Pride Of A Family In Extreme Poverty
Li Heping and Li Chunfu came from a very poor family in Henan Province, China. In the early 1990s, when Heping, the elder brother, reached twelfth grade, his family could no longer afford to send both children to school. The younger one, Chunfu, in the ninth grade at the time, was the one to make the sacrifice. Their mother recalled that Chunfu lay on his bed for days to digest this bitter reality, before heading south to work, in order to support his brother to pursue his studies.
After years of hardship at factories, poor living conditions and wages arrears (the experience of many migrant workers in China) Chunfu had finally saved some money and wanted to build a house in his hometown. Heping, who meanwhile had become a lawyer, advised Chunfu to spend the money on studying instead.
Chunfu's passion for studying was awakened. From 1998, he spent six years doing nothing but studying extremely hard, not only to catch up on the secondary school syllabus, but also to get himself a lawyer's licence. In 2005, he passed the written exam for the recruitment of judges at the Zhengzhou Court in Henan Province. After discussing with his friends, who were so confident in the development of China’s legal system, he felt that the prospect of being a lawyer was better than being a civil servant (a judge). He chose to become a lawyer instead of continuing with the oral examination at Zhengzhou Court.
It was extremely unusual and impressive for a poor family, like Li's family, to have two children become lawyers. However, in China, practicing law is also dangerous, particularly for human rights lawyers. As Heping and Chunfu both chose to tackle human rights cases, their family was destined to live in tribulation.
Taking On Cases From Disadvantaged Groups
Maybe because their humble upbringing, Li Heping and Li Chunfu were particularly concerned about the rights of disadvantaged groups.
According to Wang Qiaoling, the wife of Li Heping, one time an old farmer who had lost his land came to Beijing to seek legal advice from her husband. Heping heard that the old man had been sleeping on the streets as he could not afford to rent a place in Beijing. Instead of charging him for his legal advice, Li gave money to the old man - his colleagues made fun of him for this gesture. But to Wang, it was absolutely normal for Li. Having come from a poor family, he always had a soft spot for poor people.
As early as 2003, Li Heping was been involved in human rights cases. He represented Yang Zili, a student from Peking University who had joined the “Current Affairs Society”, a student organisation committed to discussing social issues in China. They published online articles in the hope of improving China. Yang was charged with “inciting subversion of state power”, sentenced to eight years in prison and suffered torture during his imprisonment.
In May 2005, together with Lawyer Gao Zhisheng, Li represented Lawyer Zhu Jiuhu. Lawyer Zhu had represented thousands of investors in a sensitive administrative lawsuit against several local government entities over the forced expropriation of private oil fields in northern Shaanxi province. He was officially arrested for charges of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” and “illegal assembly”, one day after he had sued for administrative infringement the three-levels of the governments of Shaanxi Province, Yulin City and Jingbian County. Zhu's arrest was a heavy blow to lawyers at that time, who were still full of hope for the future of China's judicial system. It vividly demonstrated that the government violated the law, and when people took legal action to sue the government, it not only used power to suppress the plaintiff, but also the plaintiff's lawyer. Zhu’s case also created an opportunity for mutual support and solidarity among fellow lawyers. With other lawyers' support and representation, Lawyer Zhu was released on bail pending trial in September of the same year and returned to Beijing.
In 2006, Li defended environmentalist Tan Kai, who had founded the environmental NGO "Green Watch”. Kai was charged with "illegally obtaining state secrets". In 2007, six human rights lawyers, including Teng Biao and Li Heping defended Falun Gong practitioners Wang Bo and his family presented the renowned defence declaration: "The Supremacy of the Constitution and Freedom of Religion". This was a pioneering example of Chinese legal professionals mounting a comprehensive and systematic challenge to the government’s position on Falun Gong.
In 2008, Li Heping participated in the defense of university lecturer Guo Quan, who was charged with "inciting subversion of state power" for advocating a multi-party political system. Together with Lawyer Si Weijiang and Lawyer Guo Lianhui, they delivered the defence statement for Guo. This defence statement has been considered as a model statement to defend against this charge.
