Yitong Law Firm (忆通) is a
law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...
in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
engaged in defense of
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
. Its clients include
Hu Jia and
Chen Guangcheng. In February 2009 Chinese authorities announced that the firm would be shut down for six months, ostensibly because an unlicensed lawyer was practicing there.
The accused lawyer, Li Subin, was a former deputy director of the firm who had been denied the chance to renew his professional license by the provincial authorities in
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
after he had successfully sued the Henan judicial bureau for overcharging.
[{{cite web , date=25 February 2009 , access-date=11 March 2009 , last=Ford , first=Peter , url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0225/p01s01-woap.html , title=China cracks down on human rights lawyers , work= Christian Science Monitor] The managing partner of the firm, Li Jinsong, denied that Li Subin had engaged in the practice of law claiming he was only engaged in administrative duties and charged that the government authorities "are distorting facts ... to get revenge" for the way the firm's lawyers have criticized or defied government agencies.
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See also
* Human rights in the People's Republic of China
* Weiquan movement
References
Further reading
* Peter Foster (March 19, 2009)
"China shuts down activist law firm."''The Telegraph''
Accessed November 2011.
External links
* Human Rights In China
* Chinese Human Rights Defenders
* Christian Chinese Human Rights Advocates
* Li Subin biography
* Interview with Li Subin
* Christian Science Monitor article regarding law firm intimidation
Law firms of China