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Authorities in the Chinese capital have revoked the license of rights attorney Zhang Qingfang, who previously represented prominent jailed dissident Xu Zhiyong.
Zhang -- who made headlines in 2014 when he joined Xu in a silent courtroom protest during Xu's public order trial -- had his license revoked in a letter dated Sept. 20 and signed by the Beijing Municipal Judicial Affairs Bureau, according to a copy shared by a fellow lawyer via X.
"Our investigation found that in 2024 ... you repeatedly interfered with case officers and other lawyers' performance of their duties ... by hyping [the case] online," the letter said, citing screenshots of Zhang's social media posts and "interrogation records."
"The circumstances [of your behavior] are serious, the social impact is bad, and it seriously damages the image of the legal profession," the letter said. "We propose to impose an administrative punishment and revoke your lawyer's license to practice."
Since beginning a nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers and public interest law firms in July 2015, authorities in provinces and cities across China have conducted large-scale purges of lawyers deemed not to be toeing the party line, revoking hundreds of licenses.
Zhang was barred from leaving China in the wake of the mass nationwide arrests and raids on law firms in 2015.
Fellow human rights attorney Pu Zhiqiang, who shared the official letter via his X account, said the Judicial Affairs Bureau had also warned other lawyers not to comment publicly on Zhang's punishment.
Repeated attempts by RFA Mandarin to contact Zhang on Monday were unsuccessful, as the authorities had prevented him from sending out messages on the WeChat social media platform.
‘All those demands were legal’
A person close to Zhang who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said the authorities are punishing him for standing up for a family's right to hire their own lawyer, rather than having a government-appointed lawyer allocated to them. That's increasingly the practice in politically sensitive cases in China.
He had also demanded the right to review audio and video recordings made by police of the defendants' interviews, and objected to some evidence in the case as inadmissible.
"All of those demands were legal, reasonable and compliant [with due process]," the person said.
Zhang is also known to have reported corruption among police officers, prosecutors and judicial personnel to the authorities, they said, adding that the revocation of Zhang's license is likely a form of retaliation for this.
"He made a lot of accusations against fellow lawyers appointed by the government, the judges and prosecutors who handled the cases, and the Commission for Discipline Inspection and related staff who refused to enforce the law," the person said. "He also investigated their academic qualifications and instances of corruption."
"This must have made officials and public security, procuratorial and judicial departments in various places very uncomfortable," they said. "His outstanding performance made him a target."
Political retaliation?
Zhang and Xu have known each other for a long time. Both gained their PhDs in law at Peking University in the naughts.
U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said Zhang's punishment was political retaliation against a lawyer who dared to speak out.
"The Chinese Communist Party has violated the rights of the parties to hire lawyers and the right of lawyers to defend clients in a very ugly and unjust way," Wu said. "It also does not allow lawyers to speak out, make accusations or assert their rights in any way."
Wu said anyone who tries to insist on the rule of law, and on the legitimate rights of their clients, is liable to become a target of the authorities.
"[Such lawyers] are a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party ... and targets for disciplinary action and punishment," he said.
Xu, who is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for "subversion of state power" after he attended a December 2019 gathering of dissidents in Xiamen, had earlier served a four-year sentence on public order charges after calling on China's leaders to make public details of their wealth.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.