News and Events 新闻活动

Prominent Human Rights Lawyers Beaten and Detained While Attempting to Visit to Notorious “Black Jail”

Date: 2013-05-16

A group of Chinese human rights lawyers were beaten and arbitrarily detained overnight while attempting to visit a notorious illegal, extra-judicial detention center in the city of Ziyang. The ordeal began on the morning of May 13, when seven prominent lawyers – Lin Qilei (蔺其磊),  Guo Haiyue (郭海跃),  Jiang Tianyong (江天勇),  Tang Jitian (唐吉田),  Liang Xiaojun (梁小君) , Tang Tianhao (唐天昊),  and Zhang Keke (张科科) – attempted to visit the Ziyang Legal Education Center, reported to be the largest “black jail” in Sichuan province.
 

A group of Chinese human rights lawyers were beaten and arbitrarily detained overnight while attempting to visit a notorious illegal, extra-judicial detention center in the city of Ziyang. The ordeal began on the morning of May 13, when seven prominent lawyers – Lin Qilei (蔺其磊),  Guo Haiyue (郭海跃),  Jiang Tianyong (江天勇),  Tang Jitian (唐吉田),  Liang Xiaojun (梁小君) , Tang Tianhao (唐天昊),  and Zhang Keke (张科科) – attempted to visit the Ziyang Legal Education Center, reported to be the largest “black jail” in Sichuan province.

According to the human rights advocacy group China Human Rights Defenders, the seven lawyers were severely beaten by unidentified persons and then detained for over twelve hours at a local police station for allegedly “obstructing the business of the officials.” Soon after, four additional lawyers – Wang Cheng (王成), Wen Haibo (温海波), Yang Huiwen (杨慧文), and  Li Heping (李和平)  – attempted to visit the seven detainees, but were themselves detained for several hours.  Although Wang Cheng, Wen Haibo, and Yang Huiwen were released, Li Heping was further detained along with the initial seven for allegedly “spreading false information.” By 11:30am on May 14, all lawyers had been released by authorities.

The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers joins other human rights advocates in expressing outrage over the treatment of these human rights lawyers and demanding a full investigation into to the incident, including prosecution of those responsible.