Two More Human Rights Lawyers In China Have Licenses Revoked

We presume they’ll be mysteriously disappearing soon as well…. yet again a huge outcry from the international legal community especially commercial law firms

AFP reports..

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izQHSc-z0bQ_oeZQArYu-i4eGuQw

China has revoked the attorney’s licences of two human rights lawyers who defended a follower of the banned Falungong spiritual group, in a case that has caused concern among rights groups.

Beijing city justice authorities said the action was taken against lawyers Tang Jitian and Liu Wei for “disrupting court order and interfering with the normal conduct of litigation activities.”
The announcement was posted late Friday on the website of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice.

Legal experts have said previously the licence revocation could be a first for China and it comes amid increasing concern by rights group over what they say is a wide official clampdown on human rights lawyers.

The accusations arose after the two represented a practitioner of Falungong — the spiritual movement labelled an illegal, “evil” cult in China — in April 2009 in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The lawyers walked out of the courtroom after deciding they could no longer execute their defence due to constant interruption by the judge, who was apparently being directed by a man in the courtroom using eye contact, Tang told AFP previously.

In a statement released Saturday, Human Rights in China said Tang told the New York-based rights group that judge Li Xudong allowed an unidentified observer to videotape the proceedings in violation of court rules.

Li also pounded the gavel loudly during their defence statements, interrupting them more than ten times.
Neither of the lawyers could be immediately reached for comment Saturday.


Sharon Hom, Human Rights in China’s executive director, called the decision “a mockery of justice and the rule of law.”


“HRIC urges the relevant authorities to review and adjudicate the case with impartiality and fairness,” she said, in the group’s statement.
Falungong is an extremely sensitive issue for Beijing.


China’s communist government banned the group after thousands of practitioners silently converged in Beijing to air their grievances over alleged persecution, showing their organisational might.


Rights groups say its members have been imprisoned and tortured, while the group itself issues regular reports of members dying in police custody.