Access to Justice
On February 20, 2014, the Urumqi Municipal Public Security Bureau formally arrested Minzu University professor Ilham Tohti on charges of separatism.[1] The arrest notice indicated authorities were detaining Tohti in a detention center in Urumqi, the regional capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).[2] Authorities reportedly only informed Tohti’s wife about her husband’s arrest on February 25.[3] Prosecutors formally approved Tohti’s arrest just short of the 37-day limit mandated by Article 69 of the PRC Criminal Procedure Law.
Update: Anticorruption and Transparency Advocates Already Sentenced
In 2013, authorities commenced a crackdown on anticorruption and transparency advocates, many linked to the “New Citizens’ Movement,” which is a broad network of individuals promoting legal and political reforms, human rights, and social justice. In late 2013 and early 2014, authorities began trials for several of these advocates and courts have already handed down sentences in some cases:
Amended Law Contains Provisions That Could Help Improve Consumer Protections
Transcript (PDF) (Text)
Under China's reeducation through labor system, Chinese officials can order citizens to be held in reeducation through labor centers for up to four years without a trial or legal representation. There are no definitive figures, but hundreds of thousands of Chinese may currently be held in these centers.
Chen Kegui Denied Appropriate Medical Treatment, Medical Parole
Prison Officials Threaten Chen Kegui and Subject Him to Physical Abuse
Chinese and U.S. Lawyers Allege Wrongful Conviction
Some Chinese and U.S. lawyers have called into question the conviction of Chen Kegui in a range of public statements. On December 1, 2012, Si Weijiang, one of the lawyers hired by Chen Kegui's wife to represent him, drafted a statement in response to the sentencing of Chen Kegui (Si Weijiang's personal blog, via Caijing, 1 December 12, link appears to be no longer available; English translation available at Seeing Red in China blog, 17 December 12). In his statement, Si Weijiang asserts that Chen Kegui's actions were "lawful self-defense and in no way criminal." He describes Chen Kegui's clash with officials as follows: