Support for PRC to align its legal system with international law and legal standards

SUMMARY

With assistance from the Task Force on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges, City Bar President Muhammad Faridi sent a letter to leadership in the People’s Republic of China regarding the PRC’s reported failures to respect the human rights of lawyers in the sweeping crackdown beginning July 9, 2015 that has become known as the “709 Crackdown.” Leading NGOs including Human Rights Watch and Lawyers for Lawyers reported that lawyers, legal assistants and activists were arrested, detained and tortured, and were subjected to procedural irregularities in trials and sentencing. Many of the lawyers caught up in that sweep have lost their licenses and are unable to practice to this day. Their lives and their families remain subject to harassment, surveillance and harsh limits on freedom to travel. The letter addresses the City Bar’s observations on the rights of lawyers in PRC and, in particular, on the ongoing effects of the 709 Crackdown, which we have monitored and written about over the last 10 years.

REPORT

His Excellency Xi Jinping
General Secretary, Chinese Communist Party
12, Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijing, 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Honorable Chen Wenqing
Chairman, Central Committee Political and Legal Affairs Commission
12, Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijing, 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Dear General Secretary Xi Jinping and Chairman Chen Wenqing:

I write on behalf of the New York City Bar Association (the “Association”), one of the largest and the oldest bar associations in the United States.[1]  The Association supports the People’s Republic of China’s (“PRC”) ongoing dedication to aligning its legal system with the country’s obligations under international law and legal standards. This work, however, is being undermined by PRC’s reported failures to respect the human rights of lawyers in the sweeping crackdown beginning July 9, 2015, that has become known as the “709 Crackdown.” Human Rights Watch, a leading NGO reporting human rights abuses, and Lawyers for Lawyers, a leading NGO focusing on the human rights of lawyers, reported that lawyers, legal assistants, and activists were arrested, detained, and tortured, and were subjected to procedural irregularities in trials and sentencing.[2]  According to Lawyers for Lawyers, many of the lawyers caught up in that sweep have lost their licenses and are unable to practice to this day. Their lives and their families remain subject to harassment, surveillance and harsh limits on freedom to travel.[3] This letter addresses the Association’s observations on the rights of lawyers in PRC and, in particular, on the ongoing effects of the 709 Crackdown, which the Association has monitored and written about over the last 10 years.[4]

Inhumane Treatment of the Detainees

While most of the leading 709 lawyers and rights defenders were based and arrested in Beijing,[5] their subsequent detention, investigations, and trials were generally carried out in other locations.[6] It has been documented by several organizations that while in custody, lawyers detained in the 709 Crackdown were subjected to extreme methods of intimidation, persecution, interrogation and torture including:

• forced disappearance;
• solitary confinement;
• prolonged forcible medication with unknown substances;
• verbal abuse;
• use of physical violence;
• prolonged periods where detainees are forced to stand or sit motionless;
• starvation;
• threats of harm to loved ones;
• “body sandwiching;” and
• deprivation of communication with family members while serving time in prison.[7]

Lack of Transparency and Due Process

Many of the trials in the wake of the 709 Crackdown were declared to be “Public.” However, as reported by Lawyers for Lawyers and other organizations, diplomats from numerous countries, as well as relatives, and ordinary citizens who attempted to observe the trials were barred from entering the courtroom.[8]  For example, in its 2023 Statement, the Association noted that lawyers Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong were sentenced to 12 and 14 years in prison, respectively, after secret, closed-door trials concluded in 2022, and that lawyer Yu Wensheng served 4 years in prison after a similar 2018 secret, closed-door trial.[9]  On August 28, yet another, closed-door trial, of lawyers Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan commenced. That trial is scheduled to last through Friday, August 30.[10]

The Current Realities for 709 Lawyers

Many 709 lawyers face continued harm and interference with their right to a peaceable existence. It has been widely reported that Zhou Shifeng’s and Wang Quanzhang’s homes in Beijing are monitored around the clock, and whenever they leave home, they are followed. Their social interactions are frequently disrupted by police interference.[11] Similarly, both Li Heping and Wang Quanzhang’s families have faced multiple forced evictions.[12] Their children have been repeatedly expelled from their schools, including private schools, compromising their education. Other 709 lawyers, including Wang Quanzhang and Li Heping, and their families, including spouses and young children, continue to be barred from traveling outside PRC.[13] Jiang Tianyong has been separated from his wife and daughter for over ten years, unable to be reunited with them outside PRC because of the exit ban.[14]

The Association’s Requests

The Association respectfully urges the government of the PRC to end its crackdown on human rights lawyers and defenders, review and redress all 709 Crackdown prosecutions and court cases, and hold to account those officials responsible for the illegalities and injustices perpetrated during the 709 Crackdown and in its aftermath.

The Association also respectfully urges the PRC, consistent with the recommendations of Lawyers for Lawyers and other human rights NGOs, to amend its laws and regulations, including national security legislation, its Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, to bring them into full compliance with international human rights standards, and meaningfully cooperate with the United Nations human rights bodies to that end.[15]

The Association also cautions the PRC that its ongoing failure to acknowledge and redress the many violations of lawyers’ rights, which occurred from the start of the 709 Crackdown to the present will continue to cause harm to the PRC’s reputation and impede international trade with and economic investment in the PRC.

Respectfully,

Muhammad U. Faridi
President, New York City Bar Association