Weiquan movement
Encyclopedia
The Weiquan movement is a non-centralized group of lawyers, legal experts and intellectuals in the People's Republic of China
who seek to protect and defend the civil rights of the citizenry through litigation and legal activism. The movement, which began in the early 2000s, has organized demonstrations, sought reform via the legal system and media, defended victims of human rights abuses
, and written appeal letters, despite opposition from Communist Party
authorities. Among the issues adopted by Weiquan lawyers are property and housing rights, protection for AIDS victims, environmental damage
, religious freedom, freedom of speech
and the press
, and defending the rights of other lawyers facing disbarment or imprisonment.
Individuals involved in the Weiquan movement have met with occasionally harsh reprisals from Chinese officials, including disbarment, detention, harassment, and in extreme instances, torture. Authorities have also responded to the movement with the launch of an education campaign on the "socialist concept of rule of law," which reasserts the role of the Communist Party and the primacy of political considerations in the legal profession, and with the Three Supremes
, which entrenches the supremacy of the Communist Party in the judicial process.
and establish a modern court system
. In the process, it has enacted thousands of new laws and regulations, and begun training more legal professionals. The concept of "rule of law" was enshrined in the constitution
, and the CCP embarked on campaigns to publicize the idea that citizens have protection under the law. At the same time, however, a fundamental contradiction exists in the implementation of rule of law wherein the CCP insists that its authority supersedes that of the law; the constitution enshrines rule of law, but also emphasizes the principle of the "leadership of the Communist Party." The judiciary is not independent, and is therefore subject to politicization and control by the Communist Party. This has produced a system that is often described as "rule by law," rather than rule of law.
Because judicial decisions are subject to the sometimes arbitrary assessments of the CCP, citizens who attempt to make use of the legal system to pursue grievances find that, if their cause is determined to have the potential to undermine the authority of the Communist Party, they may be suppressed. Defendants who find themselves facing criminal charges, such as for conducting activism or for their religious beliefs, often have few means of pursuing an effective defense.
The Weiquan movement coalesced in the early 2000s in response to these inherent contradictions and the arbitrary exercise of legal authority in China
, though its roots could be traced to the consumer protection movement that began in the 1990s. The movement is informal, and can be understood as including lawyers and legal activists who advocate for civil rights
and defend the interests of citizens against corporations, government or Communist Party organs. Fu Hualing and Richard Cullen note that Weiquan lawyers "are generally always on the side of the weaker party: (migrant) workers v. employers in labor disputes; peasants in cases involving taxation, persons contesting environmental pollution, land appropriation, and village committee elections; journalists facing government censorship; defendants subject to criminal prosecution; and ordinary citizens who are discriminated against by government policies and actions."
The emergence of the Weiquan movement was made possible by a confluence of factors, including a market for their services, and an emerging rights consciousness. It was also facilitated by the 1996 "Lawyers Law," which changed the definition of lawyers from "state legal workers" to professionals holding a legal certificate who perform legal services. The law effectively delinked lawyers from the state, and gave lawyers greater (though still limited) autonomy within the profession.
Weiquan lawyers tend to be especially critical of the lack of judicial independence in China. Rather than challenging particular laws, they frame their work as being in keeping with Chinese laws, and describe their activities as a means of defending and upholding the Constitution against abuses. As such, Weiquan lawyering has been described as a form of Rightful resistance
.
The proportion of Weiquan lawyers is very small, relative the number of legal professionals in China. The number of lawyers actively focusing on civil rights issues has been estimated by legal scholar Teng Biao
to number "only a few dozen." The lawyers face considerable personal and professional obstacles, and Weiquan lawyering demands substantial commitment to their cause. According to Fu and Cullen, “Weiquan lawyers act principally out of commitment, not because of any financial concerns. They accept weiquan cases to pursue their cause, and typically charge no legal fees.”
Weiquan activists include law professors with university teaching positions—including He Weifang, Xu Zhiyong
, and Teng Biao—professional lawyers, and “barefoot lawyers,” who are self-taught and often lack any formal legal education. Several of China’s more high-profile Weiquan lawyers fall into the latter category, including Guo Feixiong
and Chen Guangcheng
. Many barefoot lawyers are peasants who teach themselves enough law to file civil complaints, engage in litigation, and educate fellow citizens about their rights.
Because corporate law firms are generally not hospitable to Weiquan lawyers and legal aid workers operate within the government system, Weiquan lawyers in large cities tend to work as solo practitioners in partnership firms with other like-minded lawyers. The Beijing Globe Law Firm and Yitong Law Firm
are examples of such organizations.
Rana Siu Inboden and William Inboden note that a disproportionate number of influential Weiquan lawyers identify with the Christian
faith, including Gao Zhisheng
, Chen Guangcheng, Zheng Enchong
, and Li Heping, among others.
There are at least two distinctive (and sometimes competing) approaches to Weiquan activism. Among Weiquan lawyers, the pragmatists (or consequentialists) are more deferential to the existing legal systems and institutions, and only pursue courses of actions that are likely to produce incremental improvements and reforms. These activists may reject approaches that are liable to be met with official reprisals. By contrast, the "radical" Weiquan activists (those adopting a deontological approach) view rights defending as a moral obligation that is to be pursued regardless of potential consequences. Radical lawyers such as Gao Zhisheng are more inclined to take on the most "sensitive" cases—such as those of Falun Gong
adherents—simply because it is the "right thing to do," even though the prospects of success are minimal. A pragmatist may become radicalized once them encounter the limits of possible reform.
". Weiquan lawyers, along with international human rights organizations, have argued that the provisions against subversion are inconsistent both with China’s own constitution and with international human rights standards, particularly in light of the lack of transparency and clear guidelines used in applying the laws.
Several Weiquan lawyers have been involved in litigation and other forms of advocacy to defend the rights to free expression for individuals charged with the crime of subversion. Notable cases include that of Liu Xiaobo
, a prominent Beijing
intellectual sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion in December 2009. Chengdu
activist Tan Zuoren
was sentenced to five years for inciting subversion for publishing writings on the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
, advocating for the families of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
victims, and accepting interviews from the Falun Gong-affiliated Sound of Hope
radio. His lawyers were reportedly barred from entering the courtroom. In October 2009, intellectual Guo Quan
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing “reactionary” articles online.
Weiquan lawyers have also challenged the application of state secret laws, which are sometimes used to prosecute individuals who disseminate information on politically sensitive issues. In November 2009, for instance, lawyers were involved in arguing for Huang Qi
, a Sichuan
activist who had advocated online for the parents of Sichuan earthquake victims. Huang was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of state secrets.
, not the bar associations
, is responsible for issuing and renewing lawyers' licenses. Weiquan lawyers have argued that this structure precludes the emergence of genuine rule of law, and in some cases have advocated for reforms to advance judicial independence and the protection of legal professionals.
In late August 2008, a collection of several dozen Beijing
lawyers signed a petition stating that the Beijing Bar Association leaders should be elected by the organization's members, rather than being appointed. The petition letter stated that selection process in place for the Association's directors is inconsistent with official guidelines and the Chinese constitution, and should be replaced with a democratic voting process. The Beijing Bar Association responded to the campaign by asserting that "Any individual who uses text messages, the web or other media to privately promote and disseminate the concept of direct elections, express controversial opinions, thereby spreading rumors within the Beijing Bar Association, confuse and poison people's minds, and convince people of circumstances that do not exist regarding the so-called 'Call For Direct Elections For the Beijing Bar Association' is illegal." The following year, the Beijing Bureau of Justice refused to renew the licenses of 53 Beijing Weiquan lawyers, all of whom had signed the petition for elections to the Bar Association.
, there is no privately held land; “urban land” is owned by the state, which grants land rights for a set number of years. Rural, or “collectively owned land,” is leased by the state for periods of 30 years, and is theoretically reserved for agricultural purposes, housing and services for farmers. Forced evictions are forbidden under International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
, which China has ratified. Under China’s constitution and other property laws, expropriation of urban land is permitted only if it is for the purpose of supporting the “public interest,” and those being evicted are supposed to receive compensation, resettlement, and protection of one’s living conditions. The “public interest” is not defined, however, and abuses are common in the expropriation process, with many citizens complaining of receiving little or no compensation.
Forced evictions with little or no compensation occur frequently in both urban and rural China, contexts, with even fewer legal protections for rural citizens. Collectively owned rural land may be "reallocated" at the discretion of authorities, and in many regions local governments collude with private developers to reclassify rural land as urban land, which can then be sold. from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, an estimated 40 million Chinese peasants were affected by land requisitions. Citizens who resist or protest the evictions have reportedly been subjected to harassment, beatings, or detention, and land-related grievances occasionally escalate into large-scale protests or riots.
Several Weiquan lawyers have advocated for the rights of individual citizens whose land and homes were taken with inadequate compensation, including Shanghai
lawyer Zheng Enchong. Ni Yulan
, a Beijing lawyer, was herself left homeless by forced eviction, and became an outspoken advocate for victims before being sentenced to two years in prison.
In 2007, a 54-year-old farmer in Heilongjiang Yang Chunlin
published numerous articles on human rights and land rights, and helped to organise a petition entitled: "We want human rights, not the Olympics." The petition reportedly collected over ten thousand signatures. Yang was put to trial, and sentenced to five years in prison, where he has allegedly been tortured. Li Fangping was hired to defend him, but was denied access to his client.
in the wake of the March, 2008 Tibetan protests
. The protests resulted in the imprisonment of at least 670 Tibetans, and the execution of at least four individuals. Chinese government sources asserted that the unrest and violence in Tibet had been masterminded by the Dalai Lama
and executed by his followers for the purpose of fomenting unrest and disrupting the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing. The Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), operated by several Weiquan lawyers and intellectuals, issued a paper in May 2009 challenging the official narrative, and suggesting that the protests were instead a response to economic inequities, Han Chinese
migration, and religious sentiments. The OCI recommended that Chinese authorities better respect and protect the rights and interests of the Tibetan people, including religious freedom, and pursue the reduction of economic inequality and official corruption.
Tibetan Filmmaker Dhondup Wangcheng was sentenced to six years in prison for making a documentary on human rights in Tibet
in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Two lawyers who sought to represent him, Chang Boyang and Li Dunyong, faced threats and harassment for their advocacy.
In July 2010, a group of Chinese activists including Teng Biao co-signed a letter to the Chinese leadership to protest the 15-year prison sentence that had been meted out to Uighur journalist Halaite Niyaze. Niyaze was not permitted to have a lawyer at his trial, where he was charged with "endangering state security." According to reports, Niyaze was being charged because he had criticized the Chinese government in an interview with a Hong Kong news agency for not doing enough to prevent the July 2009 Ürümqi riots.
Falun Gong, a spiritual qigong discipline that once claimed tens of million adherents in China, was banned in July 1999 under the leadership of the Communist Party, and a campaign was launched to suppress the group. In an attempt to have Falun Gong adherents renounce their belief in the practice, they are subject to state-sanctioned, systematic violence in custody, sometimes resulting in death. Some sources indicate hundreds of thousands may have been detained in reeducation-through-labor camps for practicing Falun Gong and/or resisting persecution.
In November, 1999, the Supreme People’s Court
offered a judicial interpretation of article 300 of the criminal code, stating that Falun Gong should be regarded as a “xie jiao,” or evil religion. Large numbers were subsequently sentenced to long prison terms, often under article 300, in what are typically very short trials without the presence of a lawyer. In 2009 alone, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that several hundred Falun Gong adherents have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 years. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, note that the application of the law to persecute Falun Gong adherents contravenes both China’s own constitution and international standards. Several Weiquan lawyers have argued similarly while defending Falun Gong adherents who face criminal or administrative sentencing for their beliefs. Laywers who have defended Falun Gong include Guo Guoting
, Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu, Wang Yonghang,Tang Jitian and Liu Wei, among others.
In addition to litigation work, Weiquan lawyers like Gao Zhisheng have also advocated publicly and in the media for human rights for Falun Gong. In 2004 and 2005, Gao wrote a series of letters to China’s top leadership detailing accounts of torture and sexual abuse against Falun Gong practitioners, and calling for an end to the persecution of the group. In response, Gao lost his legal license, was put under house arrest, detained, and was reportedly tortured.
province, encouraged rural citizens to sell blood plasma in order to supplement their incomes. Gross mismanagement of the process resulted in hundreds of thousands of individuals being infected with HIV. According to activists, victims have not been compensated, and no government officials were held accountable. Authorities continue to suppress information about the epidemic, which is particularly sensitive in light of the involvement of Li Changchun
, the Communist Party Propaganda head and formerly Party chief in Henan.
