Human rights lawyer recounts detention and ill-treatment by police
Lawyer Zhang Junjie’s account of his and three other human rights lawyers’ illegal detention and ill-treatment at the hands of local authorities in Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang province, since March 21, 2014.
(English translation below Chinese original)
张俊杰律师自述
2014，3月28日凌晨4时
虽腰痛难忍，但想到仍在拘押的三位同仁，夙夜难眠，作为亲历者，深觉有必要尽快把事件的经过全程再现，以让正在前方冰 天雪地里绝食抗争的同仁和公民了解情况。
我是在去往辽宁办案的途中接到唐吉田律师的信息，说他们正在佳木斯办理一个非法拘禁公民的案子，当事人太多，问我能否介入，我当时在 第一时间就答应说没问题，作为维权律师，面对公民被非法拘禁，我没有选择退却的道理。然后，我就在辽宁事暂告一段落后，直接买了沈阳 到佳木斯的车票，虽然因为急着赶时间，我连夜坐了十五个小时的硬座，于第二天（3月20日）上午近十一时抵达佳木斯，仍比约定时间晚 了半天。其时，唐、江、王三位已和当事人家属做好了出发的准备，雇好车在车站等我。我上车后被告知是去一个叫建三江的地方。四个小时的车程，到了建三江，已是下午三点多，草草吃完饭，准备再次出发时，我见到了我的委托人丁忠野，他在饭店签署了制式委托书，并在出门 上车的间隙，边走边简单说了案情：他妻子蒋欣波自去年开始，前后两次在没有任何法律手续的情况下，被非法关押在一个叫青龙山的地方， 持续至今。
我们四位代理人同乘一辆车，在当日下午辗转到了青龙山农场一个貌似公安分局的旁边，江律师告诉我，分局旁边一个没有任何牌子和标识的 院子就是非法拘禁处，也即建三江国保后来所称的那个所谓的“青龙山法制教育基地”，我很诧异，我十几年的执业经历中，从未见过也难以 想象，在离维护一方平安为职责的公安局门口，能长期存在这么一个非法关押公民的所在而未被取缔，且据江律师介绍，他们几位并梁小军、 赵永林律师等，已就此向建三江检察院进行过正式控告，但迟迟没有结果。
我们进到院子门口时，唐吉田律师一眼就认出了正在门内打电话的一中年男子正是该“基地”的负责人，事后知道他叫房跃春，据说还兼着某 分局的副局长。房显然也认出了唐律师，一副凶神恶煞的样子，咬牙切齿对我们的到来横加指责，全不顾我们提出的要求其出具关押公民法律 手续的要求。后来，应该是闻讯赶来的当事者家属有二十来人，全部聚集在院门口，大家义愤填膺，纷纷要求房跃春停止非法拘禁立即放人， 并齐声正告房跃春，非法拘禁是犯罪行为，要求马上放院里公民回家。我因初到，一直在外围向委托人了解情况。这时来了另一中年男子，江律师一见之下，马上认出说是检察院的人，姓周，原因是他们前次在检察院控告时这人就在检察院控告现场。作为法律人，我做出的第一判断 和反应是，检察院人既然到了现场，应当是来解决问题的，便招呼大家静下来，现场要求他解决问题。孰料这人以自己只是检察院临时工管不 了这事儿为借口匆匆离去。这时，已经有家属认出，他其实根本不是检察院的人，临时工一说更是胡扯，他真正的身份是建三江国保大队的警 察，甚至可能是个副队长，名叫于文波。我更是诧异且有些愤 怒：堂堂人民警察，在当事人到国家法律监督机关控告时，冒充检察院工作人员，又在当事人维权现场假借临时工身份，不知意欲何为？当时，我们在现场已近一个小时，时间是下午六点多，与该基地共用一个停车场院 的公安分局警察出出进进，均似熟视无睹，竟无一人对此进行片言关注。多方面反常让我隐隐有些不安，与唐江王等简单议论后，觉得事实已 基本清楚，决定第二天再往检察院，他们催问前次控告办理结果，我就我的当事人委托进行新的控告。后，决定离开。
