CHINA - According to the Chair of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Wei Qianfeng, over 1,000 defense lawyers have been detained by government authorities in China since 2001. Although the Chinese Constitution grants rights to citizens to seek legal representation in judicial procedures, the reality is that lawyers in China face tremendous obstacles and risks.

The Chinese legal system was abolished during the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976), and wasn’t restored until 1978 when Deng Xiaoping came to power.

The Chinese government has adopted four updated versions of the Chinese Constitution from 1954-1982. Each clearly granted basic human rights such as; the right to vote and be elected (Chapter 34), freedom of speech, gathering, publication, and demonstration (Chapter 35), the right to religious freedom (Chapter 36), the right to personal freedom (Chapter 37), and the right to social security (Chapter 43).

“However, the “Four Basic Principles” in the preface of the constitution places the leadership position of the Chinese Communist Party above the rights of citizens granted by the constitution,” said Wei.

The 1991 “China Human Rights Status Report White Book” prohibits illegal detention or other means of restricting citizens’ physical freedoms. It also prohibits the illegal search of citizens.

In 1996, the “China Human Rights Progress White Book” stated that citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty and provides the right for defendants to obtain legal counsel and representation.

However, an article in the April 2002 “China Lawyer” journal stated that Chinese lawyers’ requests to meet with defendants were often denied for “national secrets concerns” or unspecified reasons. For those that were approved, the lawyers usually had to wait extensive periods of time before the meeting could be scheduled, and, once held, were often monitored by the government.

Sometimes after the initial meeting with the client, a lawyer would be charged with perjury by the government monitoring body.

“Since 2001, over 1,000 lawyers had been detained or sentenced to prison terms, including former chief of the Members’ Rights Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association [Zhang Jianzhong]”, said Wei.

“In the opening and reform of China, if China doesn’t change the ‘Four Basic Principles,’ everything else is in vain,” said Wei.

China has been consistently rated as one of the worst human rights countries in the world.