed to pay taxes. Officials entered the organization's offices and confiscated dozens of files.
Mr. Xu was confident that he could defend his organization against these allegations by his usual means: through the system. But scarcely a week before he was to appear in court, police took him from his home.
He is not the first to see his trust in the system backfire. Last month, China refused to renew the licenses of 53 human rights lawyers whose cases troubled the Communist Party. But by taking on a figure as public and as scrupulously law-respecting as Mr. Xu, the Chinese government has crossed a new line. China frequently affirms its commitment to the "rule of law." But because the Chinese judiciary is not independent -- its chief justice is a longtime party member who lacks a law degree -- and court decisions often depend upon policy calculations, it is thanks only to the tireless efforts of those such as Mr. Xu that the "rule of law" might come to mean anything at all.
According to Chinese practice, Mr. Xu can be held for 30 days while the government decides whether to press charges; during this interval, protests from abroad might have some impact. In February, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that human rights issues should not "interfere" in the discussion with China. But engaging with China does not mean abdicating the responsibility to strenuously object to its human rights violations -- especially in such an egregious case as the detention of Mr. Xu.
¨Legal rights violations in China: Should Obama speak up?¨ Los Angeles Times Opinion
Link
August 13, 2009
In what seems to be part of a crackdown on civil rights lawyers in China, the Chinese government has arrested prominent civil rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong on tax fraud charges. Zhiyong, who has not been heard from since his arrest two weeks ago, started the nonprofit Open Constitution Initiative legal clinic six years ago, which has recently represented victims of the poisoned milk powder that left three children dead and 6,000 sick in China. Zhiyong's clinic was shut down for "tax evasion." Experts say this arrest does not bode well for the already precarious rule of law in China, and human rights activists across the political spectrum are calling for President Obama to speak up on the issue.
While the Chinese government over the last several years has made much progress in multiple areas of law, including trade and corporate issues, civil rights law is less established and growing slowly because of the risks lawyers who practice in this field face. Very few lawyers (Freedom Watch says there are only several dozen) are willing to take on cases such as defending parents whose infants were affected by poisonous baby formula or death row inmates.
Xu was one of the few. Many of his fellow lawyers have been disbarred and believe they will never be reinstated as practicing attorneys, even though they were working within the law to try make change in China. "None of these guys were going around the government," Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch told me. "They took cases to court that were violations under Chinese law. It's not an anomaly when you disbar the only 50 people who practice this kind of law."
The question is, why now? According to Clayton Dube, associate director of the USC U.S.-China Institute, many blame this recent crackdown on the upcoming celebration of the 60th anniversary of Communist China. He says the government's skepticism of these lawyers started back with the earthquake in the Sichuan province, continued with the Tibetan protests (many of whom were represented by rights lawyers) and grew with the milk contamination cases. In other words, this isn't a new phenomenon.
Both Freedom Watch and Human Rights Watch have said that they wish the Obama administration would do more to confront China over the violation of legal and civil rights, the effects of which they say are not only felt by Chinese citizens but often also by foreigners, as was the case with the exported baby formula.
Should the Obama administration speak out against the infringement of human rights in China and the deterioration of this field of law? China is a strategic partner that might not react well to harsh criticism from its economic ally. Even so, is it the president's duty to press on this issue and risk economic consequences for the United States?
August 13, 2009
In what seems to be part of a crackdown on civil rights lawyers in China, the Chinese government has arrested prominent civil rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong on tax fraud charges. Zhiyong, who has not been heard from since his arrest two weeks ago, started the nonprofit Open Constitution Initiative legal clinic six years ago, which has recently represented victims of the poisoned milk powder that left three children dead and 6,000 sick in China. Zhiyong's clinic was shut down for "tax evasion." Experts say this arrest does not bode well for the already precarious rule of law in China, and human rights activists across the political spectrum are calling for President Obama to speak up on the issue.
While the Chinese government over the last several years has made much progress in multiple areas of law, including trade and corporate issues, civil rights law is less established and growing slowly because of the risks lawyers who practice in this field face. Very few lawyers (Freedom Watch says there are only several dozen) are willing to take on cases such as defending parents whose infants were affected by poisonous baby formula or death row inmates.