Starting from 2009, Li Heping collaborated with a UK charity The Rights Practice, carrying out international cooperation projects in China to promote the rights of detainees and prevent torture and ill-treatment, with funds from the European Union. Li hosted several seminars with scholars and lawyers aiming to abolish torture in China, a country which has long ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In other words, Li's work with The Rights Practice was legal and open, but some years later, it became “evidence” that Li had been working for an overseas institution.
At the same time, Li served as a partner of Gaobo Longhua Law Firm in Beijing and the project coordinator for the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. In 2008, he was an honouree for the National Endowment for Democracy's Democracy Award for Religious Freedom and was received by President Bush at the White House. In the same year he was granted the Human Rights Award by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), but the authorities banned him from travelling abroad to receive the award.
Li Chunfu was not as high-profile as his elder brother Li Heping. He was a partner at Lanpeng Law Firm in Beijing, focusing on criminal and public interest cases, such as the rights of AIDS patients, work-related injury compensation, migrant workers without social insurance, farmers who lost their land, family planning abuses in Shandong Province, and Falun Gong practitioners' unnatural deaths in detention or labour camps. Despite the similarities, he seldom worked with Li Heping on the same cases.
As lawyers representing disadvantaged groups, both Heping and Chunfu encountered police surveillance, were forced to disappear for no reason, and suffered from physical assaults. Yet, these did not undermine their determination to be human rights lawyers.
709 Crackdown, Charges And Sentence
As soon as the 709 Crackdown started, Li Heping was taken away by the police on 10th July 2015, his home was searched and he was taken to unknown location. Nearly a year later, his assistant Zhao Wei, who had also been arrested on the same day and later formally arrested on the ground of “subversion of state power”, was suddenly released on bail pending trial. Zhao then posted an article online, accusing Li Heping of concealing information from her about his work with an overseas institution. She claimed that while doing so-called "anti-torture" research, the project was in fact "collecting and sorting out information on some sensitive domestic cases and hyping them up to criticise China's judicial and social systems and encourage changes, in order to achieve China’s peaceful transformation.” Zhao Wei also alleged that Li had owed her three months' salary.
In response to these accusations, Wang Qiaoling pointed out that many trainee lawyers and paralegals were not allowed to give interviews or speak after their release. Only Zhao could post her accusations against Li right after she had been released on bail, which Wang suggests "looks just like fraud". Other legal professionals doubted the real identity of person who had posted as Zhao Wei. Even if it was Zhao Wei who posted it, it was unclear whether she had been threatened or whether such a post was an exchange for her bail.
After Zhao Wei's release of these "accusations", Li Heping was formally arrested in December 2016 on charges of "subversion of state power” having been detained for more than a year at this point. On 25th April 2017, Tianjin Intermediate People's Court held a secret trial against Li Heping, without notifying his family, and sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for four years, and deprived of political rights for four years.
Li Chunfu tried to find out his brother's whereabouts after his disappearance on 10th July 2015, but he was also secretly arrested on 1st August 2015. On 8th January 2016, he was formally arrested on charges of "subversion of state power". On 12th January 2017, he was suddenly released on bail pending trial and sent home. The 18-month detention turned a strong man to a pale and weak man, his eyes were dull and his movements incoherent, with accusations of domestic violence during this time as well. He was sent to hospital, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and spent time there for treatment.
Physical And Psychological Torture
According to Li Chunfu's description after his conditions stabilised at hospital, he was forced to take medicine to treat his “high blood pressure" daily since his detention. However, his family members said he had never had high blood pressure previously and his blood pressure was normal when he was in the psychiatric hospital (where he was not forced to take medicine). The police also broke his ribs and refused him contact with his lawyer or family throughout his detention.
