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"Walking on thin ice": Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China

“Walking on Thin Ice”

Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China

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More on Human Rights Watch's work on China and Tibet

Beijing 2008: China's Olympian Human Rights Challenges

Map of China

I. Summary

Key recommendations

Methodology

II. International Standards for Lawyers

III. China’s Legal Profession

The development of the legal profession

The role of lawyers under Chinese law

The emergence of the weiquan movement

IV. Legal Rule and Party Rule: A Deliberate Contradiction

Retrenchment: The campaign for “socialist rule of law”

V. Violence Against Lawyers

Gao Zhisheng, Chen Guangcheng, and the crackdown on cause lawyering

Beyond Gao and Chen: Recurring violence against lawyers

VI. Intimidation

VII. Prosecution for Perjury

VIII. Limits on Ability to Represent Clients

Lack of access to criminal suspects in detention

Lack of access to case files

Intimidation of witnesses and lack of access to evidence

Restrictions on free expression and use of media by lawyers

IX. Control Over Lawyers’ Licenses

Manipulation of the annual registration requirement

Politically-motivated disbarment and sanctions against lawyers

X. Recommendations

To the Chinese government

To members of the international law community

To foreign governments and the United Nations

XI. Acknowledgments

Appendix I: Glossary of Chinese Terms

Appendix II: Index of Chinese Names

Appendix III: Selected Bibliography

Publications

Laws and regulations

Speeches

Appendix IV: Law on Lawyers of the People’s Republic of China

April 2008 ISBN: 1-56432-311-0

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