ARCHIVED: Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Condemn Detention of Lawyers Investigating Black Jail
NOTE: This originally appeared on Siweiluozi’s Blog on 22 March 2014
Solemn Statement by Chinese Human Rights Lawyers in Response to the Illegal Detention of Lawyers Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Zhang Junjie, and Wang Cheng and Several Citizens by Local Authorities at the Qixing State Farm in Heilongjiang Province
We are shocked to learn that, on the morning of 21 March 2014, lawyers Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Zhang Junjie, and Wang Cheng were detained along with several citizens by authorities from the Qixing State Farm in Heilongjiang Province.
We understand that yesterday Tang, Jiang, Zhang, and Wang, along with relatives of an individual who has been illegally detained, went to the “Legal Education Base” located at the Qinglongshan State Farm in Heilongjiang. (In reality, this is a “black jail” where many citizens who have violated no law and committed no crime have been detained.) They demanded the release of law-abiding citizens illegally detained there and filed a complaint at the local procuratorate in accordance with the law. As they were returning to their hotel late yesterday, they were tailed by a suspicious vehicle.
As lawyers concerned with China’s progress toward rule of law and protection of human rights, we express our deepest concern about this incident. We believe that this is a blatantly retaliatory attack by local authorities from the Qixing State Farm against lawyers exercising their professional power to submit complaints on behalf of others in accordance with the law. This naked frame-up is a serious abuse of power and violation of the law and a serious rule-of-law disaster that tramples on human rights. This illegal behavior must immediately cease or be stopped.
In response to this serious human rights incident, we make the following solemn statements:
1. We express our strong protest and solemn condemnation of the detention of lawyers Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Zhang Junjie, and Wang Cheng and several citizens by the local authorities in Qixing State Farm.
2. We demand that the local authorities in Qixing State Farm immediately release lawyers Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Zhang Junjie, and Wang Cheng and the several citizens who have been illegally detained.
3. We call upon state institutions of legal oversight like the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Heilongjiang People’s Procuratorate to investigate this matter in accordance with the law, to investigate and shut down illegal “black jails” like the “Legal Education Base” under the Heilongjiang State Farm system, and to pursue criminal charges against those persons responsible for abuse of power, illegal detention, and other crimes.
4. We shall continue to monitor developments closely and are prepared to go to Qixing State Farm at any time.
21 March 2014
Signed:
Zhang Lei 张磊 (Beijing, lawyer)
Li Heping 李和平 (Beijing, lawyer)
Li Fangping 李方平 (Beijing, lawyer)
Liu Weiguo 刘卫国 (Shandong, lawyer)
Tang Tianhao 唐天昊 (Chongqing, lawyer)
Pang Kun 庞琨 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Wang Quanping 王全平 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Ge Yongxi 葛永喜 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Chen Jian’gang 陈建刚 (Beijing, lawyer)
Wu Kuiming 吴魁明 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Sui Muqing 隋牧青 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Chen Keyun 陈科云 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Liu Zhengqing 刘正清 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Liu Shihui 刘士辉 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Wu Zhenqi 吴镇琦 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Liang Xiaojun 梁小军 (Beijing, lawyer)
Zhang Keke 张科科 (Hubei, lawyer)
Lan Zhixue 兰志学 (Beijing, lawyer)
Xie Yang 谢阳 (Hunan, lawyer)
Chang Boyang 常伯阳 (Henan, lawyer)
Fu Yonggang 付永刚 (Shandong, lawyer)
Xu Can 徐灿 (Beijing, lawyer)
Xu Zhong 徐忠 (Shandong, lawyer)
Ge Wenxiu 葛文秀 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Chen Wuquan 陈武权 (Beijing, lawyer)
Teng Biao 滕彪 (Beijing, lawyer)
Hu Guiyun 胡贵云 (Beijing, lawyer)
Zhao Yonglin 赵永林 (Shandong, lawyer)
Zhang Chuanli 张传利 (Beijing, lawyer)
Liu Wei 刘巍 (Beijing, lawyer)
Tang Jingling 唐荆陵 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Liu Jinbin 刘金滨 (Shandong, lawyer)
Zhou Lixin 周立新 (Beijing, lawyer)
Chen Jinxue 陈进学 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Fan Biaowen 范标文 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Liang Xiubo 梁秀波 (Henan, lawyer)
Li Weida 李威达 (Hebei, lawyer)
Yu Quan 于全 (Sichuan, lawyer)
Liu Wei 刘伟 (Henan, lawyer)
Wang Zongyue 王宗跃 (Guizhou, lawyer)
Li Xiongbing 黎雄兵 (Beijing, lawyer)
Liu Sixin 刘四新 (Beijing, Ph.D.)
Xiao Fanghua 肖芳华 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Li Jinxing 李金星 (Shandong, lawyer)
Shi Yongsheng 石永胜 (Hebei, lawyer)
Li Guobei 李国蓓 (Beijing, lawyer)
Zhang Guo 张国 (Hunan, lawyer)
Wang Liao 汪廖 (Zhejiang, lawyer)
Jiang Yuanmin 蒋援民 (Guangdong, lawyer)
Guo Lianhui 郭莲辉 (Jiangxi, lawyer)
Guo Xinrong 郭新嵘 (Beijing, lawyer)
Li Changming 李长明 (Beijing, lawyer)
Li Qizhen 李启珍 (Shanghai, lawyer)
Li Changqing 李长青 (Beijing, lawyer)
Dong Qianyong 董前勇 (Beijing, lawyer)
Yang Mingkua 杨名跨 (Yunnan, lawyer)
