“Lawyers need to be protected not harassed” – UN experts
urge China to halt detentions
GENEVA (16 July 2015) – United Nations human rights
experts* today called on the Chinese authorities to stop what appears to be
targeted police harassment and intimidation of lawyers and those working
closely with them. “Lawyers are essential to ensure the rule of law; they need
to be protected not harassed,” they said.
The independent experts expressed dismay at the ever
growing number of lawyers and persons associated with their work, including law
firm personnel, legal assistants and human rights defenders, who have been
arrested and detained, including incommunicado, or summoned and questioned
since 9 July 2015.
More than 100 lawyers have been arrested and detained or
interrogated over the last few days in direct connection with their
professional activities, according to the information received by the experts.
Most of the lawyers are believed to have been working on human rights-related
cases, in particular cases where they represented well known political
dissidents, journalists and artists.
“If no charges are pressed, the authorities should
immediately release all persons detained; alternatively, if they are officially
charged with criminal offences, all due process guarantees should be provided,
in particular the immediate and adequate access to an independent legal
counsel,” they stressed.
“We are particularly concerned about the physical and
mental integrity of 10 individuals, including 6 lawyers, who are currently held
in police custody or under ‘residential surveillance’ in unknown locations, in
most cases incommunicado since their arrests,” they said.
The experts expressed further concern that these persons
may have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in contravention of not only
the UN Basic Principles of the Role of Lawyers and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, but also the Chinese Criminal Procedure Code.
“The fate and whereabouts of another 12 persons,
including 3 lawyers, who have disappeared in unknown circumstances, are also
worrying,” they noted. “We call on the
Chinese authorities to investigate these cases urgently and provide full
disclosure on the results.”
“In societies governed by the rule of law, lawyers
advocate within the legal system on behalf of clients, even where their
personal views may differ from the clients’ views,” the independent experts
stated. “Lawyers should never have to suffer prosecution or any other kind of
sanctions or intimidation for discharging their professional duties.”
The experts underscored that, “as one of the three main
actors of an independent justice system, lawyers have an essential role to play
in protecting human rights, in particular due process and fair trial
guarantees, and ultimately contribute greatly to ensuring respect for the rule
of law.”
The experts are in contact with the Chinese authorities
to clarify the issues in question.
(*) The experts: Special Rapporteur on the independence
of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul; Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights defenders; Michel Forst; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye; Special Rapporteur
on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai;
and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez.
ENDS
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
Learn more, log on to:
Independence of the judiciary:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Judiciary/Pages/IDPIndex.aspx
Human rights defenders: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/SRHRDefendersIndex.aspx
Freedom of opinion and expression:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomOpinion/Pages/OpinionIndex.aspx
Freedom of peaceful assembly and of association:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/AssemblyAssociation/Pages/SRFreedomAssemblyAssociationIndex.aspx
Check the UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the
Judiciary: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/IndependenceJudiciary.aspx
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