The Chinese government's annual law firm inspections have been criticized as a political tool to suppress human rights lawyers. Li Guobei, a lawyer who has represented numerous human rights cases, recently issued a statement scathingly criticizing the Beijing Judicial Bureau and the China Bar Association, accusing them of abusing their power by preventing exiled lawyer Fang Xiangui from passing his law firm's annual inspection due to his overseas criticism of Xi Jinping.
Li Guobei, a lawyer representing Xie Yang and Li Qiaochu in human rights cases, posted on Weibo and WeChat on Thursday (May 22nd) publicly criticizing the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Beijing Lawyers Association, and the Chaoyang District Bureau of Justice for colluding to persecute Beijing Biyi Law Firm, where she serves as director, under the guise of an annual inspection. She pointed out that the firm's annual assessments were repeatedly rejected after passing. She also claimed that the Bureau of Justice even rejected the annual inspection, citing comments by exiled UK-based human rights lawyer Fang Xiangui criticizing the decline of human rights under Xi Jinping, under the pretext that the firm must be responsible for its lawyers' statements. Li Guobei stated that the firm's annual inspection was in trouble, and the post was subsequently deleted.
The Justice Bureau accused Fang County and Gui County of criminally defaming China and being anti-Party and anti-social for criticizing China's human rights decline.
Li Guobei issued another statement titled "The Persecution of Beijing Biyi Law Firm," revealing details of a meeting on Tuesday (May 20th) with Di Jing, Deputy Director of the Beijing Chaoyang District Justice Bureau. Di Jing showed her a roughly one-minute video in which she accused Fang Xiangui of slandering China and being anti-Party and anti-social. She demanded that the law firm revoke Fang Xiangui's license in exchange for passing the annual inspection. Li Guobei refuted this by stating that Fang Xiangui is abroad, that lawyers have freedom of speech, and that the incident did not involve professional conduct. She accused the Justice Bureau and others of abusing their power by threatening him with the annual inspection. She also stated that failure to pass the annual inspection by the end of May would affect the lawyer's access to detention centers and court sessions.
The incident sparked discussion among lawyers, with Wang Quanzhang criticizing the logic of collective punishment. If a Ministry of Justice is established, it will also be held responsible.
This station contacted Li Guobei and Fang Xiangui, but they both declined to comment. A source familiar with the matter told this station that the Bureau of Justice is pressuring the law firm to revoke Fang Xiangui's license in retaliation for his public outreach abroad. They also said Fang Xiangui had requested the revocation, but the Bureau of Justice refused to accept his claim of "being persecuted and unable to practice." Therefore, they threatened the law firm with an annual inspection and revocation, forcing the firm to revoke Fang Xiangui's license.
The incident sparked widespread discussion online and within the legal community. Human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang reposted Li Guobei's statement on social media, criticizing the practice of using other lawyers' statements abroad to hold domestic law firms accountable, saying it was rigged and incriminating. If this logic holds true, he questioned whether the Bureau of Justice and the Ministry of Justice should also be held accountable.
Wu Shaoping: This incident is a double pressure campaign to suppress lawyers by criticizing Fangxian Gui.
Human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping, who has been following the incident, told this station that China is not the world's ruler and has no right to interfere with the speech of exiled lawyers overseas. He also said that the Judicial Bureau is unable to silence exiled lawyers overseas and can only vent their anger at the law firms where they work in China. He said that after leaving China for the United States in 2019, the authorities, unable to silence him, put pressure on his law firm's partners, ultimately forcing the firm to disband. He pointed out that the Judicial Bureau's action was ostensibly aimed at Fang Xiangui, but was actually intended to suppress Li Guobei, who continued to represent sensitive cases in China.
Wu Shaoping said, "Lawyer Li Guobei is a very courageous human rights lawyer and defender. She is currently representing many of the so-called sensitive cases in China defined by the CCP, such as the Xie Yang case. Li Guobei's outspokenness is unacceptable to the CCP, so I believe that lawyer Fang Xiangui's remarks were just a trigger and an excuse. The authorities' real goal is to target Lawyer Li Guobei and Bi Yi Law Firm. They want to make an example of her and force lawyers and law firms to become complete vassals of the CCP, which is to suppress and purge the human rights lawyer community."
The annual inspection system is a non-professional review and is actually a political tool to suppress human rights lawyers
Pan Jiawei, director of the Asian Lawyers Network, said that the Justice Bureau's practice of linking lawyers' words and deeds with the annual inspections of law firms is equivalent to the collective punishment during the Cultural Revolution. He also said that this incident reflects why the annual inspection system has been criticized by the legal community.
Pan Jiawei stated, "This annual inspection process lacked any trace of professional scrutiny. Using online comments by Fang Xiangui as a reason for rejecting the inspection has absolutely nothing to do with the work of the lawyer and the law firm. The Justice Bureau couldn't explain how these comments related to the criteria for passing or failing the law firm's annual inspection. This is clearly a political crackdown on the law firm, highlighting why the annual inspection system has been criticized as a political tool to suppress human rights lawyers. It's a sword hanging over lawyers' heads. The Justice Bureau can use any excuse at any time to prevent law firms and lawyers from practicing. This is sheer lawlessness."
The Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Group issued a statement in support of Li Guobei, criticizing the Judicial Bureau for using the "collective responsibility" method and annual inspection system to persecute lawyers who they consider disobedient, which is illegal and unconstitutional. They emphasized that lawyers have freedom of speech and that lawyers' speech should not be included in the scope of annual inspections.
