Criminal Justice

The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee passed an amendment on August 28 to the Law on the Protection of the Interests and Rights of Women (LPIRW); the new provisions became effective on December 1. The amendment outlaws sexual harassment and domestic violence, promotes equal rights for women, and helps victims of trafficking. (Article numbers below refer to the text of the law as amended.)

The central government has issued a new regulation that will expand the scope of legal aid services available in criminal cases, according to a November 17 analysis in Dazhong Net, a Shandong provincial news site. The Supreme People's Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security, and Ministry of Justice jointly issued their Provisions on Legal Aid Work in Criminal Litigation (2005 Provisions) on September 28. The 2005 Provisions go into effect on December 1, and the analysis notes that they will expand both the existing categories of criminal suspects and defendants entitled to a lawyer and the role of lawyers in the criminal process.

The 2005 Provisions make the following changes to existing law:

The parties in a Beijing sexual harassment case reached a settlement out of court in favor of the plaintiff, according to a November 4 Beijing Morning Post article posted on Xinhua's Web site. The case was the first since the National People's Congress Standing Committee outlawed sexual harassment in an August 2005 amendment to the Law on the Protection of the Interests and Rights of Women.

Authorities in Shenzhen released activist Liu Shui on November 2, after he had completed 18 months of a 2-year administrative detention sentence, according to a November 4 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report (in Chinese). Liu told RFA that authorities required him to sign a written pledge that he would return to appear in court when summoned. Authorities also required him to pay over 4,700 yuan in room, board, and medical fees, according to a November 7 report on the Epoch Times Web site.

The Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Jingshan county, Hubei province, agreed on October 27 to pay 450,000 renminbi ($55,500) to She Xianglin's family as compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, according to an October 28 report from the official Xinhua news agency. Most of that amount will go toward compensating Mr. She for physical and emotional damages he suffered during 11 years in prison. The rest provides compensation for false imprisonment and emotional damages suffered by Mr. She's mother and elder brother as they attempted to appeal to authorities over his unjust treatment.

The Beijing Justice Bureau ordered prominent rights advocate Gao Zhisheng to shut down his law firm and stop practicing law for one year beginning on November 4, according to reports from the China Aid Association, Washington Post (registration required), BBC, and Radio Free Asia (RFA). Gao told the Washington Post that government officials had rejected the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm's attempt to register a new address when it moved to a new office in early 2005. The Beijing Justice Bureau now bases its action on the firm's failure to register its new location. Gao has said that he plans to challenge the suspension through a formal hearing.

Shanxi provincial authorities closed 2,203 illegal mines and detained 293 officials during a campaign against illegal coal mine investments and official collusion in their operations, according to a November 17 Legal Daily report. An official investigation identified 950 officials who held illegal shares in state-owned coal mines worth 155 million yuan ($19,176,527). Of these, the provincial government forced 871 officials to divest some 62 million yuan ($7,679,730) in mining shares. The Legal Daily report added that some Shanxi officials used the names of friends and family members to conceal their illegal investments.

Lawyers for rural activist Guo Feixiong are taking advantage of a December 27 deadline to request his release from detention, according to articles in the South China Morning Post (SCMP) (subscription required) on November 10 and 16. The filing of their request on November 11 comes two weeks after the Panyu District Procuratorate returned Guo's case to public security officials for further investigation. Guo remains in official custody and has ended the hunger strike that he began on September 13 to protest his detention.

The procuratorate's "Return for Verification Notification from the Panyu District Procuratorate" (Notification), posted November 8 by Chengdu University Law Professor Wang Yi on his blog, says: