Li Zhuangs Prison Term Ends: Warning Delivered to Chinas Bar
Li Zhuang, a Chinese lawyer imprisoned for 18 months after bumping heads with Communist Party high-flyer Bo Xilai, finished his sentence on Saturday and flew home to Beijing.
His son, Li Yatong, left an account online and posted photos which were circulated on Sina Weibo and Chinese websites.
Li had been convicted of fabricating evidence and interfering with witness testimony in early 2010 after attempting to defend alleged mafia boss Gong Gangmo, a nightclub owner. Gong was being pursued by the city prosecutor as part of Bo Xilais heavily publicized anti-mob campaign in Chongqing, a megapolis where Bo is Party chief.
Bos dragnet swept up taxi cab drivers who had organized a protest and defense lawyers, causing critics to say his hitting the black campaign was more about promoting Bo than stamping out organized crime.
Lis defense of Gong depended on Gongs claim that he had been tortured into confessing. That claim then became the basis for charging Li, who was accused of having told Gong to lie, as Gong changed his story and testified against Li.
Li was found guilty in what was widely regarded as a kangaroo court. On appeal he initially claimed he would go to jail in order to defend the rule of law in China, but then abruptly reversed himself and pled guilty.
The appeals court reduced his sentence from 30 months to 18 months. Li was outraged and claimed that he had been offered a plea bargain by high-ranking officials that would have put him on probation without jail time.
Li later explained that his confession in the appeals court took the form of an acrostic that pled his innocence. The first and last character of each sentence in the six-point confession form the statement: Forced into the guilty plea and a reprieve, and will certainly appeal once I'm out [of custody].
Many lawyers in China thought that Li had become a punching bag for Bo after repeatedly clogging up the workings of Bos machine of swift retribution to alleged gangsters. ! His cont inual claims for procedural justice amidst mass sentences to labor camps and prisons became bothersome to Bo and the city prosecutors, it was widely thought.
Pu Zhiqiang, a civil rights lawyer, said that Lis treatment was meant to serve as an example for all of Chinas lawyers, according to BBC Chinese. The sentence was part of official strategy to limit the ability of lawyers to use the law to carry out their work, he was paraphrased as saying.
Li Ning, president of the All China Lawyers Association, a body controlled by the regime, said the impact Lis case had on Chinese lawyers is real and cannot be avoided. His trial made people see clearly that criminal defense in China has real dangers.
Lis case has received close attention in the Chinese media. Caijing, a business magazine, called him a living fossil among Chinese lawyers. Apart from the trial against the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution, Caijing said, no other case has attracted as much attention as Li Zhuangs.
The article said Li had become a symbol of the rule of law for his principled stance. But there were many irregularities in his prosecution, the article said. Choosing its words carefully, the article continued that if there are no fair procedures, then authority may be abused, and citizens will lack a sense of security.
His son, Li Yatong, left an account online and posted photos which were circulated on Sina Weibo and Chinese websites.
Li had been convicted of fabricating evidence and interfering with witness testimony in early 2010 after attempting to defend alleged mafia boss Gong Gangmo, a nightclub owner. Gong was being pursued by the city prosecutor as part of Bo Xilais heavily publicized anti-mob campaign in Chongqing, a megapolis where Bo is Party chief.
Bos dragnet swept up taxi cab drivers who had organized a protest and defense lawyers, causing critics to say his hitting the black campaign was more about promoting Bo than stamping out organized crime.
Lis defense of Gong depended on Gongs claim that he had been tortured into confessing. That claim then became the basis for charging Li, who was accused of having told Gong to lie, as Gong changed his story and testified against Li.
Li was found guilty in what was widely regarded as a kangaroo court. On appeal he initially claimed he would go to jail in order to defend the rule of law in China, but then abruptly reversed himself and pled guilty.
The appeals court reduced his sentence from 30 months to 18 months. Li was outraged and claimed that he had been offered a plea bargain by high-ranking officials that would have put him on probation without jail time.
Li later explained that his confession in the appeals court took the form of an acrostic that pled his innocence. The first and last character of each sentence in the six-point confession form the statement: Forced into the guilty plea and a reprieve, and will certainly appeal once I'm out [of custody].
Many lawyers in China thought that Li had become a punching bag for Bo after repeatedly clogging up the workings of Bos machine of swift retribution to alleged gangsters. ! His cont inual claims for procedural justice amidst mass sentences to labor camps and prisons became bothersome to Bo and the city prosecutors, it was widely thought.
Pu Zhiqiang, a civil rights lawyer, said that Lis treatment was meant to serve as an example for all of Chinas lawyers, according to BBC Chinese. The sentence was part of official strategy to limit the ability of lawyers to use the law to carry out their work, he was paraphrased as saying.
Li Ning, president of the All China Lawyers Association, a body controlled by the regime, said the impact Lis case had on Chinese lawyers is real and cannot be avoided. His trial made people see clearly that criminal defense in China has real dangers.
Lis case has received close attention in the Chinese media. Caijing, a business magazine, called him a living fossil among Chinese lawyers. Apart from the trial against the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution, Caijing said, no other case has attracted as much attention as Li Zhuangs.
The article said Li had become a symbol of the rule of law for his principled stance. But there were many irregularities in his prosecution, the article said. Choosing its words carefully, the article continued that if there are no fair procedures, then authority may be abused, and citizens will lack a sense of security.
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