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Boxun reports that on Friday July 17 Beijing's Civil Affairs Bureau declared Gongmeng's legal research center led by activist lawyers an "illegal organization" and shut it down. China also revoked the licenses of more than 50 lawyers, many known for their human rights cases. The moves appear to be a new government push to oversee Chinese activist lawyers, who run the risk of being detained, harassed, attacked and threatened with disbarment for their work. China is also preparing for the communist state's 60th anniversary on Oct. 1 -- a particularly sensitive period when dissent is not tolerated. About 20 officials from Beijing's Civil Affairs Bureau showed up Friday morning at the offices of the Gongmeng rights group's legal research center and confiscated computers and other equipment, said office manager Tian Qizhuang. They also questioned researchers and other employees on the nature of their work. Xu Zhiyong, a lawyer who founded Gongmeng, said the legal center was a department of Gongmeng, which has proper registration. Xu said the center does legal research on public welfare and offers legal aid. Most recently, lawyers from Gongmeng represented parents whose children got sick in a widespread scandal involving milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. The legal center's shutdown came two days after Beijing's tax bureau fined the group 1.4 million yuan (US$200,000) because it said the group had not paid taxes. Xu said there had been only a delay and that the full amount had been paid. In addition, the licenses of 53 lawyers in Beijing have been canceled, effectively banning them from working. A notice posted last week on the Beijing Justice Bureau's Web site said the lawyers had been penalized because they did not pass an assessment by their firms or failed to register with the bureau. The notice gave no details besides a list of names, including Jiang Tianyong, who recently defended a Tibetan Buddhist cleric against charges of concealing weapons in an area of China where anti-government protests occurred. Full Chinese report: http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2009/07/200907171241.shtml © Copyright 2009 by Boxun News Top of Page |
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