出门后，我们来时乘坐的车不见了，经联系司机，说被警察追逐和驱赶，不敢再拉我们回去了。好一番口舌，司机终于同意回来载我们，但来时，已被三辆车紧紧咬住，一辆有牌，江律应该曾经发出过其车牌，另外两辆显然刻意遮挡了号牌。就这样，一路围追堵截，我们多次涉险勉 强回到了建三江。吃过饭到检察院附近的格林豪泰酒店开了两间房分别住下，准备第二天的控告。因为坐了太长时间的硬座且奔波大半天，我甚至没来得及准备控告材料和盥洗便倒头睡下。
第二天早7点37分，同居一室的王成律师叫醒我，让我赶紧起草控告材料，好一起前往检察院。我睡眼懵松的进了卫生间正在盥洗，听到外面揪斗声音，没来得及开门，卫生间门已被撞开，多名便装男子和两名身着协警制服男子将我拽出卫生间，要求我拿上行李跟他们走。我一边收拾东西一边要求他们出示身份证件和抗议他们用强，被粗暴拒绝后将我强行劫持到了电梯掐住脖子架到酒店门口塞进一辆白色无警用标识的 车里，稍后王成律师也被抬到我同一辆车里，王律师被抓时一直高呼：我是律师，在办理案件，你们是在绑架。当时围观者甚众。
我们被带到的是一个挂大兴公安分局牌子的办案区，途中和抵达后我和王成律师一直在申明自己的律师身份和执行职务的正当性，均被置之不 理，事实上我也非常清楚，面对我们的都是根本没有执法权的协警，其法律素质决定了他们根本不可能对我们提出的问题做出回应。之后约半 个小时，唐律和江律也被带到。九点多，仍然没有任何人向我们出示证件和说明传唤理由的情况下，我们被要求逐一打开行李接受盘查并拍照 摄像，手机当然是在车上已被强行收缴，以至于我们只能一再抗议而不能向外界发出任何求救信息和向110报警。
十点左右，我的询问开始，厄运也同时降临。一个协警煞有介事横眉竖目呵斥我时，我再次要求他和坐在旁边的一个中年男子出示证件。该男 子说，要证件是吧，我点头同时，他示意协警说，去，把于文波叫过来。于文波进来问，你要证件是吧，我说是，他说，走，上楼给你看。然 后我就被他们一前一后挟持着出了询问室上到二楼一间会议室。于文波装模作样找他证件给我看时，后面的男子（可能姓李，不确定）已经关 上了门。我猝不及防之下，已被于文波连续扇了七八个耳光。刚回过神看见他拿大半瓶矿泉水往我头上猛击。我情急之下竭力大呼：警察打人了，国保打人了，于文波打人了。这时后面的男子也动了手，两个人把我踹到地上暴打至少三分钟，拳脚交加之下，我只能护住头部并继续大 喊，直到其他人闻讯过来，我已经坐不起来，稍微一动，腰部便疼痛难忍，心知腰已被打坏，当时甚至已经没有力气抬头看进来的他们自称所 谓懂法的人，也知道他不可能真正为我主持公道，他当然也没让我失望，不咸不淡的说了几句起身走了。悲愤难忍的我，当时说了一句有生以 来的狠话，我说，于文波，你有种弄死我，否则我第一不会跟你合作，一个字笔录你别想做，第二我死不了出去一定告你们，不死不休。 没想 到竟招致他满不在乎的恐吓，说你等着吧，马上刑拘你，一会儿枪毙你等等等等。之后派了个姓马的协警进来看着我置之不理了。中午饭时我 要求吃饭答说都没吃你还想吃？晚饭我要求吃饭答说没准备你的饭。一直到次日（22日）凌晨近一点，来了一个姓姚的，指示说让给我一个泡面，但一天水米未进且腰痛难忍的我已根本吃不下去了。软硬兼施之下，再加上我难忍疼痛已实在无力坚持，无奈妥协同意去做笔录，但言明不会说任何违心和违反事实的话，更不会迎合他们。
下到一楼询问室时，已近两点半，看桌上未来得及收取的笔录纸有江天勇、唐吉田字样判断，另三位律师应该已经都做过笔录，经过我多次对 其拟定的稿子进行修改，并招致多次威胁呵斥后，最终签字，时间是早晨五点整。
九点左右，我们被蒙着头分别带到车上，一路颠簸，我觉查到目的地是医院时，对被拘留的结果已心知肚明。被蒙着头跑过两家医院最终完成体检后，我们被分头带上不同的车。我所在的车上除司机外，就是打我的两个人，他们在车上接了个电话，对方大概问他们分别拘多长时间， 其间说到我是有证的而且第一次来，拘五天，使我判断出另三位应该都比我长，但确凿证实唐江是十五天是在看到行政处罚手续后。不到十点半到的看守所，因为拘留手续没办好，我们被迫在拘留所枯等到下午两点才正式被送到拘留室。中间我多次索要我的律师证（行李和身份证都已分别发还），一直未果。
值得一提的是，要求签字的行政处罚告知书上，涉嫌违法的地方竟赫然写着“赌博”，文号竟然是沪公**号，（后来又找我补签）可见草率到了何种程度，不知另几位律师是否注意到了这些细节。
客观讲，入拘所后，至少我本人倒没再遭受殴打。但几乎是每天一次提审，问的事实竟然还都是原来笔录里有的，也许我多次索要律师证吧， 有多人轮番上阵就吊销我律证和可能刑拘相威胁，因为多次被要求说出策划者和现场组织者，我有强烈不详预感，坚持说我是被问到愿不愿意代理非法拘禁案时自愿来的，我是成年人而且是律师，我自负其责。事实也确实是这样！！！！！
26日晚，建三江国保大队队长刘长河偕同于文波再次到拘留所，问我，准备怎么走？需不需要公安护送，我明确说，不用，我助理会租车来 接我。事后知道我助理曾被要求写个要求公安护送的申请，因为我一贯严厉，也算对他们训练有素，他以没经过我同意不敢写婉拒。但凌晨三点五十，我仍被叫醒，简单办完手续和清点物品（这时我的律师证神奇的回到了我锁好密码的拉杆箱）后，被要求坐进一辆停好的民用牌照越 野车，意欲接上我助理直接送往佳木斯，我坚持要求先到酒店洗澡换衣服再离开。出酒店我们在一个叫三江米都大厦的地方换了一辆车，接了一个据说是志愿陪同送我一程的当地王姓律师一行六人（我和我一位助理）赶往佳木斯机场。在机场我要求刘长河队长一起合影留念并由当地接应的特警招待吃饭后，直接送进安检口登机。
临行，我就被暴力殴打一事与于文波进行了严正对话，他以表示遗憾（不是抱歉）为由搪塞并离开，刘大队长正面回应并表示了歉意。最后， 感谢各位同仁和公民朋友的声援和守望。正在前方绝食抗争的张磊兄微博可以作为我想说的话的结语，就是那篇《律师互救的意义》，具体内 容请关注新浪@青石律师，他会告诉每一个同道，你，不孤单！！！[流泪][流泪][流泪]身体有疾，加上近几日来悲愤难抑，我的回忆恐必有疏漏，容后补充吧。
Zhang Junjie’s account
Translation by Joshua Rosenzweig
Source:
http://www.siweiluozi.net/2014/03/zhang-junjies-account-part-one.html
http://www.siweiluozi.net/2014/03/zhang-junjies-account-part-two.html
http://www.siweiluozi.net/2014/03/zhang-junjies-account-part-three.html
Though the pain in my lower back is unbearable, I haven’t been able to sleep a wink while thinking of my three colleagues still in the detention house. As someone who experienced this first-hand, I feel a deep sense of obligation to recount the full course of events as quickly as possible in order to help those hunger-striking colleagues and citizens on the frigid frontlines understand the situation.