Hu Jia
is arguably the most well known advocate for HIV/AIDS victims, having served as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization
Loving Source.
, a blind self-taught Weiquan lawyer, rose to prominence for defending victims of China's one-child policy
. First implemented in 1979, the one-child policy mandates that couples may only have one child, though there are exceptions for some rural citizens, ethnic minorities, and couples who were themselves only children. Though Chinese laws condemn harsh enforcement measures, Chinese authorities and family planning staff have been accused of carrying out coercive, late-term forced abortions, sterilization, incarceration and torture to enforce the policy. In 2005, Chen Guangcheng filed a class action case against family planning officials in Linyi, Shandong, who were accused of subjecting thousands of women to sterilization or forced abortions.
, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism
and Catholicism
. Groups falling outside the state-administered religions, including “underground” or "house church"
Christians, are subject to varying degrees of repression and persecution.
Although there are no definitive figures on the number of underground Christians in China, some estimates have put their total number in excess of 70 million. At least 40 Catholic
bishops operate independent of official sanction, and some are under surveillance, house arrest, detention, or have disappeared. Several leaders and members of underground Protestant
churches have also been detained and sentenced to reeducation through labor or prison terms. Violent raids and demolitions have been carried out on underground churches, sometimes resulting in injury to congregants inside. Chinese officials have labelled several underground Protestant churches as a xie jiao, or “evil religion,” thus providing a pretext for harsher punishment of members.
Several prominent Weiquan lawyers themselves identify with the underground Protestant movement, and have sought to defend church members and leaders facing imprisonment. These include Zhang Kai, Li Heping, and Gao Zhisheng.
Later the same year, it was revealed that large quantities of infant formula had been tainted with melamine
, causing 300,000 infants to fall ill and resulting in several deaths. A group of parents of the victims were reportedly detained for attempting to draw media attention to their plight. Dozens of lawyers—particularly from the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong—offered pro-bono legal services to victims, but their efforts were obstructed by authorities.
Individual human rights cases, such as the Deng Yujiao incident
and the death of Qian Yunhui
, have also drawn help from rights defenders such as Wu Gan.
In 2003, a group of legal scholars, including Teng Biao and Xu Zhiyong, formed the Open Constitution Initiative (Chinese:公盟) to advocate for greater rule of law. The organization was involved in the Sun Zhigang case, and has advocated for petitioners, labor rights, freedom of expression, HIV/AIDS victims, Tibetans, land rights, and protection of public health, among other issues.
, head of the Party Central Committee's Legal and Political Committee. Luo urged that in order to protect political stability, "forceful measures" be adopted "against those who, under the pretext of rights-protection (weiquan), carry out sabotage." The launch of the campaign coincided with a crackdown on Weiquan lawyers.
Shortly after the campaign's launch, Party Committees provided instruction to judges reminding them of the political goals that their work must uphold. According to one document issued to judges in Zhejiang
province and quoted by Human Rights Watch
, "Recently, some judges have started to believe that to be a judge you just have to strictly apply the law in a case. In fact, this kind of concept is erroneous [...] all the legal formulations have a clear political background and direction [...] We must stamp out the kind of narrow viewpoint that thinks that you can also do court work by having judicial independence."
During a December 2007 conference on political-legal work, CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao
articulated the theory of the "Three Supremes
," which emphasized again that legal work should regard as supreme the concerns and interests of the Communist Party. In March 2008, Wang Shengjun
was confirmed as the new head of the Supreme People's Court. Wang, who has no formal legal training himself, abandoned the efforts of his predecessors to improve judicial competence, training, and autonomy, and instead placed primary importance on the ideological implications of the "Three Supremes" theory and upholding the leadership of the Communist Party.
In 2010, China's Ministry of Justice issued two new regulations intended to "strengthen the supervision and management of lawyers and law firms". According to the Associated Press, the new regulations would serve to "allow authorities to punish lawyers ... for actions such as talking to the media or even causing 'traffic troubles.'"
In 2008, Hu Jia was awarded the Sakharov Prize
by the European Parliament
recognizing his human rights advocacy. The same year, Hu and Gao Zhisheng received nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
, and were considered to be favorites for the award. Two years later, seven members of the U.S. House of Representatives nominated imprisoned lawyers Gao Zhisheng and Chen Guangcheng, along with fellow dissident Liu Xiaobo for the prize. The letter noted that these individuals have sought to "raise the Chinese people’s awareness of their dignity and rights, and to call their government to govern within its constitution, its laws, and the international human rights agreements it has signed," and thereby made a significant contribution to peace. The Nobel Prize Committee awarded the honor to Liu in absentia in December, 2010.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
who seek to protect and defend the civil rights of the citizenry through litigation and legal activism. The movement, which began in the early 2000s, has organized demonstrations, sought reform via the legal system and media, defended victims of human rights abuses
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
, and written appeal letters, despite opposition from Communist Party
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
authorities. Among the issues adopted by Weiquan lawyers are property and housing rights, protection for AIDS victims, environmental damage
Pollution in China
Pollution is causing serious problems in China.-Electronic waste:Electronic waste is being deported to China and is causing war, water and land based pollution...
, religious freedom, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, and defending the rights of other lawyers facing disbarment or imprisonment.
Individuals involved in the Weiquan movement have met with occasionally harsh reprisals from Chinese officials, including disbarment, detention, harassment, and in extreme instances, torture. Authorities have also responded to the movement with the launch of an education campaign on the "socialist concept of rule of law," which reasserts the role of the Communist Party and the primacy of political considerations in the legal profession, and with the Three Supremes
Three Supremes
The Three Supremes is a doctrine first articulated by Chinese president Hu Jintao in December 2007, which requires the judiciary to subordinate the written law to the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and the maintenance of "social stability." As Hu Jintao put it during the National...
, which entrenches the supremacy of the Communist Party in the judicial process.
