Hong Kong University Students' Union 香港大學學生會 - Statement in Support of the Human Rights Lawyers in China

Statement in Support of the Human Rights Lawyers in China

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Sunday, 07 June 2009

Statement in Support of the Human Rights Lawyers in China
A Call to Stop all Political Crackdown and to Uphold the Rule of Law

More than 20 prominent civil rights lawyers in China face possible loss of the right to practice, as they may fail the annual assessment and registration of their licence. We fear that this assessment system will be abused as a political means to crackdown on human rights lawyers, especially as the 20th Anniversary of the June 4th Massacre approaches. This is compounded by the fact that many Mainland law firms are now under pressure from the authorities to dismiss the human rights lawyers and conclude that they fall short of the assessment criteria. We condemn the political control and interference in the independence of the legal profession through the annual assessment system, and we urge that it be abolished immediately.

We take the opportunity to further condemn the continuing crackdown and growing trend of abuse on human rights lawyers, most notably by detention and physical violence, which have been extensively documented over the past few years. Recently, on 13 May 2009, human rights lawyers Zhang Ka (張凱) and Li Chufu (李春富) were handcuffed and beaten up in police custody during interrogation, after meeting with the family of a man who has died in a re-education-through-labor camp. We deplore such acts of violence and urge for immediate investigation by the relevant authoritiess.

Accordingly, we are most concerned about the current situation of human rights lawyers in the Mainland. We believe that the unlawful pressure exerted by the Mainland authorities have a chilling effect on the legal profession as a whole, and fear that the continuing crackdown on human right lawyers will deter them from representing the underprivileged and oppressed. We strongly call for the Chinese government to end the blatant violations of human rights and the attack on the rule of law, while observing its own commitments to these values as enshrined in the PRC Constitution.

Hong Kong University Students’ Union
28 May 2009

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