Friday, June 26, 2009

【权利:2208】 RE: 国际律师协会就维权律师未能通过年度考核向中国领导人发出公开信--中文

由中国维权律师关注组翻译:

国际律师协会(IBA)致函总理温家宝关注内地维权律师执业考核受阻

 

2006626

 

总部设在伦敦的国际律师协会人权部(International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute)于619日致函中国总理温家宝,对中国内地维权律师因参与维权案件而遭到司法部门打压,仍未获通过律师年度考核,表示关注。国际律师协会信件英文原文:

 

http://www.ibanet.org/Human_Rights_Institute/About_the_HRI/HRI_Activities/HRI_Media/HRI_Interventions/Int_China_June09.aspx

 

中国维权律师关注组现把国际律师协会人权部的信件翻译如下,供国内外朋友参考。

 

温家宝

中华人民共和国总理

国务院办公室

中国北京市西城区府右街2

邮编:100017

 

2009619

 

尊敬的温总理:

 

关于:对辩护律师的打压

 

我们谨代表国际律师协会(IBA)人权部(IBAHRI)就当局一些打压辩护律师业务的行动写信给您。

 

相信阁下应该知道,国际律师协会人权部(IBAHRI)致力于在公平的系统下提倡和保护人权。我们相信争执可以在独立的司法机关前聆讯和裁定是世界公民的基本权利;我们也相信在不受干预的情况下履行职责是法官和律师的基本权利。

 

我们关注到一些有关中国维权律师被国家官员打压的报导。我们知道最少有十六位律师没有通过年度执业考核,以致不能在当地的律师协会注册,继续执业。报告指出有最少三所律师事务所未能通过年度考核,直接影响事务所内超过三十位律师的执业资格。有指这些事务所未能通过年度考核是由于它们代理的当事人的背景敏感;据了解,个别律师和事务所参与或承办的主要事件、案件包括北京律协直选、争取减低律协会费、法轮功案件、艾滋感染者维权案件、失地农民维权案件、有毒奶粉案、劳教案件、家庭教会案件、被强制拆迁户维权案件。

 

此外,我们亦收到有关一些未能通过年度考核的律师遭到拘禁、关押,和失踪的消息。消息指出,例如,在200964日北京律师唐吉田遭五名海淀分局国保支队的警察暴力绑架,至四天后才获释;律师如江天勇、李和平、黎雄兵、李方平、兰志学和浦志强等在647日期间被监视,并且外出时均由警车接送;另外,张凯律师表面上虽然通过了今次的年度考核,但随即就被其律师事务所无理地要求离开。

 

近日事态的发展显示出当局对代理政治敏感案件的维权律师采取一致的打压行动,对此我们深表关注。请参考早前由国际律师协会人权部发出,如今年2月及 4月时发出的,有关律师在执业时遇到的打压的信件。对律师正常的执业的持续打压、骚扰及阻碍将削弱中国的法治,亦严重违反国际及中国国内的人权标准。

 

我们再一次您能注意到有关保障律师应有的权利不被侵害的法规,包括中华人民共和国宪法第33及第35条,及中华人民共和国律师法第2及第32条。另外,《联合国关于律师作用的基本原则》第16条勾划出各国政府应给予律师的保护,以确保律师能够履行其职责而不受恫吓、妨碍、骚扰或不适当的干涉,而第 23条则保障律师发表意见、信仰、结社和集会的自由。

 

我们呼吁中国当局容许这些辩护律师继续执业,并立即准许他们通过年度执业考核,或提出合理的理由说明他们为何未能通过考核。当局必须让律师及律师事务所在没有威胁、骚扰和专业消亡的情况下履行其职责及代理各类型的案件。我们进一步要求当局全面调查上述有关侵害个别律师人身安全的指控,以及采取一切可行的措施以确保他们今后的人身安全。

 

我们期待您的早日回复。

 

此致

 

        敬礼

 

国际律师协会人权部联合主席

Justice Richard Goldstone

Martin Šolc

 

抄送:

 

胡锦涛

中华人民共和国主席

中国北京市西城区中南海

 

吴爱英

中华人民共和国司法部部长

中国北京市朝阳区朝阳门南大街10号中华人民共和国司法部

邮编:100020

电邮:minister@legalinfo.gov.cn

传真:+86 (010) 84772883

 

张学兵

北京市律师协会会长

中国北京市朝阳区东三环北路8号亮马河大厦写字楼219

邮编:10004

电邮:hz@bmla.org.cn

传真: (8610) 6590 6650 51

 

于宁

中华全国律师协会会长

中华人民共和国北京市东城区朝内北小街2号凯龙大厦602

邮编:100700

电邮:jurisino@jurisino.com, business@acla.org.cn

传真:+86 (010) 64049539

 

傅莹

中华人民共和国驻大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国大使

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

49–51 Portland Place

London W1B 4JL

UK

另外,华盛顿邮报今天也发表维权律师被打压的相关报道

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062503941.html?wpisrc=newsletter

 

Human Rights Lawyers 'Disbarred' by Paperwork

Chinese Officials Decline to Renew Annual Licenses

 

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Friday, June 26, 2009

 

BEIJING -- In the five years since it was founded, the Yitong Law Firm has established itself as one of the country's fiercest human rights advocates. It represented Hu Jia, the dissident who spoke out against the Tiananmen Square crackdown and on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients; Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist who exposed forced abortions; and hundreds of others its lawyers felt had been wrongly imprisoned.