Background
Since the legal reforms of the late 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has moved to embrace the language of the rule of lawRule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
and establish a modern court system
Court system of the People's Republic of China
The Chinese court system is based on civil law, modeled after the legal systems of Germany and France.-System:According to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China of 1982 and the Organic Law of the People's Courts that went into effect on January 1, 1980, the Chinese courts are divided...
. In the process, it has enacted thousands of new laws and regulations, and begun training more legal professionals. The concept of "rule of law" was enshrined in the constitution
Constitution of the People's Republic of China
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the highest law within the People's Republic of China. The current version was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982 with further revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004. Three previous state constitutions—those of...
, and the CCP embarked on campaigns to publicize the idea that citizens have protection under the law. At the same time, however, a fundamental contradiction exists in the implementation of rule of law wherein the CCP insists that its authority supersedes that of the law; the constitution enshrines rule of law, but also emphasizes the principle of the "leadership of the Communist Party." The judiciary is not independent, and is therefore subject to politicization and control by the Communist Party. This has produced a system that is often described as "rule by law," rather than rule of law.
Because judicial decisions are subject to the sometimes arbitrary assessments of the CCP, citizens who attempt to make use of the legal system to pursue grievances find that, if their cause is determined to have the potential to undermine the authority of the Communist Party, they may be suppressed. Defendants who find themselves facing criminal charges, such as for conducting activism or for their religious beliefs, often have few means of pursuing an effective defense.
The Weiquan movement coalesced in the early 2000s in response to these inherent contradictions and the arbitrary exercise of legal authority in China
Judicial system of the People's Republic of China
The judicial system of the People's Republic of China has both broad and narrow meanings. Broadly speaking, the judiciary means law enforcement activities conducted by the country's judicial organs and organizations in handling prosecuted or non-prosecuted cases...
, though its roots could be traced to the consumer protection movement that began in the 1990s. The movement is informal, and can be understood as including lawyers and legal activists who advocate for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and defend the interests of citizens against corporations, government or Communist Party organs. Fu Hualing and Richard Cullen note that Weiquan lawyers "are generally always on the side of the weaker party: (migrant) workers v. employers in labor disputes; peasants in cases involving taxation, persons contesting environmental pollution, land appropriation, and village committee elections; journalists facing government censorship; defendants subject to criminal prosecution; and ordinary citizens who are discriminated against by government policies and actions."
The emergence of the Weiquan movement was made possible by a confluence of factors, including a market for their services, and an emerging rights consciousness. It was also facilitated by the 1996 "Lawyers Law," which changed the definition of lawyers from "state legal workers" to professionals holding a legal certificate who perform legal services. The law effectively delinked lawyers from the state, and gave lawyers greater (though still limited) autonomy within the profession.
Weiquan lawyers tend to be especially critical of the lack of judicial independence in China. Rather than challenging particular laws, they frame their work as being in keeping with Chinese laws, and describe their activities as a means of defending and upholding the Constitution against abuses. As such, Weiquan lawyering has been described as a form of Rightful resistance
Rightful resistance
The concept of Rightful Resistance refers to a form of partially institutionalized popular contention against the state whereby aggrieved citizens seek to legitimize their causes by making use of state's own laws, policies or rhetoric in framing their protests...
.
Weiquan lawyers
Since the 1980s, as China’s leadership became cognizant of the importance of the legal system and legal profession to advance economic development, training for lawyers dramatically increased. From 1986 to 1992, the number of lawyers in the country more than doubled from 21,500 to 45,000, and by 2008 had reached 143,000.The proportion of Weiquan lawyers is very small, relative the number of legal professionals in China. The number of lawyers actively focusing on civil rights issues has been estimated by legal scholar Teng Biao
Teng Biao
Teng Biao is a human rights activist and lawyer in China. Teng is a lecturer at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing. He has been a vocal supporter of human rights activists such as Chen Guangcheng and Hu Jia...
to number "only a few dozen." The lawyers face considerable personal and professional obstacles, and Weiquan lawyering demands substantial commitment to their cause. According to Fu and Cullen, “Weiquan lawyers act principally out of commitment, not because of any financial concerns. They accept weiquan cases to pursue their cause, and typically charge no legal fees.”
Weiquan activists include law professors with university teaching positions—including He Weifang, Xu Zhiyong
Xu Zhiyong
Xu Zhiyong is a lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was one of the founders of the NGO Open Constitution Initiative and an active rights lawyer in China who helped those underprivileged....
, and Teng Biao—professional lawyers, and “barefoot lawyers,” who are self-taught and often lack any formal legal education. Several of China’s more high-profile Weiquan lawyers fall into the latter category, including Guo Feixiong
Guo Feixiong
Guo Feixiong , is a Chinese human rights lawyer from Guangdong often identified with the Weiquan movement. Guo is known as a dissident writer and "barefoot" lawyer, who has worked on several controversial issues to defend the rights of marginalized groups...
and Chen Guangcheng
Chen Guangcheng
Chen Guangcheng is a blind civil rights activist in the People's Republic of China who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was placed under house arrest from September 2005 to March 2006 after talking to Time magazine about the forced abortion cases he...
. Many barefoot lawyers are peasants who teach themselves enough law to file civil complaints, engage in litigation, and educate fellow citizens about their rights.
Because corporate law firms are generally not hospitable to Weiquan lawyers and legal aid workers operate within the government system, Weiquan lawyers in large cities tend to work as solo practitioners in partnership firms with other like-minded lawyers. The Beijing Globe Law Firm and Yitong Law Firm
Yitong Law Firm
Yitong Law Firm is a law firm in the People's Republic of China engaged in defense of human rights. Its clients include Hu Jia and Chen Guangcheng. In February 2009 Chinese authorities announced that the firm would be shut down for six months, ostensibly because an unlicensed lawyer was practicing...
are examples of such organizations.
Rana Siu Inboden and William Inboden note that a disproportionate number of influential Weiquan lawyers identify with the Christian
Christianity in China
Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants , Catholics , and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, and the social system and ideology of...
faith, including Gao Zhisheng
Gao Zhisheng
Gao Zhisheng is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting alleged human rights abuses in China. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and detained by the Chinese government several times and released...
, Chen Guangcheng, Zheng Enchong
Zheng Enchong
Zheng Enchong is a Shanghai-based Zheng Enchong is a [[Shanghai]]-based...
