On May 4, 2010, lawyers Liu Wei (刘巍) and Tang Jitian (唐吉田), whose licenses were revoked by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice on April 30, filed a criminal complaint with the Beijing Xicheng District Procuratorate against Xiao Lizhu (萧骊珠), head of the Bureau’s Lawyers’ Management Department. The two lawyers claim that Xiao, in revoking their licenses, abused her power and criminally attacked them in retaliation for their activism on behalf of lawyers and in upholding the rule of law since 2008. Specifically, they allege that Xiao retaliated against them because they had previously called for direct elections of officials in the Beijing Lawyers Association (BLA), and filed a criminal complaint accusing Wu Yuhua (吴玉华) – then head of the Bureau – Xiao Lizhu, and other Bureau officials, of extorting exceptionally high annual license renewal fees from lawyers.
Tang and Liu claim that, based upon the “Rules for Standards on the People’s Procuratorate Directly Accepting, Filing, and Investigating a Case” (关于人民检察院直接受理立案侦查案件立案标准的规定), the Procuratorate must consider their complaint. Having been unable to work for 12 months, the two lawyers claim that they have sustained a loss of 600,000 yuan [about $87,800], and the provisions call for investigation into any case that involves a loss of above 200,000 yuan [about $29,200].
For the full complaint in Chinese, see: 《控告萧骊珠滥用职权、报复陷害罪》
For more information on Tang Jitian and Liu Wei, see:
- “Beijing Judicial Bureau Revokes Licenses of Two Rights Defense Lawyers,” May 7, 2010
- “Judicial Authorities Target Lawyers, Eroding Rule of Law” April 22, 2010
- “Lawyers Challenge License Revocation Decision; Judicial Bureau Balks,” April 21, 2010
- “Lawyers Facing License Revocation Detail Irregular Courtroom Activities Permitted by Judge,” April 20, 2010
- “Chinese Rights Defense Lawyers Under All-out Attack by the Authorities,” June 4, 2009
- Jerome A. Cohen, “The Struggle for Autonomy of Beijing’s Public Interest Lawyers,” China Rights Forum, 2009, no. 1
- “Lawyers Are Dismissed by Firms for Supporting Beijing Lawyers Association Direct Election, Law Firms Are Threatened,” October 31, 2008
- “Beijing Lawyers' Appeal for Direct Elections,” October 31, 2008