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Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers calls for investigation into harassment and intimidation of lawyers in China

Date: 2008-11-26

In a letter sent yesterday, the Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers called on the Beijing Lawyers Association to investigate reports of harassment of
lawyers in China.



In a letter sent yesterday, the Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers called on the Beijing Lawyers Association to investigate reports of harassment of
lawyers in China.

The Committee, which is housed at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School, is a group of independent lawyers from
outside China whose goal is to support lawyers in China in their quest to strengthen the rule of law there.

The Committee acted on reports that after publishing an appeal online on August 26, calling for direct election of the officials leading the Beijing
Lawyers Association (equivalent to a bar association), a number of lawyers have been intimidated, harassed, and even fired from their firms. According
to reports, Lawyers Cheng Hai and Li Subin, both signatories to the appeal, were asked to leave their positions at the Beijing Yitong Law Firm on October
30 following a visit to the firm by six or seven officials from the Haidian District Bureau of Justice. The firm’s director is said to have felt pressured
to dismiss the lawyers. Another signatory to the appeal, Tang Jitian, was asked to leave the Haodong firm in Beijing “for the sake of the future of the
firm.” Other signatories have reportedly been summoned by their district bureaus of justice, and firm heads were told that if lawyers in the firm who
signed the appeal failed to withdraw their signatures, then their firms would face problems with their annual licensing inspection.

The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers emphasized in their letter to the Beijing Lawyers Association Director that penalizing lawyers for expressing
their views on this issue is inconsistent with international principles and Chinese domestic law, and is contrary to the rule of law and the development
of a vibrant, independent bar. The Committee called on the Director to investigate the reports, and if true, vigorously denounce the dismissals and do all
within his power to help the lawyers to be reinstated with their firms.