Chinese rights lawyers and activists say the promotion on Monday of former police official Fu Zhenghua (傅政華) to head the Chinese Ministry of Justice signals an even deeper freeze on attempts to use the country’s legal system to defend against rights abuses.
China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting rubber-stamped the appointment of Fu, previously a deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security, to take charge of the department in charge of maintaining and improving China’s legal system.
Fu was preceded by Zhang Jun (張軍), who is now head of the state prosecutor and courts.
Long seen as a rising star in law enforcement, Fu led a number of high-profile investigations and crackdowns, including the probe into former security czar Zhou Yongkang (周永康), who was found guilty of corruption.
Since 2015, he headed an office dedicated to the suppression of what the Chinese Communist Party calls “evil cults,” including the banned Falun Gong movement.
Fu’s self-described “heavy fist” approach to law enforcement has won him plaudits from Chinese state media, which has previously said his campaigns helped clean up Chinese society and tackle graft.
However, rights groups have called for the US to target Fu with sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the US government to freeze the assets of those responsible for gross human rights violations.
A coalition of 23 groups coordinated by Washington-based Human Rights First asked the US to impose sanctions against Fu and two other police officers for their role in overseeing the detention of activist Cao Shunli (曹順利), who died in custody in 2014.
“Fu Zhenghua has presided over a number of serious human rights violations throughout his career,” said Frances Eve, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “Fu’s appointment is a sign that the [Chinese President] Xi Jinping (習近平) regime is not going to back down on its suppression of human rights.”
Neither China’s justice or public security ministries responded to faxed requests for comment about activists’ concerns and complaints over Fu’s appointment.
China regularly rejects foreign criticism of its human rights record, saying that its people are best placed to judge the rights situation in China and that the country is governed by law.
The US imposed sanctions on one officer, Gao Yan (高岩), in December last year.
Gao was in charge at Chaoyang Detention Center in Beijing where Cao was held and questioned prior to her death in hospital under police custody in March 2014.
Rights groups say that Cao was tortured and denied medical care.
China said that the US should not be a “human rights judge,” after the sanctions against Gao were announced.
Xi has overseen clampdown on all forms of dissent in Chinese society, which has seen hundreds of rights lawyers and activists detained and dozens jailed.
The announcement last month that China would scrap presidential term limits, which was approved by the NPC last week, was met with despair by many of China’s rights activists who were holding out hope that the tightening was temporary.
Rights groups say that the justice ministry has increasingly disbarred lawyers who challenged official abuses of power, after rules for law firms and lawyers were revised in 2016 to require greater political loyalty.
At least six lawyers have been disbarred in the past six months, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a practice that was previously less common. Reuters has confirmed four of the disbarments.
The Chinese government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disbarments.
Dozens of people, including rights lawyers and their family members and supporters, took to social media after Fu’s promotion was announced to make sarcastic comments about his new role being a boon for the rule of law in China.
Fu’s moving from law enforcement to being in charge of legal affairs at least means he would no longer be in charge of arrests, only disbarments, Wang Qiaoling (王峭嶺), the wife of prominent rights lawyer Li Heping (李和平), joked on the messaging platform WeChat.
“He has in the past arrested my husband, made him disappear, tortured him... Now he can only revoke or cancel his license and invite him for talks,” she said.
Li last year was handed a three year suspended jail sentence for subversion.
The government declined to comment about the sarcastic reaction Fu’s promotion has triggered.
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