Some basic knowledge about "government-appointed lawyers"

Due to the arrest of 12 citizens in Hong Kong, the phenomenon of "government-appointed lawyers" has attracted widespread attention from the international community. In fact, such low-level and harsh methods have long appeared in civil rights cases and political dissent cases in the Mainland. From the "709 Crackdown" to the Zhen Jianghua case, from the Changsha Funeng case to the Yu Wensheng case, from the Twitter netizen Ling Haobo @52ling case to the Endianxing case, there are government-appointed lawyers everywhere.

People in Hong Kong and other democratic countries have lived in a society with sound rule of law for a long time, and have never experienced one-party dictatorship and manipulation of the judiciary. It may be difficult to imagine and understand what the so-called "official lawyers" are all about. What is the legal basis? what will they do What don't they do? What is their purpose? How are they similar and different from ordinary defense attorneys?

As a relative of Chen Mei in the Duandianxing case , I have been fighting wits with government-appointed lawyers for the past few months, so I have read some relevant materials. I will try to answer some questions about the phenomenon of government-appointed lawyers, hoping to help everyone understand, and I also invite netizens to correct and supplement.

"Government-appointed lawyer" is a colloquial term that actually refers to the fact that in civil rights cases and political dissent cases, the CCP government uses the name of the so-called "Legal Aid Lawyer" (Legal Aid Lawyer) to deceitfully or coercely appoint to the parties' attorneys. Its main legal basis is the Criminal Procedure Law and the Legal Aid Regulations.

The term "government-appointed lawyer" has long existed, but the CCP government has never recognized the existence of so-called "officially-appointed lawyers." Label".

The spokesperson of the National Lawyers Association said: "Every lawyer implements the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, and is a member of the socialist legal workers. In this sense, the 330,000 Chinese lawyers are all lawyers within the system. , there is no such thing as a lawyer outside the system.” https://news.china.com/news100/11038989/20170905/31287468.html

Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates:

If a criminal suspect or defendant has not entrusted a defender due to financial difficulties or other reasons, he and his close relatives may apply to a legal aid institution. For those who meet the conditions for legal aid, the legal aid organization shall assign a lawyer to provide defense for them. "

Where a criminal suspect or defendant is blind, deaf, or mute, or a mentally ill person who has not completely lost the ability to recognize or control his own behavior, and has not entrusted a defender, the people's court, people's procuratorate, and public security organ shall notify the legal aid organization to appoint a lawyer to defend him. It provides a defense. "

Where a criminal suspect or defendant may be sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty and has not retained a defender, the people's court, people's procuratorate and public security organ shall notify the legal aid organization to assign a lawyer to provide him with a defense.

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-01/24/nw.D110000renmrb_20190124_1-13.htm

All government-appointed lawyers participating in the CCP's persecution of human rights appear as so-called "legal aid lawyers." We do not deny that in some cases that do not involve civil rights or political objections, some parties do need to apply for legal aid lawyers due to financial difficulties or other reasons, and those legal aid lawyers may indeed protect the legal rights of the parties.

However, in cases involving civil rights and political dissent, these so-called "legal aid lawyers" are definitely not here to protect the rights of the clients, but to cooperate with the CCP government in persecuting human rights. Therefore, in order to match the name and reality, we do not call them "legal aid lawyers", but use the conventional name "Government-assigned Lawyer" to distinguish them from real legal aid lawyers.

The persecution of human rights in the name of "legal aid" is a concrete manifestation of the nature of the Chinese Communist regime's "everything good to say, and no evil to do" (that is, lies and violence). It is extremely deceptive to persecute human rights in the name of legal aid, just as the name "People's Republic of China" is extremely deceptive.

In the following, I will compare the differences between "government-appointed lawyers" and real defense lawyers from seven aspects, to help you better understand the sinister intentions and harms of the practice of government-appointed lawyers, and the importance of fighting for the right to defense.

(1) [Defense lawyers] are voluntarily entrusted by the parties or family members, and [official lawyers] are forcibly appointed by the CCP government.

They are usually assigned at the public security or national security investigation stage, and may also be assigned at the procuratorate or court stage. The authorities deceive or force the client to apply for legal aid, and the legal aid center (generally under the Bureau of Justice) agrees and sends a lawyer.

When the parties lose their personal liberty and face the threat of torture at any time, they have to agree to apply for legal aid. This is what the CCP government calls "a person voluntarily applies for legal aid." Lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was part of the "709 Crackdown", sternly refused government-appointed lawyers, which was one of the reasons why he was tortured. We suspect that the government-appointed lawyers in the Changsha Funeng case and Duandianxing case were forced to apply under threats.

The authorities also sometimes threaten family members and ask them to fire lawyers so that the authorities can forcibly appoint government-appointed lawyers. In the case of Twitter netizen Ling Haobo, his father was forced to dismiss his original lawyer. Later, the government sent lawyers to cooperate with the official performance, and Ling Haobo was tried in secret.

(2) [Defense lawyers] will disclose the principal-agent relationship, while [official lawyers] often conceal the principal-agent relationship and represent cases in secret.

Among the recent cases, the most typical one is the government-appointed lawyers in the Changsha Funeng case. They have never contacted the family members of the parties, let alone communicated about the case. The three people in this case were tried in secret in early September, but the family members still do not know exactly who the government-appointed lawyer is, and can only speculate from some clues.