, and Li Heping, among others.
There are at least two distinctive (and sometimes competing) approaches to Weiquan activism. Among Weiquan lawyers, the pragmatists (or consequentialists) are more deferential to the existing legal systems and institutions, and only pursue courses of actions that are likely to produce incremental improvements and reforms. These activists may reject approaches that are liable to be met with official reprisals. By contrast, the "radical" Weiquan activists (those adopting a deontological approach) view rights defending as a moral obligation that is to be pursued regardless of potential consequences. Radical lawyers such as Gao Zhisheng are more inclined to take on the most "sensitive" cases—such as those of Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
adherents—simply because it is the "right thing to do," even though the prospects of success are minimal. A pragmatist may become radicalized once them encounter the limits of possible reform.
Freedom of expression
Although freedom of speech is enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese authorities enforce restrictions on political and religious expression. Such restrictions are sometimes in accordance with Article 105 of the criminal code, which contains vague and broadly defined provisions against "inciting subversion of state powerInciting subversion of state power
Inciting subversion of state power is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China. It is article 105, paragraph 2 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code....
". Weiquan lawyers, along with international human rights organizations, have argued that the provisions against subversion are inconsistent both with China’s own constitution and with international human rights standards, particularly in light of the lack of transparency and clear guidelines used in applying the laws.
Several Weiquan lawyers have been involved in litigation and other forms of advocacy to defend the rights to free expression for individuals charged with the crime of subversion. Notable cases include that of Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
, a prominent Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
intellectual sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion in December 2009. Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
activist Tan Zuoren
Tan Zuoren
Tan Zuoren , from Chengdu, Sichuan province, People's Republic of China, is an environmentalist, writer and former editor of Literati magazine .On February 9, 2010...
was sentenced to five years for inciting subversion for publishing writings on the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
, advocating for the families of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
victims, and accepting interviews from the Falun Gong-affiliated Sound of Hope
Sound of Hope
Sound of Hope is a global, non-profit provider of radio news, cultural programming, talk shows and commentaries. SOH was established by Chinese immigrants in the United States in June 2003 and now has operating teams spread across North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe...
radio. His lawyers were reportedly barred from entering the courtroom. In October 2009, intellectual Guo Quan
Guo Quan
Guo Quan is a Chinese human rights activist. He founded the China New Democracy Party. He is a State Owned Enterprise cadre, secretary of the Nanjing Economic Restructuring Commission and Nanjing People's Court cadre....
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing “reactionary” articles online.
Weiquan lawyers have also challenged the application of state secret laws, which are sometimes used to prosecute individuals who disseminate information on politically sensitive issues. In November 2009, for instance, lawyers were involved in arguing for Huang Qi
Huang Qi
Huang Qi is a Chinese webmaster and human rights activist. He is the co-founder of Tianwang Center for Missing Persons , along with his wife Zeng Li...
, a Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
activist who had advocated online for the parents of Sichuan earthquake victims. Huang was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of state secrets.
Judicial independence
The Chinese Constitution enshrines rule of law, but simultaneously emphasizes the principle of the "leadership of the Communist Party." The legal profession itself is subordinate to the authority of the Communist Party; the Ministry of JusticeMinistry of Justice of the People's Republic of China
Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China is a ministry of the Chinese central government which is responsible for legal affairs...
, not the bar associations
All China Lawyers Association
All China Lawyers Association is the Bar association of the People's Republic of China. It was founded on July, 1986. It carries out professional administration over lawyers in pursance of law. All lawyers of China are members of ACLA. Now ACLA has nearly 110,000 individual members...
, is responsible for issuing and renewing lawyers' licenses. Weiquan lawyers have argued that this structure precludes the emergence of genuine rule of law, and in some cases have advocated for reforms to advance judicial independence and the protection of legal professionals.
In late August 2008, a collection of several dozen Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
lawyers signed a petition stating that the Beijing Bar Association leaders should be elected by the organization's members, rather than being appointed. The petition letter stated that selection process in place for the Association's directors is inconsistent with official guidelines and the Chinese constitution, and should be replaced with a democratic voting process. The Beijing Bar Association responded to the campaign by asserting that "Any individual who uses text messages, the web or other media to privately promote and disseminate the concept of direct elections, express controversial opinions, thereby spreading rumors within the Beijing Bar Association, confuse and poison people's minds, and convince people of circumstances that do not exist regarding the so-called 'Call For Direct Elections For the Beijing Bar Association' is illegal." The following year, the Beijing Bureau of Justice refused to renew the licenses of 53 Beijing Weiquan lawyers, all of whom had signed the petition for elections to the Bar Association.
Land rights
Under Chinese property lawProperty Law of the People's Republic of China
The Property Law of the People's Republic of China is a property law adopted by the National People's Congress in 2007 that went into effect on October 1, 2007...
, there is no privately held land; “urban land” is owned by the state, which grants land rights for a set number of years. Rural, or “collectively owned land,” is leased by the state for periods of 30 years, and is theoretically reserved for agricultural purposes, housing and services for farmers. Forced evictions are forbidden under International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from January 3, 1976...
, which China has ratified. Under China’s constitution and other property laws, expropriation of urban land is permitted only if it is for the purpose of supporting the “public interest,” and those being evicted are supposed to receive compensation, resettlement, and protection of one’s living conditions. The “public interest” is not defined, however, and abuses are common in the expropriation process, with many citizens complaining of receiving little or no compensation.
Forced evictions with little or no compensation occur frequently in both urban and rural China, contexts, with even fewer legal protections for rural citizens. Collectively owned rural land may be "reallocated" at the discretion of authorities, and in many regions local governments collude with private developers to reclassify rural land as urban land, which can then be sold. from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, an estimated 40 million Chinese peasants were affected by land requisitions. Citizens who resist or protest the evictions have reportedly been subjected to harassment, beatings, or detention, and land-related grievances occasionally escalate into large-scale protests or riots.
Several Weiquan lawyers have advocated for the rights of individual citizens whose land and homes were taken with inadequate compensation, including Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
lawyer Zheng Enchong. Ni Yulan
Ni Yulan
Ni Yulan , a critical lawyer working for victims of land eviction or housing rights cases, was arrested together with her husband. Only a year ago, she had been released from an earlier detention of two years. Due to torture in prison, she needed a wheelchair. After her release a year ago, she had...
