Looking relaxed at a tea house near his home in Beijing this week, former defence lawyer Li Zhuang - stripped of his licence after being convicted in February 2010 of fabricating evidence while representing a Chongqing crime boss - reflected on the fall of Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai and his controversial anti-triad campaign.
'Whether they will accept my request for a retrial will be a tell-tale sign. It will show whether authorities are willing to rectify their wrongdoings during the anti-triad campaign,' he said. 'My case is representative of the wrongful convictions during the campaign.'
Li's client, Gong Gangmo, was one of the first big crime bosses arrested, in June 2009, during the crackdown that began that month. When Li himself was arrested in December that year, the two cases became a rallying point for legal professionals around the mainland: they were considered to exemplify the campaign's disregard for the rule of law and extensive procedural breaches, including the use of torture in obtaining confessions.
Two years later, in the wake of Bo's ousting last month for 'serious breaches of party discipline', others aggrieved during the campaign are now rallying behind Li.
He now meets regularly with people from the southwestern municipality looking for redress or a retrial. Some are family members of those jailed for triad involvement, some were wrongfully arrested as alleged triad members and later released, and some merely became unwitting victims in the crackdown, including investors in a company seized by authorities after one shareholder was deemed to be a triad leader.
By Li's estimate, he has spoken to people involved in at least 40 or 50 cases. While he cannot legally represent them, as he is no longer a lawyer, he can still advise them on how to prepare appeals, such as by explaining what kind of evidence they need and how to collect it.
