Chinese lawyer harassed: As the Chinese government continues to further suppress the country’s legal advocacy, it has come to light that a disbarred Chinese human rights advocate has been chased out of 13 homes in a span of two months in a systemic harassment campaign against him and three other rights advocates in Beijing.
Wang’s colleague, Bao Longjun, said that he was confined several times in the apartment he owns by unknown men who hang around his house, while a fourth unnamed lawyer was detained along with his wife.
China's crackdown on legal advocates
On July 9, 2015, the Chinese government initiated a crackdown on the country’s independent legal advocates and arrested hundreds of lawyers. These four lawyers were reportedly a part of a group named the ‘709 lawyers’, who helped people who faced political charges or access benefits that are denied to them.
These lawyers were disbarred after their arrests in 2015, but continued to do similar work after they were released from prison. This work does not require a law license.
According to Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, the harassment of lawyers in China came amid several high-profile visits by notable foreign dignitaries like French President Emmanuel Macron, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“..The petty and inhumane treatment of human rights lawyers and their families show that the authorities only want to double down on repressing the Chinese civil society,” she said.
