Speech on the 8th China Human Rights Lawyers Day
Yaxue Cao, July 3, 2024, London
In the course of hundreds of interrogations of the 709 lawyers, an interrogator once said that the aim of the 709 case was to create a “hot stove effect” for the lawyers across China: they should know that the stove is burning hot, and they should not try to touch it.
The irony there is that the tormentors were letting out the truth. The arrests and imprisonment of the 709 lawyers were always intended as a means of terror, a means to suppress lawyers who were inclined to fight for the proper application of law, inside or outside the court.
To make the lawyers submit and admit guilt for crimes that they didn’t commit, police employed horrendous torture unthinkable in the 21st century. They forged evidence. They obstructed defense attorneys engaged by the 709 detainees’ relatives, and forced them to accept attorneys appointed by the government. Sham trials, “public” or behind closed doors, were conducted to complete the process, but not a single trial can stand the slightest scrutiny.
The “Criminal Judgments” from the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court presented nearly identical words against the 709 defendants. These included “dissatisfaction with the national political system and judicial system” and “engaging in criminal activities to subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system.” However, the court fails to make its cases against these lawyers with their so-called “facts” and evidence, because none of them amounts to anything, let alone the crime of subversion.
To drum up their false narrative about the human rights lawyers, the state media carried out extensive smear campaigns and character assassination for several years.
The crackdown on lawyers has been a work of systematic engineering. Since 2017, the Chinese judicial authorities have revoked the licenses of at least 40 human rights lawyers. New regulations have been enacted to further restrict lawyers’ legitimate work and freedom of expression.
One of the 709 lawyers said that the crackdown has destroyed the progress China has made in the judicial and economic fields over the past 40 years of reform and opening up. Indeed, the effects of the 709 crackdown are becoming more apparent in Chinese society with each passing day. Without judicial fairness, it is inevitable that the social and economic order of the country should crumble, which we are witnessing now.
709 represents something far bigger and more fundamental. It highlights the most profound crisis facing China — the crisis of the rule of law. If China’s leaders hope to govern “according to the law” as they profess to do, if they hope to build confidence in the future throughout China and the international community, they should start by redressing the 709 case.
Yaxue Cao is the editor of this website. Follow her on X @YaxueCao
改变中国主编曹雅学在第八届中国人权律师节上的发言
在对 709 律师的数百次审讯过程中，一名审讯者曾说，709 案的目的是制造一个”热炉效应”，让律师们知道，炉子很烫，不要试图去碰它。
讽刺的是，在这里，施害者在说出真相。对 709律师的逮捕和监禁本质上是一种恐怖手段，是为了制服那些倾向于为法律的正确实施而抗争的律师，不管是法庭内还是法庭外。
为了让律师屈服并承认他们并未犯下的罪行，警察使用了 21 世纪无法想象的残暴酷刑。他们伪造了证据；他们阻挠 709 被拘留者亲属聘请的辩护律师，强迫他们接受政府指定的律师。他们进行了所谓的“公开”审判或闭门审判，来完成这个过程。但所有审判都是虚假的马戏，没一场审判能经得住哪怕是最轻微的审视。
天津市第二中级人民法院的 《刑事判决书 》对 709 被告提出了用词几乎雷同的指控，包括 “对国家政治制度和司法制度不满”、”实施颠覆国家政权、推翻社会主义制度的犯罪活动”。然而，判决书里所列举的所谓的 “事实 “和证据鸡毛蒜皮，什么罪都算不上，更不用说颠覆罪了。
为了撑起他们对律师编造的犯罪叙事，国家媒体对律师进行了长达数年的抹黑与人格诋毁。
对律师的打压是一项系统工程。自2017年以来，中国司法机关已经吊销了至少40名维权律师的执业资格，并且持续颁布新法规，进一步限制律师的合法工作和言论自由。
一位709律师表示，709大抓捕摧毁了中国改革开放40年来在司法和经济领域取得的一点进步。事实上，709事件对中国社会造成的恶劣后果越来越清晰可见。没有司法公正，国家的社会和经济秩序必然分崩离析，而这正是我们现在每天目睹的。
709 所代表的是一个更大、更根本的问题。它凸显了中国面临的最深刻的危机 — 法治危机。如果中国领导人希望像他们所宣称的那样 “依法治国”，如果他们希望建立中国人和国际社会对中国未来的信心，他们应该从纠正709假案开始。
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