The Chinese New Year is a Time of mixed feelings for Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu, mainland Chinese human rights lawyers who were crucified for assisting the 12 Hong Kong people. In an interview with our New Year, they wished the 12 people in prison would not forget their original intention, and lamented that the crucifixion is a sorrow for the whole country and society.
The verdict of the “12 Hong Kong people case” was announced on December 30 last year, and the families finally got to see their relatives before the Lunar New Year. Mainland lawyers Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu, who represented Qiao Yingyu and Huang Weiran, had their licenses to practice law revoked by the authorities last month. When asked by reporters how they felt about being “DQ’d”, the two lawyers were very calm.
Unemployed” before New Year’s Eve is another new beginning
Lu Siwei (center) and two other lawyers went to Yantian Detention Center in Shenzhen to file a complaint. (File photo/provided by interviewee)
Sometimes it’s hard to envision how your Life is going to be, and you can make some plans, but there are still some accidents that change your life,” said Lu Siwei. Maybe it’s not a blessing when you miss a horse. Quan Niu is a dunce. The images are these. The day the license was suspended, I laughed with him and said, we both suspended, and now the development of the Greater Bay Area, whether we want to go to the Greater Bay Area to do legal advice, and also have visibility in Hong Kong, this is a joke, but also do not rule out. We are just more obsessed with the profession of lawyers, and now have to give up. I hope he will adapt to the new life as soon as possible.
Ren Quanniu said: no regrets, I think I do things is the right thing. As a lawyer, the cases I have done in the past few years have made me gain more than I can say, which cannot be felt by any lawyer in the democratic system. I believe we have a future after starting over with a clear conscience.
I realized that the case was not simple when I was in the middle of representing it
The families of the 12 Hong Kong people have been trying to speak out for the 12 Hong Kong people. (File photo / Photo by Chi-Chi Lee)
At the end of August 2020, 12 Hong Kong people were intercepted by the Shenzhen Marine Police for smuggling across Taiwan and were detained in Shenzhen Yantian Detention Center. Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu were informed by their friends that they wanted to help represent Qiao Yingyu and Huang Weiran, who were involved in the case, respectively.
Ren Quanniu said: “As far as the case is concerned, I just think it’s a very ordinary case, I didn’t think too much about the need to defend the rights of this case. The Ministry of Justice and the State Security strongly approached me for an interview and a warning, and that’s when I felt that the case was not pure. I took the notary commission and when I went back, I was already accompanied by two local police officers, also from the state security system. They also used a very absurd reason not to let me see them, so I felt that the case was not pure at all.
Lu and Ren: Hong Kong people should not have a distinction in handling cases in the mainland
The case was asked to apply for “notarization”, a requirement that has been applied only to civil cases in Hong Kong, but not in criminal proceedings, said Lu Siwei.
The case had this additional requirement, which we could refuse,” Lo said. At that time, we lawyers have two schools of thought, one is to refuse, because it costs the client money, Hong Kong people do to thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. I will take a compromise, in order to see the party as soon as possible, I asked the Family to do (notarization). After not seeing the person on September 4, the family quickly sent the (notary) over, and I went on September 9. He initially said that my formalities were incomplete and that I needed a notarization, but in retrospect, he just played me.
The smuggling case turned into a politically sensitive case
Taiwan, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, a number of countries, highly concerned about the 12 Hong Kong people case, Lu Siwei believes that the case has come to the international community, “the tip of the storm”, because of the coincidence of a number of factors together.
The case of the 12 Hong Kong people has come to the forefront of the international community because a number of factors have coincidentally come together, including the Hong Kong campaign in 2019, the global Epidemic of Newcastle pneumonia in 2020, the decline in the world’s impression of mainlanders, Sino-US relations, the passage of the National Security Law, and the fact that they (the 12 Hong Kong people) are going to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party‘s governing authority over Hong Kong, such as this small case can not be solved, where is the prestige? They think you have collusion from outside the country, but there is no such thing. We just want to protect the basic rights of each case.
For many times “God predicted” the outcome of the case, including the sentencing results before the New Year, secret trials and not prosecute the two minors in the case, Lu Siwei said laughing because the mainland people focus on the New Year, the authorities are anxious to throw away the “hot potato”.
Lu Siwei said: this case has become a sensitive case, in fact, Shenzhen also feel is a hot potato, to throw away as soon as possible. Throw away is to speed up, the mainland people feel that the New Year is too important, so I judge before the New Year to end. I just take the direction, in fact, for them to have a step down.
Ren Quanniu: long ago awakened no way back
Ren Quanniu said, said no regrets to represent the 12 Hong Kong people case, and also pointed out that the experience is any democratic system under the lawyer is not felt. (Video interview clip)
Ren Quanniu said as early as 2016 because of Zhao Wei case voice and was detained by the Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, has awakened to no way back. The Henan Provincial Department of Justice revoked Ren’s license because he represented a “cult” in 2018, but he believed it was because he insisted on representing both the “12 Hong Kong people case” and the “Zhang Zhan case. He believes it is related to his insistence on representing both the “12 Hong Kong people” and “Zhang Zhan” cases.
Ren Quanniu said: Before my license was suspended, I also have a little bit of illusion about the state judicial personnel, speaking of facts and law. After all, my case is two years ago, and I did not behave excessively or disruptive, just my defense, and the defense was not made public, just the judge can see. This is not my misfortune, this is the whole country and society sadly. After I was arrested in 2016 and released I understood a lot of things. The people are not afraid of death, but they are afraid by death. People have no way back, further back is a cliff. In this country I have no way back. Is not able to hide, will not let you go, will continue to regress, as extreme as the Cultural Revolution, all people will be violated.
In the face of the decline of the rule of law in Hong Kong, Ren Quanniu is particularly emotional, sending a message to the people of Hong Kong do not give up.
Ren Quanniu said: Hong Kong’s experience in the past few years is deplorable, it is equivalent to a tragedy, shattering the good things. Unless you want to leave, if you do not want to leave, or can not leave, I think there is no way back. There can only be an insistence on democratic justice and universal values.
Lu Si-bit here especially stressed that the divide between the two places to the extreme, and is not conducive to the development of democracy and freedom, it is necessary to have a deeper understanding between the two places, “the problem is not emotional venting can be solved to”.
New Year wishes Hong Kong people do not give up
New year, new hope. Lu Si-bit, who has been to Hong Kong, praised the beauty of Hong Kong, hoping that Hong Kong can continue to be stable and prosperous in the future, as an international city, I hope that Hong Kong will find its own way. And Yam Chuen Ngau expressed his serious hope that the 12 Hong Kong people can still not forget their original intention after their release from prison, and hoped that their families should firmly support them and use the media to continue to care about their situation, and also hope that the mainland system will be improved soon, and that “those who do evil hang on to the cliff”.
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