Prominent lawyer Zhou Ze revealed via twitter that he was shortly detained in Wenchuan, the site of Sichuan Earthquake.
Zhou was at the site of Yingxiu High School, where hundreds of students died in the quake, when some undercover police handcuffed him and dragged him away from because a Party leader would be visiting the same site. Zhou was released by the same group of police after the Party leader left about 10 minutes later. What's interesting from Zhou's description:
1) The 'leader' was a rather low level local official that according to posted policies does not warrant traffic control.
2) The undercover police's standard equipment includes a hand towel which is used to silence people from calling on the leader's attention.
Showing posts with label Zhou Ze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zhou Ze. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Top Lawyers on Bottom Cases
You don't usually see top lawyers work on small cases, but it's not automatically means a piece of cake success for sure, in China.
Liu Xiaoyuan is a high profile Beijing lawyer. For most of the past year, he tried all he could for a fair trail for Yang Jia. Shanghai police kidnapped Yang Jia's mother and locked her up in a mental facility for several months, until they killed Yang Jia. The case was so controversial that many people who never heard of Yang Jia traveled from all across the country to gather in front of Shanghai police bureau to protest. Many of them were arrested. Liu's blog covering the case become the focal point of people's attention. It was chosen as the 'Best Chinese Blog' by the Voice of Germany radio station. Liu followed up every possible threads within the law, and was stoned walled all the way along. Beijing government suspended license of all lawyers in Liu's YiTong Law Firm for half year on March 17, 2009. In a sense, this is a recklessly stupid move, as it converted Liu into a full time writer posting angry anti-government blogs.
Zhou Ze is an insider of the Communism justice system. Ten years ago when he was a clerk of the supreme court, he handled a case that a business woman Liu Ningli was robbed by Shanghai court of all her property, $4 million. It sounds a lot, but not that much for corrupted official's appetite. A small case indeed. Zhou had been working on the same for ten years to no end. Currently he is an associate professor in the Communist Youth League Academy and an established lawyer. He had been using his connections in the case. Three Congressmen introduced five bills regarding this specific case. The Justice Department instructed the Justice Department of Shanghai to appeal the original verdict. The Supreme Court picked up the case. Even the Central Discipline Committee of the CCP examined the case. Everyone told him the case is an obvious abuse of power. In March 2009, Zhou openly dared the legal system that if the case couldn't reach a satisfactory conclusion, he would exhausted all his resource and connections to veto the Supreme Court's Annual Report on the 17th National Congress. The case was not solved, and the Supreme Court received the lowest approval rate in history. However, nobody can do anything to it. It's so reticular that it is not funny.
Liu is a high profile lawyer with enormous media influence. Zhou is an Communist justice system insider with connections to the very top level. Though they were both tumbled by small cases. The ruling class is so terrified by the people, that they have to endorse every crime, regardless of how insignificant it may appears, committed by every corrupted official at the cost of the credit of itself.
<Farewell my Concubine (1993)> is acclaimed as one of the best movies in Chinese motion picture history. Through the life story of two Beijing Opera artists, traditional art was seen struggling through economic tough time, Japanese invasion, but not under communist reign.
Mr. Hu Jintao should pray that God be with him on every day and night, because under the mounting pressure of people's distrust on the communism generated by the communist government itself, any crack overlooked by Hu could explode the entire system into pieces.
Liu Xiaoyuan is a high profile Beijing lawyer. For most of the past year, he tried all he could for a fair trail for Yang Jia. Shanghai police kidnapped Yang Jia's mother and locked her up in a mental facility for several months, until they killed Yang Jia. The case was so controversial that many people who never heard of Yang Jia traveled from all across the country to gather in front of Shanghai police bureau to protest. Many of them were arrested. Liu's blog covering the case become the focal point of people's attention. It was chosen as the 'Best Chinese Blog' by the Voice of Germany radio station. Liu followed up every possible threads within the law, and was stoned walled all the way along. Beijing government suspended license of all lawyers in Liu's YiTong Law Firm for half year on March 17, 2009. In a sense, this is a recklessly stupid move, as it converted Liu into a full time writer posting angry anti-government blogs.
