Chongqing (AsiaNews) – Authorities in the central Chinese province of Chongqing have begun allowing lawyers to represent people facing detention in re-education–through–labour or laogai camps—an unprecedented move that will shed light on the system's notoriously secret procedures. The Chongqing Justice Administration announced the step on its website and said that the regulation had been finalised with the municipal Public Security Bureau.

Under the new rules, lawyers can meet suspects, get details of cases from the authorities and offer legal opinions on the procedures. The rules would “be conducive to openness in decisions and having lawyers take an active role in these cases”, the online statement said.

Re-education–through–labour has been used throughout the mainland since 1957 to punish minor offenders such as petty thieves, hooligans but also human rights and pro-democracy activists and anyone unwilling to accept the government’s antireligious policies. Hundreds of bishops and priests have gone through these camps, which are spread around China, for refusing to forsake the Pope.

Detention does not require trial. A panel of police officers or government officials determines whether the accused should be detained for up to three years at a labour camp, the only grounds being the need to maintain social stability and remove “dangerous” individuals.

The workings of the system are opaque because there is no legislation covering its administration.

There are no official statistics on how many people have been put into the camps, but some estimates suggest there are more than 300,000 nationwide. Other unofficial sources talk about four million.

What is better known is the “economic” use of laogai inmates in industry, especially in the most dangerous activities.