I was on my way to Liaoning to handle a case when I got a message from lawyer Tang Jitian saying that they were in Jiamusi handling a case of citizens who were being detained illegally. He said there were too many detainees and asked whether I could get involved in the case. I immediately replied that it was no problem. As a rights-defense lawyer, I have no choice to hang back when citizens are being illegally detained. So, having temporarily settled the matter in Liaoning, I went and bought a train ticket from Shenyang to Jiamusi. The matter was urgent, but I could only take the 15-hour hard-seat overnight train.
I arrived at about 11 a.m. the next day (20 March), a half-day later than I’d said I would. Tang, Jiang [Tianyong], Wang [Cheng], and the detainees relatives had already made preparations to head out, and they were waiting for me at the train station with hired cars. Once I got in the car, I was told we were going to a place called Jiansanjiang.
We drove for four hours, arriving at Jiansanjiang after 3 p.m. After a quick meal, we prepared to head out again. I met with my client, Ding Zhongye, who signed a standard power-of-attorney form at the restaurant, and as we were walking to the car he briefly told me the details of the case. Since the beginning of last year, his wife, Jiang Xinbo, had twice been illegally locked up without any due legal process at a place called Qinglongshan, where she remained today.
We four lawyers went together in a single vehicle. After passing through many places, we arrived in Qinglongshan State Farm. Jiang Tianyong told me that the courtyard located next to the branch public security bureau—the one with no sign or other indication of its identity—was the illegal place of detention. Later, the Jiansanjiang domestic security police called it the “Qinglongshan Legal Education Base.” I was surprised: in more than 10 years of practice, I’d never seen and could not believe that a place for illegally detaining citizens could exist for such a long time just outside the gate of the public security bureau responsible for keeping the peace without it being shut down. According to Jiang, he, Liang Xiaojun, and Zhao Yonglin had already filed a formal complaint about this place with the Jiansanjiang Procuratorate, but there had never been any result.
As we entered the courtyard gate, Tang Jitian recognized that a middle-aged man making a phone call just inside was the person in charge of the “base.” Later, we learned his name was Fang Yuechun and he also served as a deputy chief of some PSB branch. Fang obviously recognized Tang Jitian as well, because he started yelling at us angrily, paying no attention to our demands that he produce the legal documentation used to detain our clients. Later, around 20 relatives of detainees gathered at the gate, probably having heard of our arrival. Everyone was filled with righteous indignation and kept demanding that Fang stop detaining people illegally and release those inside. We warned Fang that illegal detention was a criminal offense and demanded that he let everyone inside return home.
Since this was my first time here, I was busy on the outside getting more details from the relatives. Then another middle-aged man arrived, whom Jiang Tianyong recognized immediately as someone surnamed Zhou from the procuratorate who had been there when they filed their previous complaint. As a legal practitioner, my first thought was that if someone from the procuratorate had arrived, he was there to resolve the matter. So I told everyone to quiet down and asked him to resolve the issue. I never expected that this guy would respond by saying that he couldn’t get involved because he was only a temporary employee at the procuratorate. Then, he quickly turned and left. By then, detainee relatives had already recognized him and said that he wasn’t from the procuratorate after all and was lying about being a temporary employee. Actually, he was a domestic security police officer—a deputy captain, no less—named Yu Wenbo.
I was again surprised and more than a bit angry. How could a bona fide officer of the people’s police pose as a procurator when a complaint is made with the state monitoring organ and pretend to be a temporary employee when people go to the scene to defend their rights? What was he trying to do?
We had been at the site for almost an hour, and it was already past 6 p.m. The police officers who came and went from the shared parking lot next door acted as if they saw nothing, and no one came over to express a word of concern. So many things were out of the ordinary here that I began to have a sense of unease. After a brief discussion with Tang, Jiang, and Wang, we decided that the facts were basically clear and that we’d go to the procuratorate the next day to press them for a response to the earlier complaint and make a new complaint on behalf of my client. So, we decided to leave.
