Chinese court upholds lawyer’s conviction

By Tom Mitchell in Hong Kong

Published: December 23 2008 03:00 | Last updated: December 23 2008 03:00

A Chinese court has upheld the conviction of a lawyer whose prosecution raised concerns across the country’s legal community.

Liu Yao was arrested late last year on charges of inciting a land protest in Dongyuan county, Guangdong province that allegedly resulted in the destruction of construction materials valued at Rmb50,000 ($7,285). He was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison.

Mr Liu represented a group of peasants who accused the local government of illegally expropriating their land for a hydropower project. Professional lawyer associations from as far away as Beijing, worried that local officials targeted Mr Liu simply to defuse an embarrassing case, rallied to their colleague’s defence.

In September an appeal court ordered a retrial, which was held on October 17. Monday’s long-awaited verdict, which Mr Liu’s lawyers and family received by post, upheld the original conviction, although the court did reduce his sentence to two years.

“We are very disappointed with this verdict,” Lai Wei’e, Mr Liu’s wife, told the Financial Times on Monday . “Liu Yao will appeal.”

Ms Lai said that the nine-page decision regurgitated the evidence and reasoning presented during her husband’s first trial. The appeal court did not say why a retrial was necessary when it ordered a new hearing for Mr Liu in September. The appeal and retrial focused on the authenticity of the valuation put on the construction materials supposedly damaged in last year’s protest.

The reaction from the legal community to the retrial verdict was immediate, with 500 lawyers signing a petition in protest. “The court cut the punishment to two years’ without any new evidence, which is contradictory,” the petition said.

“We failed. Liu Yao has been given two years’ prison for the same charge,” added Meng Xi, one of Mr Liu’s defence lawyers. “I cannot comment on the judge’s decision but I think this is a very strange case.”

Mr Meng said the Guangdong Lawyers Association will meet in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, to discuss the case. Mr Liu works for Guangdong Wisdom & Fortune law firm and had been based in Shenzhen, the special economic zone bordering Hong Kong.

The Shenzhen Lawyers Association has also been active in Mr Liu’s defence. Earlier this month the association sent a letter to the Dongyuan court on his behalf and has appealed to more than 20 government organs and departments including the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the highest authority on constitutional matters in China.

Mr Liu’s appeal and retrial have attracted widespread attention from local and national media, although their ability to report on the case has occasionally been restricted.

Two villagers who took part in last year’s protest, Li Dongming and Li Zhiguang, were sentenced to prison terms of nine and ten months respectively and have already been released.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008