Legal System

[International Constitutional Court] The open letter supports Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki’s proposal—which he articulated in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2012—to establish an International Constitutional Court to examine whether constitutions of various governments adhere to the principles set out in the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In his letter (Chinese only) to the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Justice, lawyer Chen Wuquan (陈武权) explains why he wanted to defend Chen Kegui, the nephew of blind legal advocate Chen Guangcheng who is facing charges of intentional homicide as a result of defending himself against intruders who broke into his home. Chen Wuquan also details how the Bureau of Justice forced him to quit the case, and then how his law firm fired him.

Liu Fanbi (刘凡必), a victim of financial fraud, was sentenced to five years on a trumped-up charge after he offended a procuratorate officer while trying to retrieve his losses that the authorities had confiscated from the criminals. Liu began petitioning to authorities at different government levels after his release. In March 2010, the local procuratorate office issued a written promise that it would return the money to Liu within one month. It has not done so to date. In this account (Chinese only), Liu equates his fate to that of an ant.