【大纪元5月14日讯】二零零七年四月二十七日上午，北京六位代理律师李和平、黎雄兵、张立辉、李顺章、滕彪、邬宏威于河北省石家庄中级法院法庭，为法轮功学员王博一家三人做无罪辩护。这是外界第一次听到中国能够有多名律师，在法庭公开为法轮功学员做无罪辩护。
五月五日台湾多个律师、人权团体召开联合记者会声援北京的六位律师，长期关注法轮功事件并担任为法轮功辩护的美国律师泰瑞玛什律师获悉整起事件后，以人权法律协会的总执行长发表支持北京六律师行为的声明。
人权法律协会还表示，将考虑邀请世界知名的国际人权组织及律师团体声援在中国为法轮功辩护的律师们。
以下是该协会的声明：
依据美国“国会暨行政部门委员会”（Congressional-Executive Commission）于二○○六月九月所发布之新闻稿指出，中共当局仍继续对处理政治敏感案件的律师施加限制….执法官员以莫须有的罪名控告这些案件的辩护律师，或是以控告为胁，许多人权组织已经证实了这些事实，并且以其组织为名表达对此议题的关注。
“人权观察”在其二○○六年八月廿三日发表的“中国政府必须停止对律师的打压”一文中指出，有许多著名的律师被强制逮捕、关押，刑事起诉，在许多案例中，律师仅仅因为其敢于提供法律协助给中国当局所迫害的人民，甚至因此遭到监禁和酷刑。
“人权观察”的亚洲部门的副主任瑞查森（Richardson）：“中共当局已经不能再耍两面手法”；“北京可以选择悍卫法治，容忍法律上的挑战，或是扬弃司法改革的表象。中共对陈光诚、高智晟等人的作为，令人难以相信在中国的法律面前人人平等”。
尽管“人权观察”、本会及其他非政府组织要求中共当局：无条件的释放高智晟律师外、宣告对于陈光诚案的误审，和确保在律师执行职务时不受威胁、报复和干预，高智晟律师仍因为其维护涉入政治敏感案件的中国人民的权利而遭到不公审判。高的辩护律师在一次访谈中谈到，就在他从未收到开庭通知，也不被允许出庭的情况下，高律师被非法判判处三年徒刑，缓刑五年，剥夺政治权利一年，并且在政府监控及威胁下，仍面临着再度被逮捕的威胁。
广泛的讲，还有许多未被公布出来的案例中揭露：中国律师仍遭到不断的人身攻击，律师在不受威胁及公开污辱下为中国人民辩护的律师权利遭到严重侵害。（参见人权观察“律师对于新的限制的反应及政府的回应”Great Danger for Lawyers? New Regulatory Curbs on Lawyers p.12, available at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china1206/8.htm）。除了经由非法监禁、撤销执照、威胁、判刑对于律师工作进行干预及妨碍外，中共还用了一些新的限制手段来阻扰中国律师的执业。例如，中共政府所控制之“中华全国律师协会”于二○○六年三月所发布的“关于律师办理群体性案件指导意见”，可谓在促进中国法治上的一大倒退。
北京著名的六位律师在干冒被撤销执照、个人的性命安危及牺牲自由的风险（遑论在社会上原本可得的声誉及财富地位）公开为法轮功学员进行辩护，确为一个重大的里程碑。尽管有不准为中国法轮功学员案件辩护的禁止，以及少于百分之二的刑事案件得以成功上诉，在二○○七年四月廿七日，这六名律师在河北石家庄中级法院开庭时，仍选择为法轮功学员王博一家之上诉案在法庭上公开做无罪辩护（参见”台湾声援为法轮功无罪辩护的六律师 http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/6/154217.html）
六名北京律师之一的滕彪律师，竟在在开庭期间，众目睽睽之下被法警殴打，他事后在新唐人电视台访问其为什么干冒危险为法轮功学员辩护时，他提到的大致内容如下：
法轮功学员在宪法相关规定下享有信仰自由等基本权利。我觉得不论我们会发生什么事，王博和她的父母有律师辩护权。利用虚假的审判，和其他非法的阴谋手段结合在一起打压中国公民的信仰和言论自由，剥夺中国公民在法律上应享有正当程序的法律权利，在中国是非常严重的事。身为一个律师，我有权利及责任为法轮功学员辩护。中国的知识份子和律师基于不同的理由而对此迫害默不作声，我们都知道这是错误的。我们是本于良知，挺身而出为王博和她的家人辩护。
对于滕彪及其他五位律师的义举我们不仅关注并深表敬佩。如本协会亚洲区执行长朱婉琪在台北所举办的一场声援六位北京律师的记者会中所言：“中共在二十一世纪还在中国各地搞人间炼狱，在中国的律师要想尽办法做到两件事情，保护当事人权益与保护自己的小命”。而这六位律师却能置个人生死于度外，成就大我－为所有中国人民能自由的实践其信仰，不再遭到报复及非法关押而努力。此外，每一个公民应享有之辩护权不仅在中国法律中有明文规定，更在“世界人权宣言”、“公民权利及政治权利国际公约”及“联合国一九九○年律师角色基本原则”和其他相关的人权文献中有所规定，其重要性也同样不在话下。。
本协会不仅赞扬这六位北京律师并且愿意提供其所需之法律及其他协助，以帮助所有中国律师能在此议题继续坚定不移，进而确保独立运作的司法和真正法治的出现，用以促使中国成为一个合乎体统的高尚中国。
西元二○○七年五月十三日
美国人权法律协会 总执行长泰瑞玛什律师
原文：
THE BEIJING SIX:
A LANDMARK CASE ON BEHALF OF FALUN GONG IN CHINA
According to the Congressional-Executive Commission September 2006 Press Release, Chinese authorities continue to increase restrictions on lawyers who work on politically sensitive cases …, law enforcement officials continue to intimidate lawyers defending these cases by charging them, or threatening to charge them, with crimes they did not commit. Several other human rights NGO’s have confirmed this information and added their name to the list of concerned parties.