Xu was one of the few. Many of his fellow lawyers have been disbarred and believe they will never be reinstated as practicing attorneys, even though they were working within the law to try make change in China. "None of these guys were going around the government," Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch told me. "They took cases to court that were violations under Chinese law. It's not an anomaly when you disbar the only 50 people who practice this kind of law."
The question is, why now? According to Clayton Dube, associate director of the USC U.S.-China Institute, many blame this recent crackdown on the upcoming celebration of the 60th anniversary of Communist China. He says the government's skepticism of these lawyers started back with the earthquake in the Sichuan province, continued with the Tibetan protests (many of whom were represented by rights lawyers) and grew with the milk contamination cases. In other words, this isn't a new phenomenon.
Both Freedom Watch and Human Rights Watch have said that they wish the Obama administration would do more to confront China over the violation of legal and civil rights, the effects of which they say are not only felt by Chinese citizens but often also by foreigners, as was the case with the exported baby formula.
Should the Obama administration speak out against the infringement of human rights in China and the deterioration of this field of law? China is a strategic partner that might not react well to harsh criticism from its economic ally. Even so, is it the president's duty to press on this issue and risk economic consequences for the United States?
Monday, August 10, 2009
"Fearing the Rule of Law, Chinese Government Arrests Prominent Human Rights Lawyer," by Jessica Corsi, Human Rights Foreign Policy Blog
Link
August 10, 2009
The blogosphere is abuzz with the unsettling news that the Chinese government has arrested Xu Zhiyong, a 36-year-old attorney, thereby dealing another blow to the growing Chinese rule of law movement. In authoritarian countries or nations in transition, lawyers often play a key role in bringing greater democracy through the judicial protections, accountability, and transparency that are hallmarks of the rule of law. In 2007, Pakistan’s so-called lawyers revolution demonstrated the centrality of the judiciary and attorneys in protecting Constitutional freedoms and the rule of law in the face of General Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule. While Pakistan is lauded as a successful instance of resistance, human rights lawyers around the world continue to face a hostile environment. To name a few examples, in 2003 the Ethiopian government disbanded the Women’s Lawyers Association, a women’s rights group, and in the same year the Tunisian government assaulted human rights lawyers and refused to legalize their organizations. As recently as January 2009, a human rights lawyer working on abuses by the Russian military in Chechnya was shot and killed in broad daylight, following a news conference in Moscow. In China as elsewhere, corrupt and oppressive governments fear being held legally accountable, and strike out against lawyers in an attempt to maintain impunity.
Mr. Xu seems by all accounts an excellent but certainly far from radical lawyer. Since his graduation from Peking University law school he had taken up cases of disenfranchised or abused persons, such as those suffering from government beatings, arrested for publishing news offensive to the Chinese government, and victims of poisoned milk. Before his arrest he was preparing to challenge “black jails,” the Chinese government’s illegal holding cells for vocal critics. He had co-founded the Open Constitution Initiative, a Beijing-based non-profit legal services and research center, which the Chinese government shut down following a raid on July 17, 2009. Claiming that the center was involved in tax evasion, the government also disbarred 53 Beijing lawyers at this time. The center had been involved in highly sensitive cases such as challenging the Chinese government’s role in 2008’s Tibetan unrest, and this together with Mr. Xu’s arrest imply that, whatever tax problems did or did not exist, the government’s motive in closing the center and in Mr. Xu’s arrest is to squash the rule of law movement.
Lawyers play a critical role in investigating and reporting human rights violations and in ensuring the responsibility of the state and remedies for victims. Mr. Xu and the Open Constitution Initiative represent real and effective action to secure human rights in China; for example, Mr. Xu’s very first case led to the abolition of vagrancy laws that allowed police to detain people traveling without a permit outside of their registered towns, demonstrating that one legal action can have significant impact throughout China. The New York Times writes today that “China is at a critical [legal] juncture” following 30 years of reform. China lacks neither lawyers nor functioning courts, and while objectively this is a good thing and necessary for the rule of law, the government appears immensely threatened by the prospect of a functioning judiciary and the ability of its citizens to redress human rights violations. Chinese law professor He Weifang states that the Communist Party’s concern regarding lawyers is that they will be able to challenge China’s one party rule and to lead a pro-democracy movement by mobilizing their network of clients that have legal and other grievances against the Chinese government. More generally, the Chinese government seems to fear any movement from civil society to hold it legally accountable.
