Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Tuesday 20th October

Democracy activist Guo Quan has been sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

- CCP sentences Guo Quan to ten years;

- Human rights lawyer determined with their cause.

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CCP sentences Guo Quan to ten years

On October 16th at 2pm, Suqian Court secretly sentenced Guo Quan to ten years for inciting the overthrow of the state. Quan was an associate professor at the College of Arts in Nanjing Normal University. In 2007, he wrote open letters to the leaders of the CCP, Chairman Hu Jintao, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, calling for reform of the constitutional government. In 2008, he established China New Democracy Party. Guo also wrote articles to criticize the gerry-rigged construction of the schools in Sichuan earthquake-stricken areas.

Guo Quan’s mother, Ms. Gu Xiao got a call from Guo’s defense attorney after the sentencing. She immediately contacted the Nanjing Police Station, demanding the release of the judgment report to Guo’s relatives. She also demanded to visit Guo after the judgment becomes effective. Guo was originally detained in November 2008. It has been one year since Gu Xiao has been allowed to see her son.

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Human rights lawyer determined with their cause

The Chinese Communist judicial administration used its annual audit to strip the licenses of Chinese human rights lawyers who represent minorities. Most were lawyers handling cases concerning the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. SOH reporters interviewed several of these lawyers on October 13th, after they had been forced to stop work for four months. The lawyers told SOH reporters that their qualifications still hold, and that they are not about to give up their rights to the profession.

These lawyers have pointed out that the Chinese Communist Political Bureau has directly intervened with the judicial administration, and participated in the persecution of lawyers representing Falun Gong practitioners.

Lawyer Liu Wei, former co-owner of the Shunhe Legal Firm in Beijing, was asked to leave the firm during an audit in order for the firm to obtain its operational license.

Liu, who refused the request and questioned the intentions of the judicial administration had this to say (recording)

“The judicial administration does not discuss the actual issue. Whether it be the judicial office, or my partners at the firm, none of them want to take on the responsibility. We are now in a “cold war” state, but I cannot continue my work, neither can the other lawyers. The judicial administration has asked for myself and Wen Haibo to resign, and, if we did not leave, there will be conflict that would still originate from the judicial administration.”

Lawyer Wei Liangyue from Heilongjiang Province also accepted a Falun Gong case. In March 2009, he was illegally arrested and detained at Harbin’s Nangang District Police Department. The provincial judicial administration subsequently withheld his professional license through the annual audit, and claimed that the 6.10 office in Harbin directly intervened in his case. The 6.10 office even intended to cancel his lawyer’s qualifications. Wei recently requested the return of his license, in order to take on a drug-related case, but was again refused.

Wei had this to say (recording)

“He said to me, ‘…because the judicial administration also knows about your defense of the innocence of Falun Gong, your matter is not something under our control. After your awaited trial is complete, I will give you the license immediately, without delay.’ So you can see, it is the bad conduct of the 6.10 office, which operates completely outside of the law. Yet legally, they really have no place to stand. The matters including Nangang branch office’s handling of the case, as well as the inability for lawyers to acquire normal operational licenses, this has all been caused by the 6.10 office.”

Lawyer Cheng Hau, former staff at the Anhui Legal Firm in Beijing, saw that each of the recommendation papers he had received from the judicial administration, involved the cases he had accepted for Falun Gong practitioners. He once assisted Anhui Firm in submitting 14 papers with recommendations for administrative reconsiderations to various government departments, and asked to correct the illegal conduct of the judical administration. Currently, in order to obtain the lawyer’s license, Cheng has left Anhui Legal Firm in hopes of starting his own legal firm.
Cheng said (recording)

“Human rights is something one must fight for, and the law will not enforce itself automatically. Many lawyers have this illusion, as if others automatically behave according to the law. I would pursue any conduct that violates the law. Without learning the punishments, it would develop, and eventually turn this illegal conduct toward other people.”

The list of persecuted human rights lawyers includes internationally renowned human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has endured severe persecution and tortures and is still missing; lawyer Wang Yongchang – detained for 70 days; Lawyer Li Heping – who suffered inhumane tortures and lost his personal freedom; and Liu Shihui -who was forced to stop work for six months.

Keith Ware; Li Yifei; and Ai Xin of the SOH Radio Network.

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