NY Lawyers Committee Expresses Concern over China's Dismissal of HR Lawyers

China Aid Association

Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers |  | www.csclawyers.org
Chair: Robert N. Hornick, Esq.
Vice Chair: Professor Martin S. Flaherty, Esq. | Vice Chair: R. Scott Greathead, Esq.
Leitner Center for International Law and Justice | Fordham Law School | New York City
COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT CHINESE LAWYERS | Beijing Lawyers Association
Director Li Dajin ()
East Associates (Beijing)
Landmark Tower 2, 19th Fl., 8 N. Dongsanhuan Rd.
Beijing, 100004, People’s Republic of China
Fax: (8610) 6590 6650 and 51
Via Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

November 25, 2008

Dear Sir:

We write on behalf of the Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers to express our deep concern about reports of lawyers in China who are being intimidated after they called for
the direct election of officials in the Beijing Lawyers Association (BLA). Our objective is not to support or oppose the direct election of the leaders of the BLA; that is entirely an
internal matter between you and your members. We do, however, seek your assistance in investigating these reports and protecting any lawyers who are being intimidated for
expressing their views.

The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers 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, which is housed at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School in New York City, seeks to strengthen the role of
lawyers and to promote their independence. We know that you share these objectives.

We understand the relevant facts to be as follows:

€¢ On August 26, 2008, 35 lawyers in China published an appeal on the Internet calling for direct election of the officials leading your organization, the BLA. In their appeal (“An Appeal to All Beijing Lawyers, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and the Municipal Lawyers Association: Keep Pace with the Course of History, Carry Out Lawyers Association direct Elections”  these lawyers urged that independent candidates be allowed to run in the  Association’s elections to be held at the end of 2008. On September 1, 2008, the appeal, which also criticized the BLA for allegedly failing to represent the interests of lawyers, was sent to Xiao Lizhu , the director of the Lawyers Management Department of the Beijing Bureau of Justice.

€¢ On September 5, 2008, the BLA responded with its own statement (“Stern Statement from the BLA Regarding the Appeal by a Small Number of Lawyers for So-called ‘Beijing  lawyers Association Direct Election'”

€¢ On September 24, Tang Jitian, one of the signatories to the appeal, filed a complaint against the BLA charging that its September 5 statement was “libelous” insofar as it suggested that the appeal was “illegal” and a “total repudiation of China’s current lawyers’ administrative system, judicial system, and even political system.”

€¢ Thereafter, a number of the lawyers who supported the appeal for direct elections were apparently intimidated and harassed. Several were dismissed from their law firms. For example, on October 30, 2008, lawyers Cheng Hai  and Li Subin , both signatories to the appeal, were asked to leave their positions at the Beijing Yitong Law Firm following a visit to the firm by six or seven officials from the Haidian District Bureau of Justice , who took photographs and questioned the staff about cases that the firm has taken on. The firm’s director is said to have felt pressured to dismiss these lawyers because they had supported the August 26 appeal and also to drop a number of rights defense cases the firm had taken on. Tang Jitian, the lawyer who filed the case against the BLA, was asked to leave the Haodong firm in Beijing “for the sake of the future of the firm.” Other signatories or firm heads have been summoned by their district bureaus of justice to report on the motivation of the signatories and on any “hostile external forces” that backed the appeal. 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.

Our Committee is deeply concerned about these reports that local offices of the Bureau of Justice are pressuring law firms to dismiss lawyers because they have signed an appeal calling for the direct election of bar association leaders. Dismissing lawyers for speaking out about bar association governance is contrary to the rule of law and the development of a vibrant, independent bar.

Penalizing lawyers for taking positions on these issues is also inconsistent with international standards codified in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of
Lawyers, which state that “Lawyers like other citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly. In particular, they shall have the right to take
part in public discussion of matters concerning the law . . . and to join or form local, national or international organizations and attend their meetings, without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action or their membership in a lawful organization.” Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, Eighth United Nations Congress on the
Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, 27 August to 7 September 1990, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.144/28/Rev.1 at 118 (1990), Article 23. These Principles further provide that, “Lawyers shall be entitled to form and join self-governing professional associations to represent their interests . . . . The executive body of the professional associations shall be elected by its members and shall exercise its functions without external interference.” Article 24.The Chinese Constitution also provides the right to freedom of association and freedom of speech for all Chinese citizens. Constitution of the People’s Republic of China , adopted and in effect Dec. 4, 1982, amended by the National People’s Congress on March 14, 2004, Article 35.

We respectfully ask that you investigate these reports of intimidation and harassment,including dismissals of lawyers for advocating direct elections. If the reports are true, we
ask that you vigorously denounce such dismissals and do all within your power to help these lawyers to be reinstated with their firms.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Very truly yours,
Robert N. Hornick Martin S. Flaherty R. Scott Greathead
Chair Vice Chair Vice Chair

Cc: Li Bingru , BLA Secretary; Wang Xiaojuan , BLA Vice-secretary; Liu Jun , BLA Vice-Secretary; Li Kai , BLA International Affairs Department; Wu Jing , BLA International Affairs Department; All-China Lawyers Association; Wu Yuhua , Beijing Bureau of Justice Head; Xiao Lizhu , Beijing Bureau of
Justice Lawyers Management Department Director; Dong Chunjiang , Beijing Bureau of Justice Vice Head, CCP of Beijing Bureau of Justice General Secretary; Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China; Law Affairs Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China;Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Council of the People’s Republic of China; Beijing Judicial Bureau; Beijing Committee of Political and Legal Affairs; Leandro Despouy, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers; Richard Goldstone, International Bar Association, Human Rights Institute Co-Chair; Patricia M.Hines, Association of the Bar of the City of New York President; H.Thomas Wells, Jr., American Bar Association President.