, a Beijing lawyer, was herself left homeless by forced eviction, and became an outspoken advocate for victims before being sentenced to two years in prison.
In 2007, a 54-year-old farmer in Heilongjiang Yang Chunlin
Yang Chunlin
Yang Chunlin is a human rights activist in Heilongjiang, China. Yang has published numerous articles on human rights and land rights. In 2007, he helped organise a petition entitled, "We want human rights, not the Olympics." The petition reportedly collected over ten thousand signatures...
published numerous articles on human rights and land rights, and helped to organise a petition entitled: "We want human rights, not the Olympics." The petition reportedly collected over ten thousand signatures. Yang was put to trial, and sentenced to five years in prison, where he has allegedly been tortured. Li Fangping was hired to defend him, but was denied access to his client.
Defense of ethnic minorities
Several Weiquan lawyers, including Teng Biao, Jiang Tianyong, and Li Fangping, offered legal aid to TibetansTibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
in the wake of the March, 2008 Tibetan protests
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
. The protests resulted in the imprisonment of at least 670 Tibetans, and the execution of at least four individuals. Chinese government sources asserted that the unrest and violence in Tibet had been masterminded by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
and executed by his followers for the purpose of fomenting unrest and disrupting the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing. The Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), operated by several Weiquan lawyers and intellectuals, issued a paper in May 2009 challenging the official narrative, and suggesting that the protests were instead a response to economic inequities, Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
migration, and religious sentiments. The OCI recommended that Chinese authorities better respect and protect the rights and interests of the Tibetan people, including religious freedom, and pursue the reduction of economic inequality and official corruption.
Tibetan Filmmaker Dhondup Wangcheng was sentenced to six years in prison for making a documentary on human rights in Tibet
Human rights in Tibet
Human rights in Tibet are a contentious political issue.Pre-1950 Tibet has been described as a society in which the concept of human rights was unknown: it was ruled by a theocracy, beset by serfdorm and a form of slavery, had a caste-like social hierarchy, lacked a proper judicial system, enforced...
in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Two lawyers who sought to represent him, Chang Boyang and Li Dunyong, faced threats and harassment for their advocacy.
In July 2010, a group of Chinese activists including Teng Biao co-signed a letter to the Chinese leadership to protest the 15-year prison sentence that had been meted out to Uighur journalist Halaite Niyaze. Niyaze was not permitted to have a lawyer at his trial, where he was charged with "endangering state security." According to reports, Niyaze was being charged because he had criticized the Chinese government in an interview with a Hong Kong news agency for not doing enough to prevent the July 2009 Ürümqi riots.
Falun Gong
In November, 1999, the Supreme People’s Court
Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China
The Supreme People's Court is the highest court in the mainland area of the People's Republic of China...
offered a judicial interpretation of article 300 of the criminal code, stating that Falun Gong should be regarded as a “xie jiao,” or evil religion. Large numbers were subsequently sentenced to long prison terms, often under article 300, in what are typically very short trials without the presence of a lawyer. In 2009 alone, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that several hundred Falun Gong adherents have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 years. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, note that the application of the law to persecute Falun Gong adherents contravenes both China’s own constitution and international standards. Several Weiquan lawyers have argued similarly while defending Falun Gong adherents who face criminal or administrative sentencing for their beliefs. Laywers who have defended Falun Gong include Guo Guoting
Guo Guoting
Guo Guoting , is a former Chinese lawyer, and chief partner of the Shanghai Tian Yi Law Firm. He was one of few lawyers who would defend dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners. He represented the imprisoned lawyer Zheng Enchong and journalist Shi Tao. Because of these activities, the Shanghai...
, Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu, Wang Yonghang,Tang Jitian and Liu Wei, among others.
In addition to litigation work, Weiquan lawyers like Gao Zhisheng have also advocated publicly and in the media for human rights for Falun Gong. In 2004 and 2005, Gao wrote a series of letters to China’s top leadership detailing accounts of torture and sexual abuse against Falun Gong practitioners, and calling for an end to the persecution of the group. In response, Gao lost his legal license, was put under house arrest, detained, and was reportedly tortured.
HIV/AIDS
Some Weiquan lawyers have advocated for the rights of HIV/AIDS victims who contracted the virus as a result of state-sponsored blood drives. In the 1990s, government officials in central China, and especially in HenanHenan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province, encouraged rural citizens to sell blood plasma in order to supplement their incomes. Gross mismanagement of the process resulted in hundreds of thousands of individuals being infected with HIV. According to activists, victims have not been compensated, and no government officials were held accountable. Authorities continue to suppress information about the epidemic, which is particularly sensitive in light of the involvement of Li Changchun
Li Changchun
Li Changchun is the Propaganda chief of the Communist Party of China. He is the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China's de facto top power organ, and has been a member since 2002...
, the Communist Party Propaganda head and formerly Party chief in Henan.
Hu Jia
Hu Jia (activist)
Hu Jia is an activist and dissident in the People's Republic of China. His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement, Chinese environmentalist movement, and HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China...
is arguably the most well known advocate for HIV/AIDS victims, having served as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
Loving Source.
Women's rights
Chen GuangchengChen Guangcheng
Chen Guangcheng is a blind civil rights activist in the People's Republic of China who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was placed under house arrest from September 2005 to March 2006 after talking to Time magazine about the forced abortion cases he...
, a blind self-taught Weiquan lawyer, rose to prominence for defending victims of China's one-child policy
One-child policy
The one-child policy refers to the one-child limitation applying to a minority of families in the population control policy of the People's Republic of China . The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy...
. First implemented in 1979, the one-child policy mandates that couples may only have one child, though there are exceptions for some rural citizens, ethnic minorities, and couples who were themselves only children. Though Chinese laws condemn harsh enforcement measures, Chinese authorities and family planning staff have been accused of carrying out coercive, late-term forced abortions, sterilization, incarceration and torture to enforce the policy. In 2005, Chen Guangcheng filed a class action case against family planning officials in Linyi, Shandong, who were accused of subjecting thousands of women to sterilization or forced abortions.
