China lawyers: Touchy cases could mean disbarment

Source: Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China has threatened to disbar as many as 20 lawyers known for taking sensitive human rights cases, several of the lawyers said Wednesday, in the latest apparent clampdown on legal activists.

Lawyers said officials with justice agencies had issued warnings to leading members of their law firms in meetings and over the phone and that annual accreditations have yet to be issued only days before the June 1 renewal date.

If carried through, the disbarments on technicalities would mark the broadest effort in recent years by the authoritarian government to rein in a growing number of activist lawyers. Previously, only a few were disbarred, though threats, beatings and other acts of intimidation have been common.

"Before they used to pressure individuals but now they have turned to this more systematic method," said Tang Jitian, whose employer, the Anhui Law Firm in Beijing, was among those warned. "The justice departments say the lawyers who defend human rights are inharmonious or unstable elements, but I think they are the ones who are unstable."



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