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SCMP Reporter

Rights lawyers have faced intensified control and harassment from the authorities since Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize was announced on October 8 - another reminder to the legal community of a worsening work environment.
Criminal defence lawyers have been particularly hard hit, as they increasingly find themselves defending rights cases and people unpopular with the authorities.
'This is the most testing time for defence lawyers since the reform and opening up,' defence lawyer Zhang Sizhi, 84, said. 'They are now considered an element of instability, standing on the opposite side of the government.'
Zhang has defended sensitive clients including Bao Tong , secretary to the late Zhao Ziyang  when he was premier, and 1989 student movement leaders such as Wei Jingsheng .
Defence lawyers have faced prosecution for subversion, disorder or leaking state secrets before, but Zhang and many others say controls have become tighter since 2008, when Beijing hosted the Olympic Games and 'maintaining stability' became the government's paramount goal. 
It was also the year that Wang Shengjun was made Supreme People's Court chief and Wu Aiying  head of the Ministry of Justice.
Under the two officials, both without legal education, controls targeting lawyers have become more extensive and systematic.
They have forcefully implemented the doctrine of the 'Three Supremes', which set out the new guiding philosophy for judicial work on the mainland as 'serving the interests of the party, the people and the law' - in that order. Under this philosophy, lawyers are reminded of their role as 'socialist legal practitioners', asked to 'consider the big picture' as much as they consider evidence, and have naturally become subjects of more regulation. 
And since last year it has become mandatory for law firms to set up a Communist Party branch if there are more than three party members, or at least be assigned a party liaison officer. 
Harassment and intimidation of rights lawyers have intensified. News of rights lawyers being beaten by 'unidentified men' and kept away in 'unknown locations' when trying to meet clients in sensitive cases is frequent; surveillance of phones and movement, covert and otherwise, is commonplace. Some lawyers have resorted to living out of backpacks, moving from one friend's home to another because of police harassment or the fear of harassment.
Meanwhile, difficulties in meeting clients, obtaining documents from prosecutors and even speaking up in court - all part of the intrinsic work of a defence lawyer as guaranteed under mainland laws - continue to haunt cases considered sensitive.
In April, convicted rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng , who was given a suspended three-year sentence for subversion in 2006 for defending Falun Gong practitioners and other rights cases, said he was going to give up his 'abnormal' past life. He apologised to supporters for giving up activism. 
'I don't have the capacity to persevere,' the once fearless lawyer said. 'The main basis for choosing to give up is for the sake of family feelings ... My children need me by their side growing up.' He has since been out of contact.
Tang Jitian, a former prosecutor, had his lawyer's licence permanently revoked in April after he walked out of a trial at which he was forbidden from speaking. The defendant was a Falun Gong practitioner.
Several days before June 4 he found that the lock to his door was glued. When a friend asked a locksmith to open it, police accused the friend of being a thief. They handed over the new keys to the landlord, who forced Tang to move out. It  was the third time in a year that Tang had lost his rental accommodation in Beijing because of police interference.
'I had been told anything could happen. But it's only when I've been through it that I can truly believe it,' Tang said. 'They wanted to make sure I couldn't work and had nowhere to live - then I would have to leave the city.'
His law firm 'almost died' several times last year because of official pressure. Authorities first failed the firm's annual assessment, resulting in the departure of many lawyers. Tang said some were lured away by offers to work elsewhere and others left after being threatened. Under current regulations, when the number of partners falls below three a law firm has to close. 
Tang was one of the lawyers forcefully taken away from the capital by police in the week leading up to this month's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
'The control is all-round, from financial to administrative to political,' Tang said. 'It is also increasingly difficult for medium-sized and small firms to commit to litigation since the government is supporting flagship firms' that focus on commercial practice.
Other lawyers agreed that the curbs were becoming more varied and open.
'They no longer bother to hide their tactics and will use all social resources to make things happen the way they want,' said veteran rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang , who was continually disrupted while trying to co-defend earthquake activist Tan Zuoren  in August last year.
Tan was sentenced to five years' jail for subversion after an appeal hearing that lasted 12 minutes, at which Pu was barred from speaking. Pu was put under house arrest for three days after October 8, the day that the Nobel Peace Price was announced.
Lawyers Li Fangping  and Peng Jian  tried to meet their convicted client, tainted-milk scandal petitioner Zhao Lianhai , in a detention centre on November 22 but were instead given a note purportedly written and signed by Zhao saying they were fired. It was the last day for lodging an appeal. 
'I am shocked. I have never encountered such treatment before,' Li said at the time.
The pair had previously been subjected to frequent questioning, and Peng was even locked up for 48 hours in an unknown hostel. After October 8, Li was put under police surveillance and had to travel everywhere in a police car. Last month he was summoned four times to meet a joint team from the judicial bureau, lawyers' association and police, who, among other things, warned him not to speak to the media.
'The pressure is exerted in a more open manner now,' he said. 'In the past the public security bureau would not show up together with the judicial officials. But now they don't care.'
Another major blow this year was the conviction of Beijing lawyer Li Zhuang , who was jailed for 18 months on charges of fabricating evidence and coaching the defendant after he argued that the confession of Chongqing  triad boss Gong Gangmo  had been obtained through torture.
'The rate of deterioration this year is probably about the same, but several landmark cases have made the problem appear more severe,' said Zhejiang -based lawyer Chen Youxi, who has written a series of blog entries critical of Li Zhuang's conviction. 'Many lawyers have been convicted on the controversial coaching charge before. But what makes Li's case particularly shocking is that the authorities still proceeded to convict him even after the nationwide outcry his arrest sparked.'
To many legal practitioners Li Zhuang was simply doing his job. But authorities used the case as an example of defence lawyers losing integrity, and introduced a 10-month campaign that made it compulsory for law firms and lawyers to hold sessions to learn about his failure and the correct roles of a lawyer.
Above all, his case provided an ideological basis for the authorities to step up overall control of lawyers.
The life of another lawyer was also deeply affected by the same case. Beijing lawyer Zhu Mingyong  defended Fan Qihang , the co-defendant of Li Zhuang's client, and in July he took the risk of exposing a secretly taped interview he had with Fan in the detention centre. Fan had fresh torture wounds, which should have saved him from a death sentence, according to two rules issued by the Supreme People's Court this year. But Zhu's postings online were immediately removed, he soon became impossible to contact and Fan was executed.
Li Zhuang and Zhu said their meetings with clients were monitored by police.
'If even lawyers face such challenges, how about the people?' Zhang Sizhi asked.



Rights lawyers count their bruises after a year of living dangerously