China Aid
Translated by Carolyn Song. Edited in English by Ava Collins.
(Tianjin, China—Dec. 9, 2015) The defense attorney for a church elder wrote a letter in late October to a branch of the Tianjin Municipal Security Bureau, requesting a meeting with his client.
Li Baiguang, who is also representing detained legal professional Liu Peng, demanded that a meeting be arranged with his client, Hu Shigen, a Beijing church elder who has been missing since July 9. In his Oct. 28 letter, Li listed stipulations from various Chinese legal documents that give him the right to meet his client and urged the bureau to “handle this case in accordance with these laws.”
China Aid works to expose abuses of the legal system such as those involved in the disappearance of Hu, and to raise awareness about the state of human rights in China. A translation of Li’s letter can be found below.
Application for meeting with suspect
Tianjin Municipal Public Security Hexi Branch,
Commissioned by the suspect Hu Shigen’s brother Hu Shuigen, I am the lawyer for the suspect Hu Shigen, accused of allegedly “subverting state power” and “picking quarrels and provoking troubles,” whose case you are investigating. Hu Shigen was put into criminal custody on July 9, 2015, by your bureau, and transferred to residential surveillance on Aug.7. The detainment period has been over 110 days.
According to the stipulations of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, Articles 36, 96, and 151, and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Lawyers, Article 30, and the Several Provisions on the Public Security Organs’ Handling of Cases Involving Economic Crimes, Articles 40 and 47, I, the defender, am applying to your bureau to meet the suspect Hu Shigen based on these laws. Please handle this case in accordance with these laws, upholding [the stipulations of] Legally Safeguarding the Lawyers’ Rights to Practice Law issued by the Supreme Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of the Public Security, the Ministry of National Security, and the Ministry of Justice on Sep. 16, 2015. Please safeguard my right to practice law, and arrange for me to meet with Hu Shigen as soon as possible.
If your bureau makes the decision again not to allow me to meet with Hu Shigen, I, the defense attorney, believe you are required to comply with the stipulation of the Several Provisions on the Public Security Organs’ Handling of Cases Involving Economic Crimes, Article 47, and provide me the names of crimes the suspect committed, the main facts your organization has already made clear, all conditions of the application, any change, whether rescinding or prolonging, of the suspect’s detention, information regarding the commissioned defense lawyer, or allowance for this defender to go to your bureau to listen to the introduction of the case personally and write everything in records.
Sincerely,
Li Baiguang
To Tianjin Municipal Public Security Hexi Branch
Information about the Defender:
Mailing Address: Room 709, Zuoangongshe,
68 North Ring West Road, Haidian District, Beijing
Phone: 010-8282-7326, Zip: 100080
Defense Lawyer: Li Baiguang, Cell 15810689698
China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chinaaid.org
