Trial by fire: three years on from the crackdown that put China’s nascent human rights law movement to the test
The wave of detentions from July 9, 2015, was just the start of the authorities’ efforts to tighten their grip on the legal profession
Sui Muqing was thinking about leaving the law altogether. The forty-something graduate of one of China’s top law schools had an established career in commercial and criminal litigation in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou but was disillusioned by the day-to-day reality.
“I often felt like a worthless wimp, having to cultivate favour with the authorities and judges. It was merely a job to make a living – I got so tired of it over time,” he said.
That all changed when he met the city’s leading human rights lawyer Guo Feixiong and found another way to use his advocacy skills.
Sui was inspired by Guo’s example and started representing the poor and vulnerable, either for free or minimal fees.
“You can’t only think about the money. There is also the question of dignity, your self-worth, your social value, to which you can find an answer in a rights lawyer’s work,” he said.
But now Sui is suffering the consequences of his decision, barred from working as a lawyer in the aftermath the “709” crackdown on or soon after July 9, 2015.