2015-04-21
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group hold placards of missing, detained or under-house-arrest lawyers in China in a protest in Hong Kong, Jan. 27, 2011.
AFP
Four lawyers who complained repeatedly that their clients had been tortured to obtain confessions in a high-profile anti-gang case in the central Chinese province of Hunan were beaten up by unidentified men outside the gates of a city court building on Tuesday.
Lawyers Zhang Lei, Wang Fu, Liu Jinbin, and legal assistant Chen Jianxiong were set upon as they arrived to defend their clients at the Hengyang Intermediate People’s Court, Zhang told RFA.
“Four lawyers were subjected to a violent attack at the gates of the Hengyang Intermediate People’s Court,” he said.
“I was injured the worst out of everybody. My elbows and knees are scraped and bloody, and I have some fairly serious soft tissue injuries in my abdomen.”
Zhang said the attackers had already surrounded Liu when he arrived at the municipal court building on Tuesday morning.
“When I got to the front gates of the court, I saw some people had surrounded Liu Jinbin and were attacking him, so I went and took some photos, so then they surrounded and attacked me as well,” Zhang said.
“I was surrounded and beaten up by a lot of people, who ripped my clothes and dragged me around,” he said.
“The whole thing lasted around five minutes.”
Attackers included women
Zhang said that all four men had sustained minor injuries and severely ripped clothing as a result of the attack by the unidentified assailants as they arrived to defend their clients.
“I have a lot of injuries as a result,” Zhang said. “Wang Fu and his assistant Chen Jianxiong were also beaten up before me.”
“My right shoulder, elbow, and wrist are all scraped and cut and my clothes have been ripped to shreds,” Zhang said.
“Wang Fu has holes ripped in his coat, suit, shirt, and underwear, while Liu Jinbin lost his glasses and cell phone in the attack, and he is bleeding from a cut lip,” he added.
Wang estimated that around 16 or 17 men and women had attacked the four lawyers.
“I arrived at the gates of the court and someone asked me if I was Wang Fu, the lawyer, and I said I was,” Wang said.
“Then they started punching me, and then they beat up my assistant, who was taking photos.”
“They even tried to rip my trousers off. I have injuries all over my body, especially cuts and scratches on my upper body,” he said, adding that the majority of the attackers were women.
