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Chinese lawyer of Hong Kong 12 set to have legal license stripped after hearing date set

蘋果日報 2021/01/12 19:08


A hearing for the license revocation of Chinese lawyer Ren Quanniu, who assisted the family of the 12 detained Hong Kong activists, has been set for next Tuesday.
The 12 were detained after being intercepted at sea by mainland Chinese authorities in a failed attempt to flee to Taiwan, and 10 of them were recently sentenced to jail terms of between seven months to three years. Ren brought a required notarial certification to the Yantian detention center in Shenzhen to meet his client Wong Wai-yin on Sept. 18 last year, but was told his client had already appointed two other lawyers.
Ren and fellow lawyer Lu Siwei were previously told their licenses may be revoked. They were appointed by families to represent Wong and Quinn Moon respectively.
A hearing is part of the mainland Chinese legal procedure prior to the license revocation of lawyers. It is often seen as symbolic and remarks made at hearings would unlikely change the punishment.
Ren was informed about the hearing on Monday through a phone call from the Henan judiciary. He arrived in Chengdu on Tuesday morning to attend a hearing for Lu on Wednesday, so that Ren’s colleague would also help to receive his official hearing notice.
The Henan judiciary sent a notice to Ren on Dec. 31 accusing him of violating two laws regulating the legal industry, in a case he took involving the banned Falun Gong on Nov. 7, 2018, and he was given a punishment of license revocation. Ren told Apple Daily that the real reason for the punishment was the case of the 12 detained Hongkongers, but authorities chose to use the Falun Gong case as an excuse.
Lu has been tailed for the past few days ahead of the hearing. At around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday when Lu was driving to his work, two people who claimed to be judicial officers of the Chenghua district in Chengdu blocked him with their cars, and ordered him not to leave the district for the day. Lu refused and tried to leave, before he was taken away by police officers called to the scene.
Meanwhile, the 10-day appeal for the 10 Hong Kong activists expired last Saturday. Relatives were told by government-appointed lawyers that the court would send the judgment to the detention center to arrange for new locations to serve their sentences, if no one had appealed.
The family members of Li Tsz-yin and Kok Tsz-lun already arrived in mainland China earlier this month to face 14 days of quarantine, in the hopes of meeting the pair.
Hong Kong barrister Chow Hang-tung, who has been helping the families, said she expected relatives would not be given the judgment. They could try to ask the court and the detention center for the judgment, but the decision was up to the authorities, she said.
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