Ai Weiwei: Xia Lin verdict exposes the unfairness of China's legal system
I planned to sue the Public Security Bureau
in Sichuan for exercising violence; Xia accepted my offer to hire him as a
lawyer and went with me to Sichuan. Despite our efforts, we were unable to file
a lawsuit in the Sichuanese courts. The Public Security Bureau, the Sichuan
People's Procuratorate, and the provincial courts all denied any physical abuse
took place.
It is a difficult struggle to be a lawyer
in China. The law stands behind those in power, and the judicial system lacks
independence. I knew that bringing Xia Lin along could not change the
situation. He also felt helpless about it.
In 2011, we faced a
familiar predicament when I was detained
and released after 81 days. Fake Limited was charged with tax evasion, and
it hired Pu
Zhiqiang as its defense attorney. For that case, he
partnered with Xia Lin, who was a colleague from the same law firm. Xia left
the team after working on the case for a period of time. I could not agree with
his reason for parting ways.
Regardless, Pu Zhiqiang insisted on acting as the
case's defense attorney until the end. This is as far as I am acquainted with
Xia Lin. He was one of the earliest legal associates that I have worked with,
he was not a primary defense attorney, and he left the position midway through
the case.
When Xia Lin was
arrested, I immediately connected the incident to his role in Guo Yushan's case. I was relieved to hear of Guo's release,
thinking that this could indicate that Xia's sentence would not be too severe.
However, Chinese politics and rule of law do not follow any logical reasoning,
and my analysis was once again proven wrong. Xia Lin
received a harsh verdict and an unjustifiable one.
Xia's case has at
least several reasons for concern.
He was accused of
failing to repay his loans on time. The party that offered him the loan should
be the litigant in this kind of civil dispute. From what I have learned from
other lawyers, including Pu Zhiqiang, Xia Lin's loan was not due and there were
no civil lawsuits being filed. Instead of treating
the case as a civil suit, the Public Security Bureau arrested and charged him
for fraud. This approach violated protocol and was illegal. It reminded me of
the time when I was taken away at the Beijing Capital International Airport in
2011. The Public Security Bureau accused me of tax-related crimes and charges
were made against the company that I served.
The execution of the
entire arrest, investigation and trial process was illegal under Chinese law.
There was no clear conclusion to the case and they failed to provide any
presentable evidence. Even if I did not understand Xia Lin's case completely, I
am convinced of, and can relate to, the violations of procedure that he experienced.
The Chinese judicial
system has never been independent and will never become independent. The Chinese political
regime is afraid of discussing this topic and acknowledging that they refuse
judicial independence. It is only a tool that operates under the Communist
Party's directives. The country's rule of
law has never fulfilled its responsibility to serve justice. Given such
conditions, all verdicts under such a system are unfair by nature. Without a platform for
debate, information disclosure, and transparency for the nature of evidence in
trial, we can only presume that these judgments are unfair.
The judicial system is
obligated to prove that it is fair and just. As citizens -- or even a lesser
existence without the right to elections -- we are owed the right to a fair
trial. If the courts fail to prove that it is fair, then it should be presumed
unfair. Xia Lin's sentence is
no exception. I find it absurd that he was sentenced to 12 years for a loan
dispute. This shows that China manifests significant discrepancies on its
treatment of justice issues and on its parameters for criminality. Xia Lin is
not a corrupt official who embezzled public funds. His fault, if any, related
to a private loan dispute.
Further, we cannot
separate the harsh sentence from his longtime concern for human rights. If one
person is treated unfairly in our society, the whole world dulls in color.
see also
Tom Phillips - Beijing shuts down art exhibition on violence against women
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
