State-Appointed Lawyers Used to Block Defense Rights; “Grave-Digging Defense” Shocks the Legal World with Its Audacity
On April 28, 2025, the New York-based public interest organization Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers (CSCL) released the 2024 Annual Report on Lawyers’ Rights in China.
The report offers a comprehensive review of the most common rights violations faced by lawyers in civil, administrative, and criminal cases throughout 2024. It documents a range of emblematic cases in which lawyers’ rights were infringed, alongside notable grassroots efforts to defend legal professionals’ freedoms.
Grounded in detailed case studies, the report reveals the structural suppression of the legal profession by state power and puts forward concrete recommendations for systemic reform.
The report was compiled by a team consisting of two rights lawyers still under state pressure in China, three former Chinese lawyers now working with international organizations, and two researchers from public interest law institutions.
According to the report, 2024 marked another year of intensifying repression and shrinking space for lawyers in China. Criminal defense, administrative litigation, and cases involving public interest have become high-risk areas. Lawyers frequently faced harassment, obstruction, disciplinary actions, and in some cases, detention or disbarment for simply carrying out their professional duties. The independence of the legal profession is under severe threat.
The report specifically notes that in 2024, judicial authorities’ practice of appointing “state-assigned” lawyers to preempt independent counsel in criminal cases has become normalized.
Lu Miaoqing, a veteran public interest lawyer with many years of experience practicing in Guangdong, explained:
