2015-07-16
Three top Chinese rights lawyers are at “grave risk of torture” amid a massive police operation targeting the country’s embattled legal profession, an international rights group said on Thursday.
Some 200 lawyers, paralegals, and rights activists have been targeted by China’s state security police since July 10, with 30 people still missing or in police custody by Thursday afternoon, rights groups said.
The Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG) said in a statement on its website: “205 lawyers/law firm staff/human right activists have been detained/arrested/incommunicado/summoned/restricted freedom temporarily.”
London-based Amnesty International meanwhile said it had counted 194 lawyers and related activists targeted, with 30 remaining behind bars or under house arrest by Thursday afternoon.
It said lawyers Xie Yang, Sui Muqing, and activist Gou Hongguo are being held on suspicion of “incitement to subvert state power,” a state security charge that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment in “serious cases.”
“All three men are at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment,” the group said in a statement on its website.
Xie, Sui, and Gou have been placed under “residential surveillance,” which involves placing a heavy police guard over a detainee, either at their home or at an undisclosed location like a holiday resort or a private house.
China’s laws on state security crimes state that police can hold suspects in secret for up to six months without needing to inform their families or ensure their access to lawyers.
Unprecedented severity
Amnesty International China researcher William Nee called on police to disclose the whereabouts of the detainees, and to allow them visits from lawyers and family members.
Nee said the scale and severity of the current crackdown by the ruling Chinese Communist Party is unprecedented.
“The authorities appear intent on spreading fear among those willing to stand up for human rights,” Nee said.
“The use of state security charges is chilling, and only underlines the ferocity of the attack against rights lawyers,” he said.
It is possible that many of those who remain in detention, as well as those who have been summoned and questioned, could face similar state security charges, according to Amnesty.
Wang Xiaoli, a lawyer based in the eastern province of Jiangxi, said she had been questioned and warned by police after she signed an open letter protesting the crackdown.
“They are going after all the people who signed the letter of support, and have taken statements while ‘drinking tea’ with them to tell them not to openly support the lawyers any more,” Wang said.
She said that ordinary Chinese people are next in the firing line, however.
“If they have detained all the lawyers, then who is going to help regular citizens when they target them?” she said.
For detail please visit here