{"id":56847,"date":"2016-06-07T22:27:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=56847 "},"modified":"2016-06-07T22:27:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:27:00","slug":"56847-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=56847","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers\\&#8217; Wives, Attorneys Released After Street Protest in China\\&#8217;s Tianjin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">2016-06-07<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p><div>&nbsp;<\/div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mzzg.org\/UploadCenter\/ArticlePics\/2016\/22\/201667a7cffd51-36aa-4d77-921c-6fd1ec2f1501.jpeg\" alt=\"201667a7cffd51-36aa-4d77-921c-6fd1ec2f1501.jpeg (622&#215;407)\" \/><br \/><div>&nbsp;<\/div>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">A screen shot from the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group&#8217;s Facebook page showing detained family members and attorneys, June 7, 2016.<\/span><\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&nbsp;RFA<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin released the relatives and attorneys of several jailed human rights lawyers after police there held them overnight following a street demonstration protesting the human rights attorneys&#8217; continued detention.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Police detained eight family members and lawyers who held orange buckets printed with slogans outside the Guijiasi police station in Tianjin on Monday, in a protest over the detention of rights lawyers that began in Beijing on July 9, 2015, according to a Hong Kong-based rights group.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Wang Qiaoling, wife of detained lawyer Li Heping; Li Wenzu, wife of detained lawyer Wang Quanzhang; Lu Xiaoqing, wife of detained lawyer Huo Yanmin; and Fan Lili, wife of detained lawyer Ge Ping were then detained as they stood outside court buildings on Monday after their husbands were denied access to their defense attorneys.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8216;Waiting for you&#8217;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The women carried buckets painted with slogans like &#8220;Cui, I&#8217;m waiting for you!&#8221; &#8220;Quanzhang, I believe in you!&#8221; and &#8220;Heping, I&#8217;m on your side!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Defense attorneys Cai Ying, Wen Donghai, Wang Lei and Ji Zhongjiu were with the women, and were also detained near the Tianjin municipal prosecutor&#8217;s office and the Tianjing No. 2 Intermediate People&#8217;s Court.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The group was held briefly before being released after repeated lobbying from fellow lawyers Li Yuhan, Lu Zhoubin, Liang Xiaojun, Cheng Hai, Lu Tingge and Huang Hanzhong, the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG) said on its Facebook page.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">It said the four defense lawyers and three family members of the July 9 crackdown [detainees] and a photographer had all left the custody of Tianjin police by Tuesday morning.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The group said that the fate of the four lawyers and one of the protesters is currently uncertain, as they were handed over to state security police from their hometowns who were tasked with escorting them home.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Protesters and petitioners detained away from home often face surveillance, further detention or house arrest on their return, activists have told RFA.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Fan Lili said she had arrived late at the protest, and that the others had already been detained.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;[These lawyers have been detained] for nearly 11 months now, and yet their cases haven&#8217;t been transferred to the prosecution office,&#8221; Fan told RFA after arriving back home on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;They won&#8217;t allow their lawyers to visit them, so we went there to show support for our loved ones, because we want them to come home,&#8221; she said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">She said she hadn&#8217;t witnessed the detentions first hand.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;I was stuck in traffic, and by the time I got there, I couldn&#8217;t see any of the others,&#8221; Fan said. &#8220;So I started calling them, but I couldn&#8217;t get through.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Later, I drove back to the courtroom, but I was stopped by the state security police, who told me to go home immediately, so I did.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Calls to the cell phones of Wang Qiaoling and Li Wenzu resulted in switched-off messages, while calls to the Guajiasi police station rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Growing concern<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The protest came amid growing concern for Li Heping&#8217;s detained legal assistant Zhao Wei, as unconfirmed reports circulated indicating that she may have been subjected to sexual abuse in the Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center, where she is being held on suspicion of &#8220;incitement to subvert state power.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Zhao&#8217;s lawyer Ren Quanniu said he had made renewed attempts last Friday to arrange a meeting with his client, but to no avail.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;It was the same as last time; they said she has appointed another lawyer,&#8221; Ren said, adding that he had filed a complaint with the prosecutor&#8217;s office in Tianjin&#8221;My complaint called for an independent inquiry to find out the truth, and it called on them to set up a criminal investigation &#8230; and to make the results public.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">After the detention of top rights attorney Wang Yu, her husband Bao Longjun, and their colleagues at the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm on the night of July 9, 2015, police launched a nationwide operation targeting hundreds rights lawyers and activists nationwide.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Wang is being charged with the more serious charge of &#8220;subversion of state power,&#8221; while Bao&#8217;s arrest is for the lesser charge of &#8220;incitement to subvert state power.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Incitement to subvert state power carries a maximum jail term of five years in less serious cases, and a minimum jail term of five years in cases deemed more serious, or where the suspect is regarded as a &#8220;ringleader.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Subversion of state power&#8221; carries a minimum jail term of 10 years in cases where the person is judged to have played a leading role. Jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo is currently serving a 13-year sentence for &#8220;incitement to subvert state power.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The activists arrested alongside the lawyers are typically people who participated in activities like staging small protests, complaining to the government about abuses, or helping human rights groups gather information, usually in their local community, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Around 1,000 lawyers signed a statement this week condemning an attack on Guangxi lawyer Wu Liangshu, who says he was assaulted by police officers at a district court in Nanning after he refused to hand over his cell phone for inspection.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Qingxiu district court police demanded Wu give them the phone, accusing him of having used it to record a conversation during a dispute with court officials.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;The violent assault and search of this lawyer seriously damages the rights of attorneys,&#8221; said the statement posted online on Sunday evening.&#8221;If they treat a professional with violence and barbarism, imagine how they deal with civilians.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Wu, who denies having made any recordings, told RFA in an interview on Tuesday that China&#8217;s public servants regularly act with impunity.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Public servants are a law unto themselves, and fear nothing and nobody,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why they are so afraid that details of their behavior will be made public.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;They basically have the attitude that everyone has to do as they say because they are officials, and that you have to obey their every command if you are on their turf,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><br \/><\/p>  <p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/lawyers-wives-attorneys-06072016114057.html\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For detail please visit here<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;div&gt;Police detained eight family members and lawyers who held orange buckets printed with slogans outside the Guijiasi police station in Tianjin on Monday, in a protest over the detention of rights lawyers that began in Beijing on July 9, 2015, according to a Hong Kong-based rights group.&lt;\/div&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ChinaHumanRights","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}