China lawyers pressed to end milk advice

By Mure Dickie in Beijing

Published: September 28 2008 16:33 | Last updated: September 28 2008 16:33

Officials in a number of ­Chinese provinces are pressuring lawyers to pull out of a volunteer legal advice group set up to help the ­families of thousands of ­children who were poisoned by contaminated milk powder, according to people involved in the group.

The pressure faced by the lawyers seeking to help ­victims of the toxic milk scandal underscores the difficulties faced by the legal profession and civic groups that seek to tackle potentially sensitive issues in China, even when they do so openly and within an entirely legal framework.

People around China have been outraged by the contamination of milk powder and other dairy products with the industrial chemical melamine and by the fact that it was only made public after extensive delays. About 13,000 children are in hospital and four have died.

Lawyers set up a volunteer group to advise milk poisoning victims on issues such as the government’s policy on free medical care for them and how to preserve evidence that would be needed for any eventual compensation claim.

However, more than 20 lawyers suddenly pulled out in recent days under pressure from officials, according to organisers.

“There are so many victims and these children really need our help but the government is not letting us help them,” said one person involved in organising the group.

Li Fangping, a Beijing ­lawyer and leading member of the group, said that in some cases, the heads of legal practices had been called in by provincial judicial authorities and ordered to cease all involvement.

“They are under very great pressure,” Mr Li said.

Some of the lawyers who have withdrawn from the group on Sunday denied that their withdrawal was the result of pressure, while ­others declined to comment.

Justice ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

However, a lawyer in ­central Henan province, where officials appear to be particularly suspicious of the legal volunteers, said he had been directly ordered to pull out of the group.

“We feel there really shouldn’t be any problem doing this kind of work, but right now it seems very ­perilous,” he said.

The poisoning of infants fed on milk powder from some of China’s biggest dairy producers follows the death of thousands of children in allegedly shoddily-built schools that collapsed during the devastating earthquake that hit southwestern Sichuan in May.

In a speech to an inter­national business forum at the weekend, Wen Jiabao, Chinese premier, said Beijing would work to improve food industry safety.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008