Berlin (DAV). The German Bar Association (DAV) has condemned the precarious human rights situation of lawyers in China on the occasion of its meeting with the Chinese dissident and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. He put the focus on the rule of law, freedom of speech, the 709 crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists, as well as the policy of incriminating family and friends because of their relationship to lawyers and activists.
‘Criminalizing lawyers for merely carrying out their professional activity is violating numerous human rights standards”, said DAV President Ulrich Schellenberg on the occasion of the meeting on Monday. It is an alarming sign, if colleagues are intimidated or even arrested.
In summer 2015, more than 200 lawyers, particularly those committed to human rights, and their family members have been arrested within a couple of days. The Chinese authorities accused them of having formed ‘criminal enterprises’ and of ‘having seriously disturbed public order’.
In this context, Chen Guangcheng remarked: ‘There is a growing awakening among the Chinese population for constitutional values and rule of law. The Chinese regime’s responses to this awareness serve as a telling example of its genuine fear.’
Chen Guangcheng educated himself autodidactically to become a lawyer and attracted global attention for his commitment against China’s One-child policy. Inter alia, he was representing persons concerned of forced sterilisation and forced abortion. Owing to this work undertaken, the blind dissident has been sentenced to four years and three months imprisonment in 2006.
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