Underground Christians
China’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, yet also provides a caveat specifying that only “normal” religious activities are permitted. In practice, religious freedom is granted only within the strictly prescribed parameters of the five officially sanctioned “patriotic” religious associations of BuddhismBuddhist Association of China
The Buddhist Association of China is a major organization of Chinese Buddhism, which serves as the official supervisory organ of Buddhism in the People's Republic of China...
, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism
Three-Self Patriotic Movement
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement or TSPM is a state-controlled Protestant church in the People's Republic of China...
and Catholicism
Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association
The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association , abbreviated CPA, CPCA, or CCPA, is an association of people, established in 1957 by the People's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau to exercise state supervision over mainland China's Catholics...
. Groups falling outside the state-administered religions, including “underground” or "house church"
Chinese house church
Chinese house churches are a religious movement of unregistered assemblies of Christians in the People's Republic of China, which operate independently of the government-run Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council for Protestant groups and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic...
Christians, are subject to varying degrees of repression and persecution.
Although there are no definitive figures on the number of underground Christians in China, some estimates have put their total number in excess of 70 million. At least 40 Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
bishops operate independent of official sanction, and some are under surveillance, house arrest, detention, or have disappeared. Several leaders and members of underground Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
churches have also been detained and sentenced to reeducation through labor or prison terms. Violent raids and demolitions have been carried out on underground churches, sometimes resulting in injury to congregants inside. Chinese officials have labelled several underground Protestant churches as a xie jiao, or “evil religion,” thus providing a pretext for harsher punishment of members.
Several prominent Weiquan lawyers themselves identify with the underground Protestant movement, and have sought to defend church members and leaders facing imprisonment. These include Zhang Kai, Li Heping, and Gao Zhisheng.
Other initiatives
A number of specific events have attracted the help and attention of Weiquan activists. In the March, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province, shoddy school construction resulted in the collapse of several schools full of students. A number of Weiquan lawyers, including Tang Zuoren, were involved in advocating for the rights of parents, and in investigating allegations that corrupt officials were responsible for the poor construction. Parents and lawyers met with reprisals from Chinese officials for their activism.Later the same year, it was revealed that large quantities of infant formula had been tainted with melamine
2008 Chinese milk scandal
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine....
, causing 300,000 infants to fall ill and resulting in several deaths. A group of parents of the victims were reportedly detained for attempting to draw media attention to their plight. Dozens of lawyers—particularly from the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong—offered pro-bono legal services to victims, but their efforts were obstructed by authorities.
Individual human rights cases, such as the Deng Yujiao incident
Deng Yujiao incident
The Deng Yujiao incident occurred on 10 May 2009 at a hotel located in Badong County, Hubei province, in the People's Republic of China. Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old female pedicure worker, tried to rebuff the advances of Deng Guida , director of the local township business promotions office, who...
and the death of Qian Yunhui
Qian Yunhui
Qian Yunhui , a 53-year-old elected and popular eastern Zhejiang province village head who had a long history of petitioning against alleged abuses by local government, died on December 25, 2010 after being crushed by the front wheel of a truck loaded with crushed rocks for a nearby building site...
, have also drawn help from rights defenders such as Wu Gan.
In 2003, a group of legal scholars, including Teng Biao and Xu Zhiyong, formed the Open Constitution Initiative (Chinese:公盟) to advocate for greater rule of law. The organization was involved in the Sun Zhigang case, and has advocated for petitioners, labor rights, freedom of expression, HIV/AIDS victims, Tibetans, land rights, and protection of public health, among other issues.
Retrenchment on rule of law
In response to the emergence of the Weiquan movement, which often makes use of the official language about "rule of law" to justify its work, in April 2006 a political campaign was launched to solidify the Communist Party's leadership over judicial work, combat the idea of greater independence for judges and lawyers, and educate people about the "socialist concept of rule of law." The campaign was announced by Luo GanLuo Gan
Luo Gan is a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and former Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary of the People's Republic of China.-Biography:...
, head of the Party Central Committee's Legal and Political Committee. Luo urged that in order to protect political stability, "forceful measures" be adopted "against those who, under the pretext of rights-protection (weiquan), carry out sabotage." The launch of the campaign coincided with a crackdown on Weiquan lawyers.
Shortly after the campaign's launch, Party Committees provided instruction to judges reminding them of the political goals that their work must uphold. According to one document issued to judges in Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province and quoted by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, "Recently, some judges have started to believe that to be a judge you just have to strictly apply the law in a case. In fact, this kind of concept is erroneous [...] all the legal formulations have a clear political background and direction [...] We must stamp out the kind of narrow viewpoint that thinks that you can also do court work by having judicial independence."
During a December 2007 conference on political-legal work, CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
articulated the theory of the "Three Supremes
Three Supremes
The Three Supremes is a doctrine first articulated by Chinese president Hu Jintao in December 2007, which requires the judiciary to subordinate the written law to the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and the maintenance of "social stability." As Hu Jintao put it during the National...
," which emphasized again that legal work should regard as supreme the concerns and interests of the Communist Party. In March 2008, Wang Shengjun
Wang Shengjun
Wang Shengjun became elected President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China in March 2008.-Biography:He joined the Communist Party of China in 1972....
was confirmed as the new head of the Supreme People's Court. Wang, who has no formal legal training himself, abandoned the efforts of his predecessors to improve judicial competence, training, and autonomy, and instead placed primary importance on the ideological implications of the "Three Supremes" theory and upholding the leadership of the Communist Party.
In 2010, China's Ministry of Justice issued two new regulations intended to "strengthen the supervision and management of lawyers and law firms". According to the Associated Press, the new regulations would serve to "allow authorities to punish lawyers ... for actions such as talking to the media or even causing 'traffic troubles.'"
Suppression of lawyers and coercive measures
Weiquan lawyers have faced various challenges to their work from the Chinese government, including disbarment or suspension, violence, threats, surveillance, arbitrary detention, and prosecution. This is particularly true for lawyers who take up politically sensitive cases. Reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence against Weiquan lawyers increased in 2006 following the launch of the campaign to promote the "socialist concept of the rule of law." Authorities have refused to renew the licenses of several dozen Weiquan lawyers, and several have effectively been banned for life from the legal profession. Several Weiquan lawyers have themselves been sentenced to prison in response to their activism. A selection of notable instances of suppression are listed here:- Gao ZhishengGao ZhishengGao Zhisheng is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting alleged human rights abuses in China. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and detained by the Chinese government several times and released...