As we left, we discovered that the car we’d come in had disappeared. When we made contact with the driver, he told us that the police had chased him out of town and he didn’t dare take us back. After a long back-and-forth, the driver finally agreed to come back to pick us up. But when he returned, he was being closely followed by three vehicles. One of them had plates, which Jiang Tianyong probably already reported. The other two vehicles had clearly covered up their license plates. We returned to Jiansanjiang, ate dinner, and took two rooms at a hotel next door to the procuratorate, where we prepared to file a complaint the next day. Because I’d spent so much time in hard-seat and then ran around all day, I fell asleep before even preparing my complaint documents.
Wang Cheng woke me the next day at 7:37 a.m. and told me to hurry up and prepare my complaint so that we could all go to the procuratorate together. I went groggily into the bathroom to start washing up, when I heard sounds of a tussle outside. Before I could open the bathroom door, it burst open and several men in plain clothes and two men wearing para-police uniforms dragged me out of the bathroom and told me to grab my bag and go with them. As I got my things together, I demanded that they show me their identification and protested their use of force. After they rudely refused, they forced me into an elevator and, grabbing me by the neck, shoved me into a white vehicle with no police markings. Shortly thereafter, Wang Cheng was also brought into the same vehicle as me. He was shouting: “I’m a lawyer! I’m handling a case! You’re kidnapping me!” At the time, there were a number of onlookers.
We were taken to an office block with a sign designating it as Daxing Branch PSB. The whole way, Wang Cheng and I were explaining that we were lawyers engaged in proper professional activities, but we were both ignored. In truth, it was very clear to me that we were faced with para-police officers with no law-enforcement powers, and their lack of legal understanding meant that they were in no position to respond to our questions. About a half-hour later, Tang Jitian and Jiang Tianyong were brought in as well. Past 9 a.m., still no one had shown us any identification or explained why we had been summoned, but we were ordered one-by-one to open up our bags for a search and photograph and video. Our mobile phones had of course already been snatched from us in the car, which meant that we could only protest and had no way to call for help to the outside or call the 110 police hotline.
At about 10 a.m., my questioning commenced and my misfortunes began. As a para-police officer made a big show of giving me fierce looks and berating me, I again demanded that he and the middle-aged man sitting next to him show me their identification. The man said, “You want identification, do you?” I nodded, and he instructed the para-police officer, “Go get Yu Wenbo.” Yu Wenbo came in and asked, “You want identification?” I said, “Yes.” He then said, “Let’s go! I’ll show you identification upstairs.” Then, flanked by the two of them, I was taken from the interrogation room upstairs to a meeting room on the second floor.
As Yu made a show of looking for his identification, the guy behind me (maybe surnamed Li, I’m not sure) closed the door. Before I had a chance to react, Yu smacked me around the head seven or eight times. The next thing I knew, he was hitting me in the head with a big half-full bottle of spring water. Desperate, I shouted: “I’m being beaten by a police! I’m being beaten by a guobao! I’m being beaten by Yu Wenbo!” Then the man behind me got in the action. The two of them knocked me down and kicked and beat me for at least three minutes. Under their blows, I could only protect my head and keep shouting. By the time someone heard and came in, I couldn’t sit up and the slightest movement caused unbearable pain in my lower back.
I knew that my back was injured, and at the time I didn’t even have the strength to lift my head to look at the guy who came in—the guy they said understood the law. I knew that he couldn’t really do the right thing on my behalf, and in this sense he did not disappoint. He merely said a few words and left. Unable to contain my fury, I spoke the most severe words of my life, saying: “Yu Wenbo, you better kill me if you have the balls. Otherwise, I won’t cooperate and you can forget about a statement. Then, if I’m not dead, I’ll press charges against you until my dying day!”
He seemed unperturbed by this threat and said, “Just wait. In a moment, we’ll put you under criminal detention, then you’ll be shot.” Etc., etc. Then, he called in a para-police officer surnamed Ma to watch me and left me there.
At noon, I asked to eat lunch and was told: “None of us have eaten and you expect to eat?” In the evening, I asked to eat dinner and was told: “We haven’t prepared anything for you.” Up until nearly 1 a.m. the next day (22 March), someone surnamed Yao came to say I could have a bowl of instant noodles, but in severe pain and having not had anything to eat or drink all day, I had no appetite.
