On the ninth anniversary of the 709 crackdown, a mainland Chinese human rights activist expressed concerns about the deteriorating rule of law in China without the “mission to uphold the law” by these lawyers. She pointed out that without these lawyers, who are supposed to be the defenders of law, China’s legal system is regressing, and the civilization’s window is being sealed shut, leaving behind only barbarism, which is the current state of China’s rule of law.
Since July 9, 2015, the Chinese Communist authorities have been cracking down on human rights lawyers, arresting over two hundred lawyers and dissidents within a week, in what is known as the “709” crackdown. While some of the lawyers arrested that year have since been released from prison, many continue to face government suppression.
One rights activist, Ms. Huang, has been following the 709 incident closely over the years. She revealed that many of these legal elites are struggling to even put food on the table. Most have had their lawyer licenses revoked, some are still under surveillance, and some have even had their children’s education rights stripped away.
Lawyers are supposed to be the defenders of law, a window to a country’s civilization and rule of law. They have obtained their lawyer qualifications through the country’s judicial examinations. The fact that so many lawyers are facing problems raises questions about the integrity of the country’s judicial system, she argued.
Ms. Huang searched online to find out what crimes the lawyers arrested in the 709 incident had committed but found no relevant information. Later, she came across an article from a CCP official media, the Global Times, dated July 9, 2021, which claimed that the lawyers arrested in the 709 incident had caused disruptions under Western influence and were charged with “subverting state power.”
Ms. Huang questioned whether there was any evidence to support the claim that the lawyers were involved in subverting the state power. If there is evidence, she suggested that it should be made public online for transparency and as a deterrent.
She raised doubts about the organized nature of the mass arrests of human rights lawyers and legal practitioners within a week in July 2015. Was it the lawyers who had committed organized crimes, or was the arrests carried out by an organized “arrest team” for certain purposes? She insisted that the burden of proof should lie with the “arrest team.” Is the authority trying to warn people that the law is in the hands of power, and the fate of these lawyers is also controlled by power?
Ms. Huang concluded that since the 709 incident, China’s rule of law has regressed due to the absence of lawyers who consider upholding the law as their mission. These lawyers, who are highly educated elites constrained by the law, with a sense of social responsibility and moral standards, are now deprived of their livelihood. With the civilization’s window being closed, what remains is barbarity, which is the current state of China’s rule of law.
Over the past twenty years, Ms. Huang has personally experienced the excuses and buck-passing of the authorities, with the administrative departments providing no solutions to her problems.
In December 16, 2022, Ms. Huang filed a complaint with the National Petition Bureau regarding illegal practices by the Fu’an Land and Resources Bureau, with collusion from the Fujian High People’s Court. The response from the National Petition Bureau was to transfer the case to the Fujian Provincial Petition Bureau. The case was then transferred multiple times within a day to various local offices.
On May 10, 2023, Ms. Huang reported to the second round inspection team of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate about the failure of the Fujian Provincial Procuratorate to fulfill its supervisory duties.
On June 4, 2023, Ms. Huang received a message from the Beijing Procuratorate stating that the Supreme Procuratorate had transferred her report about Fujian Provincial Procuratorate to the Beijing Procuratorate, which in turn was transferred back to the Fujian Provincial Procuratorate.
On July 4, 2023, Ms. Huang received another message from the Fujian Provincial Procuratorate informing her that the case had been transferred to the Ningde Municipal Procuratorate.
Despite her efforts, she highlighted the systematic violations and challenges faced when trying to raise issues with higher authorities. She emphasized that the authorities repeatedly referred her complaints back to the same institutions or lower offices, which goes against the law and shows a disregard for the people’s rights. Despite her dedication to human rights for two decades, she constantly faces censorship on social media platforms while authorities continue to act against the law.
As China marks the ninth anniversary of the 709 incident, Ms. Huang reflected on the current state of the rule of law, where fewer people turn to legal means for justice, opting instead for appeals. She warned that the society’s incidents of violence and aggression have escalated due to the diminishing role of the law and the legal practitioners who once upheld it.