Joint Press Release: Massive crackdown of human rights lawyers continues

Geneva-Paris-Hong-Kong, July 16, 2015 – The Chineseauthorities must end the widespread crackdown against lawyers, and immediatelyand unconditionally release the lawyers and human rights defenders throughoutChina who have been arrested or disappeared, said the Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights defenders along with FIDH member organisations,China Labour Bulletin and Human Rights in China.

Beginning on July 9, 2015, with the disappearance ofprominent human rights lawyer Ms. Wang Yu and her husband Bao Longjunand their son, Chinese authorities have systematically rounded up and detainedat least 177 lawyers and rights defenders. The unprecedented crackdown has targeteda committed group of rights defense lawyers working throughout the country,including key members of the Fengrui law firm. Mr. Zhou Shifeng,Director of Fengrui, and 14 other lawyers including Mses. Li Shuyun and WangFang, and Messrs. Wang Quanzhang, Huang Liqun, Sui Muqing,Xie Yang and Liu Sixin remain detained or missing as of thiswriting. Furthermore, Frengrui's premises were searched on the afternoon ofJuly 10, 2015, with three computers being seized.

Other human rights defenders and civil society actorshave also been targeted through summons, detention or interrogation in at least22 provinces and municipalities across China directly under the control of theCentral Government, with 17 individuals still detained or missing. For moreinformation on the ongoing crackdown, see Human Rights In China's resource pagehere.

Our organisations recall that the targeting of human rights lawyersis an alarming illustration of the deteriorating situation of human rights inChina. When those who speak out for the rights of others are systematicallytargeted for carrying out legitimate and peaceful activities, the future ofrule of law in China is grim.

While no formal charges have yet been filed againstthose who were targeted over the past few days, some have reportedly beendetained on suspicion of “illegally organising paid protests,” “incitingsubversion of State power,” and “fabricating rumours on the Internet to swaycourt decisions.” Furthermore, State-run media have characterised the targetedlawyers as “a major criminal gang,” accusing “radical human rights lawyers” of“stirring up several serious public opinion issues” and “disrupt[ing] the legalprocess.”

Our organisations call on the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose thewhereabouts of the detainees, ensure their right to access to a lawyer andrespect their rights including those stipulated in the UN Declaration on Human RightsDefenders and the UN Basic Principles on the Role ofLawyers.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders (OBS) was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of thisprogramme is to intervene to prevent or remedy to situations of repressionagainst human rights defenders.

For moreinformation, please contact :

• FIDH: Lucie Kroening (French / English / German / Arabic) - Tel: +33 6 48 05 91 57 (Paris) ; Arthur Manet (French / English / Spanish) - Tel: +33 6 72 28 42 94 (Paris)
• OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui (French / English / Spanish) - Tel: +41 22 809 49 24 (Geneva/Brussels)
• HRIC: Mi Ling Tsui (English / Mandarin / Cantonese) - +1 212.268.9074 (New York)
• CLB: Geoffrey Crothall – (English) +852 2780 2187 (Hong Kong); Han Dongfang (Mandarin) +852 9109 0092 (Hong Kong)