Faced with hard and soft pressure, plus the fact that I was in unbearable pain, I reluctantly agreed to go submit to questioning. But I clearly told them that I would not sign any statement that violated my conscience or ran contrary to the facts, and I would not cater to their needs.
As I went downstairs to the first-floor interrogation room, it was nearly 2:30 a.m. I saw documents on the table with the names Jiang Tianyong and Tang Jitian on them and inferred that the three other lawyers had already signed statements. After making several changes to the statement that they had prepared—and enduring threats and recrimination—I finally signed my name. It was 5 a.m. exactly.
At around 9 a.m., we were hooded and each taken into a vehicle. After a bumpy ride, when I realized our destination was a hospital it was clear to me that we were going to be detained. After receiving medical checks—hooded—at two hospitals, we were separated and placed in different vehicles. In my vehicle, besides the driver, there were the two men who had beaten me. On the way, they received a telephone call. The other party asked how long each of us were detained for. They said since I had documentation and this was my first time, I’d be detained for five days, which led me to conclude that the other three would be in for longer. But the first real proof that Tang and Jiang had been detained for 15 days came only after we saw the detention documentation.
Since the paperwork was not yet finished when we arrived at the detention center just before 10:30, we were forced to sit there until 2 p.m. before we could be taken into the cell. In the meantime, I demanded my lawyer license several times (my bag and ID card had already been returned to me), to no avail.
It’s worth noting that, on the detention notice they had me sign, they had written “gambling” in the space for the illegal activity and the document number read “Shanghai PSB No. **” (Later, they had me sign another.) You can see what a rush they’d been in. I don’t know whether the other lawyers noticed this.
Speaking objectively, I at least was not beaten after entering the detention center. But I was taken for questioning nearly every day, and they kept asking questions about things that were already in the statement. Maybe it was because I kept asking for my lawyer license, but, one after another, people kept threatening me with suspension of my license and criminal detention. Because they kept asking me who the plotters and organizers were, I had a strong sense of foreboding. I insisted that I had been asked whether I would take on a case of illegal detention and that I came voluntarily. I’m an adult and a lawyer. Those are the facts!!
On the evening of the 26th, Jiansanjiang Domestic Security Police Unit Captain Liu Changhe came with Yu Wenbo to the detention center. They asked me: “How do you plan to go from here? Do you need a police escort?” I told them clearly that I didn’t. Later, I learned that my assistant had been requested to submit an application asking for police escort. Since I’d always been stern and he was wise to them, he politely refused saying that he did not dare make such a request without my approval.
But at 3:50 a.m., I was awoken and, after completing the release formalities and itemizing my possessions (at this moment, my lawyer license miraculously reappeared inside my locked suitcase), I was told to get in a waiting SUV with civilian license plates. The idea was that we’d pick up my assistant along the way and go directly to Jiamusi. But I insisted on first going to the hotel to shower and change my clothes.
After showering, we changed vehicles and were met by a local lawyer surnamed Wang who it was said had volunteered to escort me. Altogether, the six of us proceeded to Jiamusi airport. At the airport, I requested a souvenir photo with Captain Liu Changhe and ate a meal with the special-unit police officers there to take care of me. Then, they escorted me through the security check and onto the plane.
On the way, I had a stern discussion with Yu Wenbo about the violent beating. He perfunctorily expressed regret (but did not apologize) and left. Captain Liu gave a more positive response and made an apology.
Finally, thanks to colleagues and citizen friends for their support and for watching over us. The weibo from Zhang Lei, one of the hunger-striking lawyers on the front lines, can serve as a fitting conclusion to what I want to say. That is the post entitled “The Importance of Lawyers Rescuing Each Other.” For the actual details, please follow @青石律师 on Weibo, he’ll tell you all: You are not alone!! (tears)(tears)
Because of my physical injuries and the fact that I’ve been furious for the past few days, there might be some lapses in my memory. Please allow me to fill in the details later.