Radio Free Asia Report: Former Chinese judge roughed up by Lao immigration police over detained lawyer | Practice Source - Legal News and Views

Li Jianfeng says Lu Siwei is the victim of transnational law enforcement by Beijing in Southeast Asia.

A former Chinese judge who tried to visit detained human rights lawyer Lu Siwei at an immigration detention center in Laos has described being grabbed and manhandled by Lao police, who snatched away his cell phone

Canada-based Li Jianfeng, a former judge in China’s legal system, said the scuffles ensued after he tried to visit rights attorney Lu Siwei in an immigration detention center on Aug. 1, following what rights groups said is another example of “long-arm” international law enforcement by Beijing.

Lu, a prominent rights advocate who lost his law license after speaking out about the cases of 12 Hong Kong activists detained by the Chinese coast guard after the 2019 protest movement, was arrested in Vientiane on Friday morning as he boarded a train for Thailand, en route to the United States to join his family.

Li told Radio Free Asia that he was concerned about Lu, who was held by Lao immigration police amid claims of an issue with his passport. But when he arrived at the immigration detention center, he was unable to visit because Tuesday was a public holiday.

But just as he and his friend – a U.S. national – were leaving the facility, they found an office filled with police officers, knocked and entered, he said.

One of the officers in that room was the same policeman who took Lu away.

“The police were very nervous … and surrounded us as if they were facing an enemy,” Li said, adding that he had started filming right from the start.

Li and his friend were taken upstairs to separate interrogation rooms, and Li was interrogated by four police officers, who told him to delete the video from his phone.

At China’s behest

Police told Li that Lu wasn’t being held at the facility, and threatened him, he said.

“They asked their superiors for instructions, then asked me again to delete the video on my phone, but I refused,” Li said. “Then they said … that if I didn’t delete it, they couldn’t guarantee my safety if something should happen to me in Laos.”

“They tried to snatch my cell phone … then they called four more policemen, making a total of eight officers,” he said. “They pinned my arms behind my back, grabbed my head and my legs, and finally snatched away my phone.”