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4. Connections Win Cases, Not Strong Legal Counsel
Li Tiantian, a lawyer in Shanghai, received his license to practice in 1997. At the time, he said, he had a hard time starting out because he did not have any friends in public security, the procuratorate, or the court system.
One case he took on was for one of his college professors, who gave birth to twins. The babies died due to the hospital’s negligence. The first trial ordered the hospital to pay 100,000 yuan (US$15,537). The second trial ordered a payment of 30,000 yuan (US$4,661), because, he said, the lawyer for the hospital used to be the head judge of a court.
Li says he no longer wants to be a lawyer after repeated disappointments in the face of hoping for fairness.
“To be a lawyer in China, relationships are most important, not the law. I often hear veteran lawyers saying that the verdict will be favorable if the judge is bribed with expensive jewelry,” he said.
“I still remember a criminal case involving a village government stealing over 100 million yuan from a demolition and relocation fund. Three villagers hired three different lawyers. I was the only one who submitted a ‘not guilty’ defense. But the result was that my client was sentenced to two years in prison, the other two were sentenced to one year and half a year. This was because I defended my client ‘while standing up tall,’ but the other lawyers defended their clients ‘lying on the ground with their belly down.’”
5. Party Interests Are Paramount
A 30-year veteran rights attorney from Jiangsu province, Mr. Chen, says in recent years the law has increasingly taken a backseat to Communist Party interests.
“There is a mandate from the Superior Court that ‘the Party’s interest is most important, people’s interest is most important, law is most important.’ In reality, once the Party’s interest is considered the most important, this leaves no room for the law or the people’s interests,” says Chen.
The directives come all the way from the Justice Ministry. “When the Justice minister gives a speech, instead of saying lawyers should uphold justice and protect the law, he emphasizes that lawyers should consider the big picture and be obedient. When facing sensitive cases, group uprising cases, or Falun Gong cases, lawyers are demanded to report to their superiors and wait for their approval. In fact, lawyers are not allowed to take on cases as such.”
Chen describes a Falun Gong case he took on a few years ago. He said he was harassed for defending practitioners of the spiritual discipline who were charged with trumped up allegations. Falun Gong is banned by the Communist Party, which created an extrajudicial body to “eradicate” the practice, but there are no actual laws on the Chinese books against the practice.
“But the court sentenced one to 13 years in prison and the other three 6 years,” said Chen. “I was threatened many times and was told not to take any more Falun Gong cases.”Read the original Chinese article.
