Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times,
A county justice bureau in southwestern China has ordered local law firms to report cases related to the government's "anti-organized crime" campaign and obtain official approval before lawyers can argue that a defendant's alleged offense should be classified differently.
The No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in the Beijing suburb of Fangzhuang on Aug. 15, 2006. Goh Chai Hin/AFP via Getty ImagesThe notice, issued directly to law firms by the Justice Bureau of Pu'an County in Guizhou Province, requires lawyers handling cases covered by a recent anti-organized crime public notice to report them to the bureau's public legal services department, according to a Sept. 18 blog post by a legal blogger on Chinese news portal NetEase.
The requirement has prompted concerns among Chinese lawyers that a government administrative agency is attempting to exercise control over how defense lawyers present their cases in court.
The notice states that law firms handling cases covered by the campaign "must promptly report [them] to the county justice bureau's public legal services department."
It adds: "If the defense argument is to change the legal characterization of the crime, it must be reported to the county justice bureau for study and approval before that defense theory can be expressed. All law firms are requested to strictly implement this."
Under the arrangement, lawy
