Wednesday, 17 January 2018

China rights lawyer loses licence

*China rights lawyer Yu Wensheng loses licence*

A Chinese human rights lawyer says his licence has been revoked three months after he wrote an open letter criticising the ruling Communist Party. Yu Wensheng, 50, received the news in a letter from Beijing's Bureau of Justice on 15 January, a photo of which he has since tweeted (in Chinese). Mr Yu has long been a frequent and vocal critic of the government.

He is among hundreds of human rights lawyers who have recently been detained and interrogated by authorities. According to the letter, Mr Yu's licence was cancelled because he had not been employed by a licensed law firm in the past six months. Mr Yu's wife, Xu Yan, said in a statement that her husband had tried setting up an independent legal practice after he left his old firm last year.

But he had received another letter on 12 January in which the Beijing municipal authority refused his application to set up a practice. It said: "Through investigations, this organisation found you have openly expressed opposition to the [Communist] Party's leadership". As a result, it said, his behaviour did not meet the standards required of practising lawyers.

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