Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Supreme People's Court of China has
proposed that the ordinary courts can "ban the lawyers' at will for up to
a year for" unspecified violations. The
proposal, which is part of a controversial interpretation of the new Code of
Criminal Procedure, is aimed to prevent the defense of dissidents and human
rights activists.
The
interpretation has sparked protests from lawyers across the country. According
to an article in the national media, it "gives authority to the judges that
they have never had" in the old Code, which will be replaced in January of
2013, the courts could not intervene on lawyers.
According
to the new text, the courts can now remove the courtroom lawyers who
"violate court orders," but it will be the offices of the various
prosecutors who may decide that the suspension. The
government presented the text to the Supreme Court, which ruled instead these much
harsher new penalties.
The
protests also affect the procedure by which the interpretation has been
prepared: the supreme court judges in fact sent only the text to local courts
requesting a "comment", but did not make it public.
It
was discovered on the internet by some bloggers, which were able to
"intercept" it and have circulated it. Shortly
thereafter, the Supreme Court ruled that defense lawyers can not use electronic
devices of any kind in the courtroom, especially those with an internet connection
This
move underlines the nervousness of the authorities towards the "new
face" of dissidence, which is increasingly relying on the support of
several legal associations that criticize the abuses of the regime in
courtrooms. The
Chinese Constitution and various international treaties are in fact (on paper)
very democratic: the problem is their implementation, this new generation of
lawyers is trying to claim them from the regime.