February 2023 | HK 47 National Security Case | Newly released Chinese lawyer

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

View this email in your browser

DONATE NOW!

Organisational Updates

As this newsletter shows, human rights lawyers are facing more stringent oppression than ever. The regime is tightening the exercise of human and civil rights, by citizens and practitioners alike.

In this environment, many lawyers have lost their ability to practice law due to disbarment or detention. Lawyers and their families are at risk of falling into poverty.

The 29 Principles is dedicated to supporting the subsistence of lawyers, their causes and activities. This includes our Lawyers-at-Risk Legal Aid Project to support access to legal representation, and preserve their right to a fair and unbiased trial. Our Humanitarian Aid Project supports those lawyers and their families who may have lost their livelihoods through emergency funds to stop them from falling into poverty.

We are also witnessing an epidemic of trauma and mental health issues amongst human rights lawyers as they are subjected to torture, surveillance, harassment and other abuses by the state. Our Lawyers-at-Risk Mental Health Project helps to alleviate some of these symptoms, by providing counselling and support.

However, we can’t do any of this work without your support. We greatly appreciate any support or donations you are able to offer to help us continue our work: see also the appeals for our crowdfunding campaign from our prominent patrons on our YouTube channel and our Website.

Our executive director, Chakra Ip, appeared in Simon Shen’s GLOs (Glocal Learning Offices), to share with the political scientist and his audience about the mission and vision of The 29 Principles, as well as the organisation’s work and development. Watch the interview here (in Cantonese only).

Human Rights Lawyers in China

Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi received The U.S. State Department's Global Human Rights Defender Award. He was praised for demonstrating “leadership and courage while promoting and defending human rights and fundamental freedoms”. His wife, Luo Shengchun, received the award on Ding’s behalf, as the human rights lawyer has now been detained for more than 1100 days. There is still no information as to when he will be released.

Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in the UN Human Rights Office, reiterated her concern over the prolonged detention of Li Qiaochu and Qin Yongpei, as the human rights activist and the human rights lawyer have now been detained for years.

Li Qiaochu, a female human rights activist, has now been detained for more than 2 years after she disclosed her terrible treatment by the regime during her 4-month incommunicado detention (RSDL) after she voiced support for legal scholar and human rights activist Xu Zhiyong.

Qin Yongpei has been detained since 31 October 2019 after he was accused of malicious slander and spreading rumours against State leaders, attacking the State’s power and the socialist system, and inciting members of the public to doubt both. To date, the human rights lawyer has been detained for more than 1200 days, and there has been no verdict for his charge of “inciting subversion of state power”, despite the trial having been completed for more than a year.

Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Wuquan was released after he served a 5-year prison sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Chen was detained in February 2018 when he and others protested against a reclamation project attempted by the Government.

Tao Bo, a Chinese lawyer, was informed by his law firm that he would be sacked after he signed a petition calling for the strengthening of legislation and systems regarding the coroner's court system. The law firm clearly indicated in its letter to Tao that the decision was made upon considering the risks that the firm may face in the annual licensing review procedure had Tao continued staying in the firm.

Human Rights Lawyers in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong 47 Case – the case involving the largest number of defendants since the promulgation of the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) – began its 90-day trial on 6 February 2023. 47 pro-democracy defendants were charged for conspiring to “subvert state power” by holding primaries for pro-democracy candidates in 2020.

The trial has drawn great attention given the large number of pro-democracy defendants involved and the prolonged pre-trial detention some of them have already served. People in Hong Kong and across the international community are closely monitoring what the enforcement of the HKNSL would entail in actual practice, as the trial would be the first in Hong Kong to discuss the definition and meaning of “subversion of state power” in context.

The 29 Principles will be publishing information on the importance of this trial. Stay tuned on our twitter and website for the latest information.

The Hong Kong Government intends to amend legislation this year to limit foreign legal practitioners from engaging in HKNSL cases by requiring courts to obtain a certificate issued by the Chief Executive before they can allow foreign practitioners to appear in HKNSL cases.

In December 2022, the Hong Kong government lost its legal dispute with Jimmy Lai in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and the city's highest court ruled that the media tycoon could appoint Tim Owen KC, a British barrister, to represent him in his upcoming HKNSL trial. The Hong Kong Government immediately intervened on the decision by seeking interpretation from China’s NPCSC. The ensuing development saw the NPCSC’s interpretation justifying the possession of near freestanding power by the city’s Chief Executive and/or the National Security Committee in Hong Kong to issue certificates on practices relating to the HKNSL as they see appropriate.

Commenting on the Government’s intervention to overrule a final court’s decision, our board member Kevin Yam noted on his twitter that the interpretation “goes well beyond just the relatively narrow (but already worrying) issue of whether foreign lawyers can represent parties”, and the ruling essentially allows the Chief Executive and the National Security Committee to rule by decree, which fundamentally undermines the integrity of Hong Kong’s legal system. Dennis Kwok, also a board member of The 29 Principles, opined about the overly broad construction of national security, tweeting that now “the concept of national security covers everything from finance to energy, economy to cultural security”.

View this email in your browser