After his release, Li Heping also talked about the torture he had suffered. In May 2016, he was detained in Tianjin No. 1 Detention Centre, where his limbs were tied with handcuffs and leg shackles connected by short chains. Thus, he could not stand upright and was always hunched over, even while sleeping. He was made to wear this torture device for a whole month as authorities tried to force him to confess. He was also forced to take "high blood pressure medicine”, as the authorities claimed he had suffered from high blood pressure as soon as he entered the detention centre. Later, he developed muscle soreness, was unable to lift his arms and had blurred vision. He suspects that it was caused by the medication. In addition, he was often subjected to prolonged interrogations, deprived of sleep for days, and was forced to remain in one position for several hours without moving. He was beaten on a regular basis, starved and completely cut off from the outside world. He was continually threaten about arrests of his brother and his wife.
Despite torture, Li Chunfu and Li Heping both refused to plead guilty. Although the authorities repeatedly offered guilty pleas in exchange for release, Li Chunfu viewed it as a trap. His belief was: if I am not guilty, I should be released; If I am guilty, I should be tried in court. Pleading guilty only makes it easier for the authorities to send him to jail. He was certain he had never committed any crime, so he would never agree to cooperate with the authorities by confessing.
“Mom, How Long Can We Live In This Apartment?”
While Li Heping and Li Chunfu were suffering torture in detention centres, their families also faced enormous suppression. Li Heping's 15-year-old son was attending an international high school in Beijing and had plans to study abroad when the 709 Crackdown happened. The government refused to issue him a passport even though overseas universities had offered him a place. Even now, his then-classmates have graduated from college, but he is still unable to go to a university, which has caused him insurmountable trauma. Li Heping's daughter Jiamei, who was five years old at the time, was about to go to primary school. However, after Li Heping was arrested, the police forced the landlord to evict the family and she could not join school without a residence permit. During those years, Mrs. Li instead took their little daughter along in her search for her husband while educating her daughter on the road. Jiamei could finally go to school when she was 8 and a half years old, but whenever she moved to a new place, she would ask, “Mum, how long can we live in this apartment?”
When Li Chunfu was arrested, the police went to his son's school in his hometown and questioned him for a long time. It was very cruel and humiliating for the 16-year-old boy. Li Chunfu's wife, Bi Liping, obeyed the police's instructions not to give interviews, go for petitions, or even contact her outspoken sister-in-law Wang Qiaoling in exchange for her husband's safe return. She eventually found that she had been deceived, as her husband was abused to the point of becoming mentally ill. The government also forced the developer to terminate the contract of the apartment they had bought, and their child was unable to go to school.
The authorities routinely adopt such tactics to put pressure on family members and deprive them of their rights to education and housing. This is not only suppresses individual lawyers, but also intimidates their families, and spreads fear among the whole professional legal community.
Release Without Freedom
In late 2019, Li Chunfu travelled to Laos to visit a friend there, but he was taken to a small room by Chinese border officers and forcibly handcuffed. They did not show him any legal documents, but still searched his suitcase, his body and treated him harshly. He was told that the Beijing Public Security Bureau had imposed a travel ban on him.
Since April 2023, like many human rights lawyers in Beijing, Li Heping and his family have also been harassed and forced to leave their home by the authorities. The windows of their home were smashed, the door removed, water and electricity cut off, and building entrance monitored. On 9th June, Li Heping, his wife and their daughter planned to leave China for Thailand, but they were intercepted at Tianfu International Airport in Chengdu, Sichuan. The police read them their travel ban, stating that they might endanger national security if they were to leave the country.
On the one hand, the Chinese government is worried that human rights lawyers will tell the world about the human rights conditions once they leave the country. Yet, on the other hand, it suppresses these lawyers' personal freedom, rights to housing, their children's rights to education. The words of Wang Qiaoling described the constant fear and dilemma faced by human rights lawyers and family members: "They won't let you leave the country, and they won't let you stay in the country. So now, we can neither leave nor live. It is a very difficult situation, we simply have no way out!”