Joint statement with call to ensure right to a fair trial
China
In a joint statement, Lawyers for Lawyers, together with other organizations, called on the Chinese authorities to ensure the right of a fair trial in the forthcoming trials of the cases of the ‘709-crackdown’.
In July 2015, an unprecedented and seemingly well-coordinated detention campaign of a large number of human rights lawyers and defenders in China took place. The wave of arrests followed the disappearance of lawyer Wang Yu on 9 July 2015. Since then, more than 300 human rights lawyers, legal assistants, and rights activists were targeted during the nationwide sweep. Some of these individuals were subsequently indicted.
In early August 2016, human rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng and three human rights defenders were convicted and sentenced. Lawyers Li Heping, Xie Yang and Wang Quanzhang as well as legal activist Wu Gan have been indicted. It has remained a concern that no trial arrangements have thus far been made for the cases. In the joint statement, Lawyers for Lawyers and other organizations called on the Chinese authorities to abide by its laws and Constitution as well as international human rights standards by ensuring that respective judicial processes, when take place, will be conducted in full compliance with the basic principles of due process, including the right to a fair trial.