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Rights Defense Lawyer Tang Jitian Released After Detention in Jixi

Date: 2013-10-22

Chinese rights defense lawyer Tang Jitian (唐吉田) has been released by authorities in the northern city of Jixi, Heilongjiang Province, after being detained for five days for “disrupting order at a work unit.” According to reports, Tang was initially detained on October 17 after attempting to assist a man whose wife was being illegally held at a labor camp on suspicion of being a Falun Gong member.



Chinese rights defense lawyer Tang Jitian (唐吉田) has been released by authorities in the northern city of Jixi, Heilongjiang Province, after being detained for five days for “disrupting order at a work unit.” According to reports, Tang was initially detained on October 17 after attempting to assist a man whose wife was being illegally held at a labor camp on suspicion of being a Falun Gong member. The man, Yang Kaicheng (杨开成), was also detained on October 17, although his current status is unclear.

Tang’s detention, the latest in a series of intensified government actions to obstruct advocacy in politically charged cases, prompted dozens of lawyers and other citizens to issue an open letter calling on the mayor of Jixi to take action. Among other things, the letter’s signatories urged the Jixi mayor to order Tang’s release, begin an investigation into Tang’s treatment, and order those responsible to publicly apologize and offer compensation for Tang’s unlawful detention. The contents of the letter have been made available by the NGO Human Rights in China at http://www.hrichina.org/content/6984. The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers joins in these calls for accountability, transparancy, and compensation in addressing the detention of Tang and his client.

Tang is a well-known rights defense lawyer who has represented Falun Gong practitioners, victims of illegal land requisitions, persons suffering from HIV, AIDS, and hepatitis B, and parents of children harmed in the melamine-tainted milk powder scandal. As a consequence of his outspoken advocacy, his law license was revoked by authorities in 2010.