 

Its success rate isn't stellar -- it has won at most 60 percent of its cases. But in a country where rule of law is still a work in progress and calling for democracy is often treated as a crime against the state, Yitong and other human rights firms have spoken out for people who otherwise would have been silenced.

 

Those days may be over.

 

Since the beginning of 2009 -- a sensitive year filled with anniversaries of uprisings -- the Chinese government has been forcing human rights law firms such as Yitong to shut down.

 

Formally, there is no crackdown; no police are swooping in to seize files or send attorneys en masse to labor camps. Instead, Beijing is simply using its administrative procedures for licensing lawyers and law firms, declining to renew the annual registrations, which expired May 31, of those it deems troublemakers. Human rights groups say dozens of China's best defense attorneys have effectively been disbarred.

 

"It's a collective strike," said Cheung Yiuleung, a leader of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, an advocacy organization based in Hong Kong. "Compared with individual warnings, the annual check of licenses is more effective. . . . It has had a frightening effect on all lawyers on the mainland."

 

A few prominent lawyers have met with even harsher treatment. One has gone missing: Gao Zhisheng -- who defended religious minorities such as members of Falun Gong and underground Christians, was a nominee for last year's Nobel Peace Prize and whose family fled China and sought asylum in the United States in March -- was taken by security agents from his home in Shaanxi province Feb. 4 and has not been heard from since.

 

Several lawyers say they have been beaten en route to meetings with clients in human rights cases. Others have been detained, questioned, put under house arrest for days or weeks and told they must be accompanied by police escorts whenever they leave their homes.

 

In late May, 17 human rights attorneys whose licenses have been suspended signed an open letter saying authorities are engaging in the "full-scale repression of rights" of defense lawyers "to an unprecedented degree."

 

With high unemployment from factory closings due to the global economic crisis, China's leaders have expressed concern that the sporadic outbreaks of social unrest in recent months might spread, and they have sought to keep those who might stir up dissent, such as human rights lawyers, under tight rein.

 

Their concerns are compounded by this year's significant dates: the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising that led to the Dalai Lama's flight to India, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and the first anniversary of protests over the shoddy construction that caused many deaths in last year's Sichuan province earthquake.

 

Attorneys whose licenses have not been renewed as of this month include Li Xiongbing, who represented victims of contaminated infant formula against the manufacturer Sanlu; Li Chunfu, who has been working on two cases involving wrongful death while in custody; and Wang Yaiun, who fought for the rights of migrant workers who left the countryside to work in urban factories.

 

Jiang Tianyong, an attorney with the firm Beijing Globe-Law who represents the parent of a child who died during the Sichuan earthquake and Tibetan monks arrested during last year's riots, said he had been warned last year not to take those cases. Representatives of the government's legal affairs bureau came "to talk to me and try to persuade me not to do it. I said, 'Since the law doesn't forbid me, why can't I do that?' "

 

Because "I don't listen to them and am not controlled," Jiang said, he was not entirely surprised when he learned this month that the renewal of his annual license, typically a formality, had been denied. He said he has been talking to other lawyers in his situation about starting a new, nongovernmental organization or advocacy group so they can continue to help those in need.

 

Not everyone is as unwavering under government pressure.

 

Wei Liangyue, head of the Jiaodian Law Firm in the northeastern city of Harbin, said this year was the first time in 21 years his license has not been renewed. In addition, he said, he was detained by police from March 1 to 30, and although he was not given any explanation in writing, he was told he was being punished for taking on Falun Gong clients.

 

"When I accepted these cases, I already expected the risks. I made my decision for intuitive knowledge and fairness. My decision is right," Wei said. However, he continued, "in the future, I might not touch sensitive cases like this."

 

Tang Jitian of the Beijing Anhui Law Firm said that the license issue has caused a rift in his office, where some of the lawyers handle human rights cases and others work on less sensitive issues.

 

"Some lawyers understand us and support us. But some lawyers told the head of the law firm that either we leave or they leave," said Tang, whose license was not renewed and who was detained by police from June 3 to 7 in the basement of a Beijing hotel.

 

In Yitong's case, managing partner Li Jinsong said authorities ordered the law firm to close for six months starting in mid-March because it employed a lawyer who was not properly licensed. Li called the charge absurd, saying the lawyer held a valid license to practice in another Chinese city and had filed an application to transfer it to Beijing, where the firm is based. Moreover, the penalty -- shutting down the entire firm -- is "100 percent illegal," Li said.

 

Yitong has appealed the ruling, but it has already had a devastating effect. The firm once attracted some of China's top legal talent -- idealistic men and women in their 30s and 40s, many of whom followed other legal career paths but switched to human rights advocacy because they wanted to make a difference in Chinese society. But now, of the more than 20 attorneys who once worked at its offices, only five are left. The others, concerned about their ability to support their families, took jobs at less controversial firms.