(3) [Defense lawyer] Actively safeguard the rights of the client and defend innocence. (Because they are all civil rights and political dissent cases.) [Government-appointed lawyers] occupy the number of lawyers, cooperate with official performances, and convict the parties.

According to the "Criminal Procedure Law", each suspect or defendant can only entrust a maximum of two defenders. In order to prevent defense lawyers from intervening in the case, the CCP government will definitely send two government-appointed lawyers to occupy the number of lawyers.

The government sent lawyers to enter the case not to protect the rights of the parties, but to cooperate with the Chinese Communist authorities in staging a so-called "fair and just" farce. The CCP does not want people to say that it is unreasonable and ignorant of the law, so it needs government-appointed lawyers as a fig leaf to accompany its performances. This kind of performance is no different from so-called "democratic" performances such as the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Or ask: The CCP authorities have already decided on the nature of such cases, and the charges and sentences are not in the hands of the procuratorate and the courts. Even if there is no government-appointed lawyer, even if the defense lawyer can appear in court to defend, it will not change the verdict?

Answer: Indeed, there is little hope of changing the verdict. For example, in the Uyghur scholar Ilham case , even though the lawyer @liu_xiaoyuan appeared in court to defend his innocence, the verdict still failed to change. However, the significance of defense lawyers participating in the case is not only in the defense in court (although this is the most important). It also lies in making the case public in a timely manner within the scope permitted by the law, allowing people from all walks of life who care about the case to know the case in a timely manner, and allowing information to be transmitted smoothly between relatives, friends and parties. And these are things that government-appointed lawyers will not do. Details below.

(4) [Defense lawyers] will, within the scope permitted by law, promptly disclose information about the case and the recent situation of the parties to family members, the media, and all walks of life. [Government-appointed lawyers] will only hide and hide, and will not disclose this information at all, making the case a virtual black-box operation.

In the Duandianxing case, the government-appointed lawyer even refused to inform the family members of the name of the prosecutor handling the case, and refused to disclose the details of the case.

(5) [Defense lawyer] will take the initiative to contact the family and inform the case. [Government-appointed lawyers] often avoid family members and refuse to inform the case.

In the Duandianxing case, the government-appointed lawyers always refused to disclose their mobile phone numbers, but only used the landline of the law firm to contact the family members, making it impossible for the family members to contact them at any time and communicate with them about the case in a timely manner.

The government-appointed lawyers in the Changsha Funeng case were even worse. From the beginning to the end, they did not contact the family members at all. When the family member @MindyShi227 discovered the identity of the government-appointed lawyer through clues and came to the door to question him, he was also threatened, bullied and abused by the government-appointed lawyer's colleagues.

(6) [Defense Lawyer] Help family members and parties transmit information that is not prohibited by law. [Government-appointed lawyers] refuse to help pass information between family members and parties, or selectively pass information.

This kind of selectivity is not based on legal regulations to judge whether it can be passed on, but based on the needs of handling cases that persecute the parties involved. For example, if a family member wants to say "I believe you are not guilty" to the client, the government-appointed lawyer will not help pass it on.

It is very, very important to convey enough effective information to those in custody. They are completely isolated from the outside world and rely entirely on lawyers to communicate with the outside world. If lawyers can bring outside care, attention and support to them, even if they cannot be released immediately, they will not feel isolated and abandoned, but will have more confidence. On the contrary, if the lawyer refuses to convey the care and support of the outside world to them, it will make them more and more trapped in psychological difficulties.

(7) [Defense lawyer] will help family members and parties concerned, encourage and support them. [Government-appointed lawyers] often deceive, insult and even threaten family members and clients.

In the Duandianxing case, the officials sent lawyers to repeatedly deceive the family members, such as delaying the meeting by using the epidemic as an excuse. In fact, Beijing did not suspend the meeting in the detention center during the epidemic.

Changsha Funeng case government-appointed lawyer even abused, insulted and threatened family members in front of young children @MindyShi227 .

To sum up , government-appointed lawyers are running dogs of the CCP authorities. Their purpose of participating in the case is not to protect the rights of the parties concerned, but to cooperate with the CCP authorities in performing deceptive performances, to cooperate with the public security organs to operate the case in a black box, and to protect civil rights. The parties involved in the cases and political dissent cases were convicted and imprisoned.

Or ask: If a defense lawyer represents a case, it cannot help the client be released or reduce the sentence. If the government assigns a lawyer to represent the case, it may not necessarily increase the client's sentence. So is it still necessary to reject government-appointed lawyers?

The answer: Of course it is necessary. As mentioned above, even if the defense lawyer cannot help the client reduce the sentence, it can at least prevent the case from being manipulated in a black box. It is very important to make the case open and transparent.

The phenomenon of "government-appointed lawyers" is increasing at a speed and frequency that we can see. It is becoming a common method used by the CCP regime to suppress civil rights and crack down on dissidents. I hope that international organizations and international media can continue to pay attention to this phenomenon and work together to stop it get worse. There are very few cards that the powerless can play, but we always try, we have no choice.

The author of this article, Chen Chunyi, is the elder brother of Chen Mei in the Duandianxing case.