Zhou Ze is an insider of the Communism justice system. Ten years ago when he was a clerk of the supreme court, he handled a case that a business woman Liu Ningli was robbed by Shanghai court of all her property, $4 million. It sounds a lot, but not that much for corrupted official's appetite. A small case indeed. Zhou had been working on the same for ten years to no end. Currently he is an associate professor in the Communist Youth League Academy and an established lawyer. He had been using his connections in the case. Three Congressmen introduced five bills regarding this specific case. The Justice Department instructed the Justice Department of Shanghai to appeal the original verdict. The Supreme Court picked up the case. Even the Central Discipline Committee of the CCP examined the case. Everyone told him the case is an obvious abuse of power. In March 2009, Zhou openly dared the legal system that if the case couldn't reach a satisfactory conclusion, he would exhausted all his resource and connections to veto the Supreme Court's Annual Report on the 17th National Congress. The case was not solved, and the Supreme Court received the lowest approval rate in history. However, nobody can do anything to it. It's so reticular that it is not funny.
Liu is a high profile lawyer with enormous media influence. Zhou is an Communist justice system insider with connections to the very top level. Though they were both tumbled by small cases. The ruling class is so terrified by the people, that they have to endorse every crime, regardless of how insignificant it may appears, committed by every corrupted official at the cost of the credit of itself.
<Farewell my Concubine (1993)> is acclaimed as one of the best movies in Chinese motion picture history. Through the life story of two Beijing Opera artists, traditional art was seen struggling through economic tough time, Japanese invasion, but not under communist reign.
Mr. Hu Jintao should pray that God be with him on every day and night, because under the mounting pressure of people's distrust on the communism generated by the communist government itself, any crack overlooked by Hu could explode the entire system into pieces.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Reporter Arrested
A CCTV reporter was arrested at her home in Beijing on Dec 4, 2008, by police from the Xinghualing (Apricot Blossoms Ridge) Justice Department (District Attorney's Office) of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Being the only officially national TV station, and an arm of the Communism propaganda department, CCTV had been in general immune from legal hassles in the past. As a matter of fact, employees of the three national news agencies, The Xinhua (New China) News, the Renmin Ribao(People's Daily), and the China Central Television State (CCTV), are government officials themselves, and usually of higher ranks than most local officials.
The reporter, Li Min, produced a report on the D.A. Mr. He Shusheng of the Xinghualing Office of Taiyuan, Shanxi on alleged abuse of power.
When the arrest was made, the police displayed an authorization file issued by the National Justice Department (National Attorney General Office). CCTV questioned the motives behind the arrest, and publicly refused to collaborate in the legal process. CCTV is a cabinet level agency in the Communism power architecture.
An Internet Google revealed that while on the post of D.A. of another district (Jiancaoping District of Taiyuan, Shanxi), Mr. He Shusheng was named as one of top 150 corrupted officials in an article "Who is whom, Chinese Corrupted Officials Edition", published in the "Walk in WTO" NO. 4 2002. The court of Mr. He Shusheng's District fined the author of that article $60,000.
Attorney Zhou Ze of the Beijing Wentian Law Firm will represent Li Min on pro bono. Mr. Zhou Ze is a well known high profile, professional, courageous and passionate warrior in fighting the injustice system. However, his involvement as an political system outsider made the case looking not good. In Chinese legal system, the last thing you need is a good lawyer.
The Communism regime is like an old damned house, all pieces are so entangled that they dare not touch any piece of rotten woods, otherwise the whole building might just fall down. The top D.A.'s office got out of its way to specify a local D.A.'s office to investigate and investigate a reporter who had alleged wrongdoings of the same D.A. is beyond human sane.
The reporter, Li Min, produced a report on the D.A. Mr. He Shusheng of the Xinghualing Office of Taiyuan, Shanxi on alleged abuse of power.
When the arrest was made, the police displayed an authorization file issued by the National Justice Department (National Attorney General Office). CCTV questioned the motives behind the arrest, and publicly refused to collaborate in the legal process. CCTV is a cabinet level agency in the Communism power architecture.
An Internet Google revealed that while on the post of D.A. of another district (Jiancaoping District of Taiyuan, Shanxi), Mr. He Shusheng was named as one of top 150 corrupted officials in an article "Who is whom, Chinese Corrupted Officials Edition", published in the "Walk in WTO" NO. 4 2002. The court of Mr. He Shusheng's District fined the author of that article $60,000.
Attorney Zhou Ze of the Beijing Wentian Law Firm will represent Li Min on pro bono. Mr. Zhou Ze is a well known high profile, professional, courageous and passionate warrior in fighting the injustice system. However, his involvement as an political system outsider made the case looking not good. In Chinese legal system, the last thing you need is a good lawyer.
The Communism regime is like an old damned house, all pieces are so entangled that they dare not touch any piece of rotten woods, otherwise the whole building might just fall down. The top D.A.'s office got out of its way to specify a local D.A.'s office to investigate and investigate a reporter who had alleged wrongdoings of the same D.A. is beyond human sane.
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