 

"As a law firm, we must make money. But since we have closed for more than three months, I don't even know if Yitong will still exist," Li said. "I am not sure if we will still have enough money to pay the rent."

 

Still, Li said he remains determined to take on human rights cases and is hopeful that in the future, lawyers will be able to operate more freely.

 

"There has to be someone who continues walking on this road. The more people walk, the wider the road will become," he said. "I will fight until I'm beaten to death."

 

Researchers Zhang Jie and Liu Liu contributed to this report.

 


From: Tina Tan
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 12:38 PM
To: 'ChinaRights@googlegroups.com'
Subject:
国际律师协会就维权律师未能通过年度考核向中国领导人发出公开信

 

China: Targeting of defence lawyers

http://www.ibanet.org/Human_Rights_Institute/About_the_HRI/HRI_Activities/HRI_Media/HRI_Interventions/Int_China_June09.aspx

Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli
Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People's Republic of China

19 June 2009

 

Dear Prime Minister

Re: Targeting of defence lawyers

We are writing from the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute concerning a number of actions which suppress the professional activities of defense lawyers.

As you are aware, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) works to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law. We believe in the fundamental right of the world's citizens to have disputes heard and determined by an independent judiciary, and for the judges and lawyers to be able to practice freely without interference.

We are concerned by a number of reports which suggest that Chinese rights defence lawyers are being targeted by State officials. We understand that at least 16 lawyers did not receive their annual licensing inspection and registration approval from the Lawyers Association in their localities, resulting in them being unable to continue to practice law. Reports suggest that at least three firms were also denied the approval, which directly affects the more than 30 lawyers employed by these those firms. These firms are understood to have failed the inspection because of the advocacy work of some of the clients they represent. We understand that both the individual lawyers and the firms supported causes such as the direct elections of representatives of the Lawyers Association; advocacy for lowering the annual lawyer's registration fee; representation of cases involving Falun Gong, HIV/AIDS, peasants who have lost land, the tainted milk powder scandal, Re-education-Through-Labor, house churches, and forced evictions.

Furthermore, we have received reports regarding the arrest, detention or disappearance of some lawyers who did not pass the annual inspection. Reports suggest, for example, that Tang Jitian from Beijing was forcibly taken away by five policemen from the Haidian Branch Office of the Beijing Public Security Bureau on 4 June 2009, and released four days later. Lawyers Jiang Tianyong, Li Heping, Li Xiongbing, Li Fangping, Lan Zhixue, and Pu Zhiqiang, were reportedly put under surveillance from 4 -7 June 2009, and were required to take police cars when they left their homes. Another lawyer, Zhang Kai, apparently passed this year's annual inspection, however was subsequently asked by his law firm to leave without explanation.

We are concerned that these latest developments show a concerted action by the authorities to suppress the rights defence lawyers due to their affiliation with politically sensitive cases. Please refer to previous letters sent from the IBAHRI concerning cases in which lawyers have been targeted for carrying out their professional activities, such as the letters written in February and April this year. Ongoing targeting, harassment and hindrances to the practice of lawyers undermine the rule of law in China and are a serious contravention of international and domestic human rights standards.

We would once again like to draw your attention to articles 33 and 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, and article 2 and 32 of the Laws of the People's Republic of China on lawyers, which protect the actions of lawyers guarantee their right not to be violated. Further, principle 16 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers outlines the protections governments should give to lawyers to allow them to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference, and principle 23 guarantees lawyers rights to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly.

We urge Chinese authorities to allow defence lawyers to continue practising law, and either immediately issue the annual licensing inspection and registration approval or provide a valid reason for not doing so. Lawyers and law firms must be allowed to conduct their professional activities, representing all manner of cases, without fear of threat, harassment or professional demise. We further call for a full investigation into the above allegations relating to violations of individual lawyers' security, and for all measures to be taken to ensure their future security.

We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Justice Richard Goldstone
Martin Šolc
IBAHRI Co-Chairs

cc.
President Hu Jintao
People's Republic of China
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing
People's Republic of China

Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China
Minister Wu Aiying
No. 10 Nandajie, Chaoyangmen
Beijing, People's Republic of China, Postal code: 100020
Fax: +86 (010) 84772883
minister@legalinfo.gov.cn

Beijing Lawyers Association
Director Zhang Xuebin
East Associates (Beijing)
Landmark Tower 2, 19th Fl., 8 N. Dongsanhuan Rd.
Beijing, 100004, People's Republic of China
Fax: (8610) 6590 6650 and 51
hz@bmla.org.cn

Yu Ning
Secretary General
All-China Lawyers Association
602 Kailong Building
No.2 Chaoyangmenneibei Street
Dongcheng District, Chaoyang District
Beijing, People's Republic of China, Postal code: 100700
Fax: +86 (010) 64049539
jurisino@jurisino.com, business@acla.org.cn

HE Mrs Fu Ying
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
49–51 Portland Place
London W1B 4JL, UK


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