Whether the next wave of democratic change in China will come at the hands of lawyers remains to be seen, but it is certain that future reforms cannot take place without progress towards the rule of law. Like human rights defenders around the world, Mr. Xu is owed protection by his government rather than attack from it. Hopefully, the current media attention around his case will save him from harm and ensure his prompt release.
August 10, 2009
The blogosphere is abuzz with the unsettling news that the Chinese government has arrested Xu Zhiyong, a 36-year-old attorney, thereby dealing another blow to the growing Chinese rule of law movement. In authoritarian countries or nations in transition, lawyers often play a key role in bringing greater democracy through the judicial protections, accountability, and transparency that are hallmarks of the rule of law. In 2007, Pakistan’s so-called lawyers revolution demonstrated the centrality of the judiciary and attorneys in protecting Constitutional freedoms and the rule of law in the face of General Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule. While Pakistan is lauded as a successful instance of resistance, human rights lawyers around the world continue to face a hostile environment. To name a few examples, in 2003 the Ethiopian government disbanded the Women’s Lawyers Association, a women’s rights group, and in the same year the Tunisian government assaulted human rights lawyers and refused to legalize their organizations. As recently as January 2009, a human rights lawyer working on abuses by the Russian military in Chechnya was shot and killed in broad daylight, following a news conference in Moscow. In China as elsewhere, corrupt and oppressive governments fear being held legally accountable, and strike out against lawyers in an attempt to maintain impunity.
Mr. Xu seems by all accounts an excellent but certainly far from radical lawyer. Since his graduation from Peking University law school he had taken up cases of disenfranchised or abused persons, such as those suffering from government beatings, arrested for publishing news offensive to the Chinese government, and victims of poisoned milk. Before his arrest he was preparing to challenge “black jails,” the Chinese government’s illegal holding cells for vocal critics. He had co-founded the Open Constitution Initiative, a Beijing-based non-profit legal services and research center, which the Chinese government shut down following a raid on July 17, 2009. Claiming that the center was involved in tax evasion, the government also disbarred 53 Beijing lawyers at this time. The center had been involved in highly sensitive cases such as challenging the Chinese government’s role in 2008’s Tibetan unrest, and this together with Mr. Xu’s arrest imply that, whatever tax problems did or did not exist, the government’s motive in closing the center and in Mr. Xu’s arrest is to squash the rule of law movement.
Lawyers play a critical role in investigating and reporting human rights violations and in ensuring the responsibility of the state and remedies for victims. Mr. Xu and the Open Constitution Initiative represent real and effective action to secure human rights in China; for example, Mr. Xu’s very first case led to the abolition of vagrancy laws that allowed police to detain people traveling without a permit outside of their registered towns, demonstrating that one legal action can have significant impact throughout China. The New York Times writes today that “China is at a critical [legal] juncture” following 30 years of reform. China lacks neither lawyers nor functioning courts, and while objectively this is a good thing and necessary for the rule of law, the government appears immensely threatened by the prospect of a functioning judiciary and the ability of its citizens to redress human rights violations. Chinese law professor He Weifang states that the Communist Party’s concern regarding lawyers is that they will be able to challenge China’s one party rule and to lead a pro-democracy movement by mobilizing their network of clients that have legal and other grievances against the Chinese government. More generally, the Chinese government seems to fear any movement from civil society to hold it legally accountable.
Whether the next wave of democratic change in China will come at the hands of lawyers remains to be seen, but it is certain that future reforms cannot take place without progress towards the rule of law. Like human rights defenders around the world, Mr. Xu is owed protection by his government rather than attack from it. Hopefully, the current media attention around his case will save him from harm and ensure his prompt release.
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