Dharamsala, July 21 – China has refused renewal of professional licenses of several prominent rights lawyers in an annual inspection carried out last week, according to a posting on Radio Free Asia’s website. Several lawyers advocating people’s rights were forced to clear extra hurdles before passing the annual inspection, which is criticized as a mechanism to control what cases lawyers represent.
Prominent rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, whose license was not renewed this year for the second time, told RFA, “Now some new conditions are appearing. It seems that … before allowing them to pass they requested many lawyers write various guarantees—not to take on certain cases, not to receive interviews, etc.”
Other rights lawyers who were denied renewal of licences included Wen Haibo, Zhang Lihui, Tong Chaoping, Yang Huiwen, and Li Jinsong, the RFA reported citing a statement from the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group last Friday.
The inspection is conducted by the local lawyers associations. It examines individual lawyers’ work over the past year and requires registration and payment of a fee.
When lawyers’ licenses are revoked, the cases they currently represent do not proceed.
According to the RFA, Jiang Tianyong had taken up sensitive cases including the defense of Tibet protesters and Falun Gong members. Jiang, who has testified in the U.S. Congress on rule of law issues in China, had said Chinese Justice Bureau authorities refused to even accept his application materials for the annual inspection.
In May 2009, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice revoked the licenses of over 50 lawyers during the annual inspection. A week later, Chinese authorities closed down Gongmeng, also known as Open Constitution Initiative, a legal research center which has helped the families of children made ill by tainted baby milk powder and issued a report criticising the handling of demonstrations in Tibetan areas.
