The Council of European Lawyers’ Associations (EBA) sent a letter to Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping on February 11, expressing serious concern about the suspension and revocation of the licenses of Chinese human rights lawyers Zhou Ze and Deng Xiangdong, and asking Xi to do everything in his power to protect the lawyers’ legitimate right to practice law.
The Council of European Lawyers’ Associations (EBA) sent a letter to Xi Jinping expressing concern over the suspension and revocation of the licenses of Chinese human rights lawyers Zhou Ze and Deng Xiangdong, and criticizing the authorities for their retaliation against the legitimate rights of human rights lawyers to practice law. Some legal professionals in Hong Kong believe that the action of the European lawyers’ group may affect the final decision of the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement. At least four prominent human rights lawyers on the mainland have recently been suspended and had their licenses revoked.
The Brussels-based Council of European Lawyers’ Associations on Tuesday (Feb. 16) made public online two letters written last week to Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping, asking authorities to restore the legal rights of both lawyers in response to the license suspension of Shandong criminal defense lawyer Deng Xiangdong and the one-year suspension of Beijing lawyer Zhou Ze.
In an interview with the station, one of the parties, lawyer Deng Xiangdong, revealed that the day after the Shandong Judicial Department issued its decision to suspend his license (Feb. 9), the Shandong Lawyers Association also terminated his membership.
Assailing Xiangdong thanked the Council of the European Bar Association for its attention to his case, believing that international attention has the potential to gain space for subsequent lawyers. He believes that from the 709 arrests to the present, the authorities’ goal of suppressing all human rights lawyers has never changed, but only the method of suppression has changed, and it is expected that license suspension will become the norm in the future.
As long as you touch political cases, or the more influential human rights cases, I’m afraid that license suspension will become the norm next. Of course, I am very grateful to the Council of European Lawyers’ Associations (EBA) for their concern about my license suspension, but I have no hope that my license will be reinstated by the Chinese Communist Party. I hope that the attention of foreign organizations will serve as a deterrent to the authorities and give a relatively relaxed environment for these outspoken lawyers to practice law.
In response to the authorities’ revocation of his lawyer’s license, Deng believes that the excuse provided by the authorities is unjustified, and that it is in fact a retaliation for his representation of some rights defenders and what the authorities consider to be “sensitive cases”, and that he will take legal action.
He said, “My lawyer’s license has been revoked, but I won’t give up, I will definitely apply for reconsideration and prosecution. The reason for the suspension of my license is very grand, it said I disrupted the court order, but in fact I did not disrupt the court order. This is an obvious act of retaliation against my legitimate practice, which is related to the cases I have handled in the past few years, including the vindication of wrongful cases and human rights cases, including the cases I have been involved in defending in the current round of “eliminating black and evil”.
Zhou Ze, a senior lawyer in Beijing, was suspended from his job for one year in January this year for exposing online videos and information about torture and illegal interrogation by the Hefei Public Security Bureau. We tried to reach Zhou Ze several times, but could not get through.
According to Mr. Albert Ho, chairman of the China Rights Lawyers Concern Group in Hong Kong, the Chinese government’s crackdown on human rights lawyers has caused European countries to worry about the safety of their cooperation with China. The EU is in the final stages of voting and confirmation of the “China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement” that China hopes to reach with the EU. The Council of European Bar Associations, which represents more than a million lawyers, has a lot of influence. Their actions will therefore bring pressure to bear on the Chinese government.
If China treats its lawyers this way, how do you expect people to trust your system, how do you expect people to trust the contracts you sign, how can you have credibility? How does each member state of the EU look at this matter? Now, if China does not review its own affairs properly, especially the suppression of rights lawyers, it will definitely cause people to doubt and distrust you. Every country and group should speak out.
In its letter to Xi Jinping, the Council of European Lawyers’ Associations emphasized that what happened to Assault Xiangdong and Zhou Ze was not an isolated case, and that the organization was also concerned earlier about the suspension of the licenses of human rights lawyers Ren Quanniu and Lu Siwei – who earlier represented the “12 Hong Kong people” arrested by mainland public security officers for fleeing the country The organization is also concerned about the suspension of the licenses of human rights lawyers Ren Quanniu and Lu Siwei – who earlier represented the “Twelve Hong Kong People” who were arrested by mainland security forces for fleeing the country.
It also asked Xi Jinping to take all necessary measures to ensure that all lawyers in China are able to perform their duties and that all lawyers in China do not fear retaliation, obstruction, intimidation and harassment for performing their professional duties in order to uphold the rule of law and the independence and integrity of the judiciary.
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