, once recognized as one of China's ten most promising lawyers, was an advocate for a range of disenfranchised individuals and minorities. In 2006, after he wrote a series of letters to the Chinese leadership concerning the torture of Falun Gong adherents, Gao had his legal license revoked and his law firm was shut down. His family was placed under house arrest, and he was detained for six months. Gao was sentenced, with a five-year reprieve, to four years in prison. He has been the subject of several prolonged disappearances into custody, during which he has reportedly been tortured.
- On December 27, 2007, AIDS and pro-democracy activist Hu Jia was detained as part of a crackdown on dissents during the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A well known rights advocate who had advocated on behalf of AIDS victims, peasants, victims of land requisitions, Hu had also been critical of the lack of human rights progress that had been made ahead of the Olympic games. Hu pleaded not guilty at his trial in March 2008. On April 3, 2008, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power." He had previously been under house arrest, and has reportedly been beaten by police.
- In response to his work to bring a class action lawsuit against family planning authorities in Linyi, Shandong Province in 2005, Chen GuangchengChen GuangchengChen Guangcheng is a blind civil rights activist in the People's Republic of China who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was placed under house arrest from September 2005 to March 2006 after talking to Time magazine about the forced abortion cases he...
was put under house arrest, threatened, detained, and beaten. Three other Weiquan activists — Li Fangping, Li Subin, and Xu ZhiyongXu ZhiyongXu Zhiyong is a lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was one of the founders of the NGO Open Constitution Initiative and an active rights lawyer in China who helped those underprivileged....
— visited him to offer support, but were themselves beaten and interrogated. On 24 August 2006, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for "damaging property and gathering crowds to disturb transport order." Following his release, he remains under house arrest.
- On 22 April 2010, Beijing lawyers Liu Wei and Tang Jitian were permanently disbarred for defending Falun Gong practitioners.
- On May 13, 2009, lawyers Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu are violently beaten and detained in ChongqingChongqingChongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
for investigating the death of Jiang Xiqing, a 66-year-old Falun Gong practitioner killed in a labor camp. One month earlier, Beijing lawyer Cheng Hai was similarly beaten by police in Sichuan province for seeking to defend a Falun Gong adherent.
- Yang ChunlinYang ChunlinYang Chunlin is a human rights activist in Heilongjiang, China. Yang has published numerous articles on human rights and land rights. In 2007, he helped organise a petition entitled, "We want human rights, not the Olympics." The petition reportedly collected over ten thousand signatures...
was arrested in July 2007 and charged with "inciting subversion of state power". His trial began in February 2008 in the city of JiamusiJiamusiJiamusi is a prefecture-level city in the province of Heilongjiang, in the People's Republic of China. Located on the riverside of the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River, It faces Russia across the Ussuri River and the Heilongjiang River...
. Yang was sentenced to five years in prison on 24 March 2008. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial. During and after the hearing at which he was sentenced, Yang was reportedly beaten with an electric rod on at least two occasions.
- On 4 July 2009, around 20 security agents broke into the home of Wang Yonghang. Wang, a Weiquan lawyer from DalianDalianDalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
City, had defended Falun Gong adherents. He was taken into custody for interrogation and was reportedly beaten severely. Wang's lawyers were not permitted to contact him. In November 2009, Wang was sentenced in a closed court to seven years in prison for his advocacy on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners. When his lawyers were permitted to see him in January 2010, they reported that he had been tortured.
- On 17 July 2009, authorities in Beijing raided and shuttered the Open Constitution Initiative, an NGO established by legal scholars Teng Biao and Xu Zhiyong.
- On 20 February 2011, several Weiquan activists were detained following online calls for pro-democracy protests in China, including Chen Wei, Jiang Tianyong, Tang Jitian, and Teng Biao.
International response
Although there is relatively little awareness of the Weiquan phenomenon as a movement outside of China, Western governments and human rights organizations have consistently expressed concern over the treatment of individual Weiquan lawyers in China, some of whom have faced disbarment, imprisonment, prolonged disappearance, sentencing and alleged torture for their work in promoting civil rights and speaking out against one-party rule. In October 2010, a bipartisan group of 29 members of the U.S. House of Representatives pressed President Obama to raise the cases of Liu Xiaobo and Gao Zhisheng with the Chinese leadership, writing of Gao Zhizheng's prolonged detention: "If lawyers are hauled away for the "crime" of defending their clients, then even the pretense of rule of law in China has failed." The U.S. State Department claims to have raised the cases of these two individuals with their Chinese counterparts.In 2008, Hu Jia was awarded the Sakharov Prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
by the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
recognizing his human rights advocacy. The same year, Hu and Gao Zhisheng received nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
, and were considered to be favorites for the award. Two years later, seven members of the U.S. House of Representatives nominated imprisoned lawyers Gao Zhisheng and Chen Guangcheng, along with fellow dissident Liu Xiaobo for the prize. The letter noted that these individuals have sought to "raise the Chinese people’s awareness of their dignity and rights, and to call their government to govern within its constitution, its laws, and the international human rights agreements it has signed," and thereby made a significant contribution to peace. The Nobel Prize Committee awarded the honor to Liu in absentia in December, 2010.
See also
- Human rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
- Protest and dissent in the People's Republic of ChinaProtest and dissent in the People's Republic of ChinaIn spite of restrictions on freedom of association and of speech, a wide variety of protests and dissident movements have proliferated in the People’s Republic of China, particularly in the decades since the death of Mao Zedong...
- China National Anti-Demolition Home AllianceChina National Anti-Demolition Home AllianceChina National Anti-Demolition Home Alliance was established in New York City in May 2008 by Convenor of the Alliance Wen Weiquan with "to look into the eviction situation in China"...
- Deng Yujiao incidentDeng Yujiao incidentThe Deng Yujiao incident occurred on 10 May 2009 at a hotel located in Badong County, Hubei province, in the People's Republic of China. Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old female pedicure worker, tried to rebuff the advances of Deng Guida , director of the local township business promotions office, who...
External links
- The emergence of the weiquan movement, Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...