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TAIPEI: A Chinese lawyer representing a Hong Kong activist was stripped of his license by China on Friday (January 15).
Lu Siwei, who represented one of 12 Hong Kong activists who tried to flee to Taiwan, had his license revoked by the Sichuan Province Department of Justice in a formal notification given on Friday.
Ten of the 12 activists captured at sea in August were sentenced by a Shenzhen court in December to prison terms ranging from seven months to three years for illegally crossing the border and organizing illegal border crossings.
They are part of an exodus of Hong Kong residents following Beijing’s imposition of a tough new security law that they say is destroying the territory’s Western-style civil liberties. Since the law was introduced in response to anti-government protests that began in 2019, dozens of activists have been arrested or detained.
The law has been denounced by European nations, the United States, and others.
READ: Hong Kong police arrest 11 on suspicion of aiding activists’ escape attempt – reports
Beijing says the legislation allows Hong Kong “to enjoy more social stability, economic development and greater freedom.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called the 12 activists “elements trying to separate Hong Kong from China”, not democratic activists.
Beijing, which requires lawyers to pledge allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, has tightened its grip on the profession. Other lawyers have been stripped of their licenses to represent defendants in politically sensitive cases. Some have been jailed.
In an advisory last week, the Chengdu office of the Sichuan Justice Department said Lu had violated laws on professional legal conduct. He accused him of making comments online that had a “negative impact on society.”
READ: Chinese court hears the case of activists who allegedly fled Hong Kong for Taiwan amid protests
Also last week, the Zhengzhou office of the Henan Justice Department notified Ren Quanniu, another lawyer for one of the 12 activists, that he could lose his license. They told him that the comments he made in court had had a “negative impact on society.” His hearing is still pending, but it looks like a formality.
On Wednesday, Ren and a small group of supporters appeared at the hearing to obtain Lu’s license in Chengdu to back him up. They were forcibly separated by the police and Lu was taken inside alone, Ren said.
Both Lu and Ren were hired by the activists’ families, but were prevented from seeing their clients throughout the legal process.
“They didn’t even let me in through the front door, let alone through the door of the administrative area where the paperwork is handled,” Ren said of his first attempt at a police station in Shenzhen, where they took the Hong activists. Kong. by the authorities.
On his second visit, he was told that his client had already accepted a court-appointed attorney.
Throughout the case, the families of the activists protested that they should be able to use their chosen attorneys instead of those appointed by the court.
READ: Two mainland Chinese lawyers involved with Hong Kong activists say they face revocation of their licenses
Lu has often been summoned by the local Justice Department office in Chengdu for meetings in which office officials told him to drop the case.
Neither Lu nor Ren backed down. “Why should I quit when there is no legal reason to quit? How can I explain myself to the family? “Ren told The Associated Press.
A person from the local Justice Department office in Chengdu initially told the AP to call back. Subsequent calls went unanswered. Telephone calls to the Justice Department office in Zhengzhou went unanswered.
Both attorneys have a history of taking on sensitive cases and navigating the murky and turbulent waters of defending people who authorities see as political targets.
Ren has handled cases related to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that China has called a cult and is targeted after his followers protested in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1999. Most recently, he represented citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to report on the situation in the city of Wuhan during the start of the coronavirus pandemic early last year.
Lu, an insurance lawyer by profession, has handled cases in an offensive against lawyers and human rights activists led by President Xi Jinping that began in 2015. Lu defended prominent human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, who had criticized Xi.
However, neither of them was prepared for how sensitive the case of the 12 activists would be.
“They cannot punish anyone else. Can they punish the European media? Can they punish Pompeo? They can only take it out on us because we are lawyers on the mainland, “Lu said.
