Lawyer Returned to Beijing After Denied Meeting with Jailed Reporter

Mr. Zhou Ze had returned to Beijing after failed to meet his client, the jailed reporter Li Min in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.

Mr. Zhou, the attorney hired by Li Min's father arrived Taiyuan, accompanied by Li's Uncle. The detention center refused his request to meet Li Min, citing instruction from the D.A. The D.A.'s office, denied they blocked the visit, but refused to talk to the detention center. The duo shuttled between the D.A.'s office and the detention center for two days without getting a clue, until they were suddenly told that another attorney was hired by Li Min, the reporter herself. The other attorney had been granted a visit.

Same trick had been played before in Yang Jia's case. Immediately after Yang Jia was arrested, the Shanghai police kidnapped Yang's mother. A lawyer was allegedly hired by Yang's mother to represent Yang in the trail, while no one knows the whereabouts of her. After Yang Jia was sentenced to death, Yang's mother was released from a police mental facility. On a side note, mental facilities are widely used by local government to jail whistle blowers, as recent publicized case in Shangdong.

Maybe, anyone should rent a safe box in a bank in Switzerland, with a note 'The only lawyer I trust is (fill in the lawyer's name here), and that any words I said after being arrested shall not be seen as my truthful willing'. Maybe, there's just no escape.