Human Rights Watch (“China: Government Must End Crackdown on Lawyers,” Hong Kong, August 23, 2006) had this to say about the number of prominent attorneys who have been arbitrarily arrested, detained, subjected to criminal prosecution and, in many cases, imprisoned and tortured, for the simple reason that they have dared to provide legal assistance to those being subjected to persecution by the Chinese authorities.
“Chinese authorities can no longer have it both ways,” said [Sophie] Richardson,
[deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch]. “Beijing should either
uphold the rule of law and tolerate legal challenges or drop this façade of commitment
to legal reform. The actions against Chen Guangchen, Gao Zhesheng and others make it difficult to believe that everyone in China is equal before the law.”
In spite of the fact that Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Law Foundation and other NGOs around the world have called on the Chinese authorities to release Gao unconditionally, declare a mistrial in Chen’s case and ensure that lawyers are free of intimidation, retaliation and interference as they carry out their professional duties, Gao Zhisheng was subjected to a sham trial for his role in defending the rights of Chinese citizens in politically sensitive cases. Gao, whose lawyer confirmed in an interview that he had not received prior notice of the trial and was not permitted to attend, was sentenced to illegal and unlawful 5 years sentence of government surveillance, intimidation, and an ongoing threat of re-arrest.
More generally the rights of lawyers to represent Chinese citizens without harassment, intimidation and public humiliation has been further curtailed by continued physical attacks on lawyers that as yet remain unpublished (see, for example, Human Rights Watch, “Lawyers Reactions to the New Restrictions and the Government’s Response,” in Great Danger for Lawyers? New Regulatory Curbs on Lawyers p.12, available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china1206/8.htm). In addition to the obstruction of the work of lawyers through unlawful detentions, disbarment, intimidation and imprisonment, are the number of new restrictions introduced to prevent lawyers in China from the practice of their profession. For instance, the government controlled All China Lawyers Association’s issuance in March of 2006 of its “Guiding Opinions on Lawyers Handling Mass cases,” stands as a major setback to efforts to promote the rule of law.
Against this background, six prominent lawyers in China risked their bar license, their physical safety and personal liberty – not to mention their reputation and financial status – to defend Falun Gong practitioners in a landmark case . In spite of the legal prohibition against representing Falun Gong practitioners in court and while fewer than two percent of criminal cases are accepted for appeal, the Beijing Six managed to have the case accepted for appeal and to attend the court hearing as the lawyers of Falun Gong practitioner Wang Bo and her parents in Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court in Hebei Province on April 27, 2007. See, “Taiwan: Press Conference Supports Six Lawyers Defending Falun Gong Practitioners in China,” in Clearwisdom.net, available at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/5/7/85340p.html.
When one of the six, Tong Biao, who was beaten by court police in public view, was asked by a New Tang Dynasty Television reporter why he risked all to defend his Falun Gong client, he replied (in words like these):
Falun Gong has basic rights under several provisions of the Constitution which include freedom of belief. I feel that no matter what happens [to us], Wang Bo
And her parents have a right to legal counsel. The suppression of freedom of
belief and speech in China in conjunction with the use of sham trials and other illegal ploys
to undermine the due process rights of Chinese citizens is a serious matter in China.
As a lawyer, I have the right and responsibility to defend practitioners of Falun Gong.
… While many intellectuals and lawyers in China have kept silent for different reasons, we know this is wrong and our conscience requires us to stand up and defend Wang Bo and her family.
The righteous stance of Tang Biao and his 5 colleagues cannot but merit our attention and respect. As Chu Wan-Chi, Director of Human Rights Law Foundation Asia aptly said at a panel discussion in Tapei on the topic of the Beijing Six, “In the twenty-first century, the CCP has established hell on earth. Lawyers in China try their best to do two things: to protects litigants’ interests and their own lives.” These lawyers however, have put aside protection of self in service of a far greater good – the right of all Chinese people to freely practice their religion without fear of reprisal and unlawful arrest and, no less importantly, each citizen’s right to legal counsel of his or her choice, thereby affirming principles and norms enshrined not only in Chinese law, but also in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and other relevant human rights instruments.
Human Rights Law Foundation commends the Beijing Six and offers to provide whatever legal or other support needed to help lawyers in China continue to stand firm on this issue to ensure that an independent judicial branch and genuine rule of law permit China to become what was once China proper.
(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
