Court File No. 04-CV-78915CM2

Ontario

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

B E T W E E N :

KUNLUN ZHANG, SHENLI LIN, LIZHI HE,

TIANQI LI, CHANGZHEN SUN and NA GAN

Plaintiffs

- and -

JIANG ZEMIN, LI LANQING, LUO GAN, LIU JING and WANG MAOLIN

Defendants

AFFIDAVIT OF GUOTING GUO (aka THOMAS G. GUO)

I, Guoting GUO, of the City of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, hereby AFFIRM AND SAY:

MY EXPERIENCE

1. I am a native and citizen of China, and was a senior lawyer practicing in China and have knowledge of the matters about which I herein depose.
2. I am 49 years old.
3. I obtained an LL.B. degree in 1984 from Jilin University Law Department, majoring in International Law.
4. Beginning in 1984 I practiced at all levels of the Chinese court system, from the District Courts to the Supreme Court, until March of 2005, when my licence to practice law was suspended by the Justice Bureau of Shanghai.
5. Before the revocation of my licence to practice law, I had been a Chinese lawyer for twenty-one years.
6. I was named by the international publication, Legal 500 (2001-2002), as the number one maritime lawyer in China.
7. I was a commercial lawyer for eighteen years and maritime law was my specialty.
8. For the last two years of my practice in China, although I continued to take maritime law cases, I specialised in criminal law as it pertained to human rights.
9. I have served as a law professor at Wuhan University since January 2003 and at the Shanghai Maritime University since September 2000.
10. I was invited and served as a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York in September 2005, and as an Associate at the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C. Canada in April, 2007.
11. I have been and am an arbitrator on the panels of both the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (2005 to 2008) and the China Maritime Arbitration Commission (1999 to 2008).
12. I have translated the following English textbooks into Chinese and my translations are used as textbooks in Chinese universities:
1. The Art of Judgment ;
2. Morden Bills of Lading;
3. Sasoon on CIF & FOB Contracts(4^th ed);
4. Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading(20^th ed);
5. O'May on Marine Insurance Law and Policy;
6. The Institute Clauses(3^rd ed)
13. In addition, I am the author and co-author of the following textbooks:
1. International Economic and Trade - Law and Practice: 1994, Politics and Law University Press, Beijing;
2. Law and Lawyer's Practice in International Maritime Trade: 1996, Dalian Maritime University Press, Dalian;
3. Study of Current China Foreign Economic and Trade Cases: 1995, Politics and Law University Press, Beijing
14. I have also published approximately 60 major articles on Chinese law in professional legal journals. Attached to this Affidavit as Exhibit A is a Partial List of Publications, Legal Essays, Case Studies and Comments that I have written.
15. I have published more than three hundred essays on the Internet about the political and legal system of China on the Internet.
16. I lived my entire life in China until coming to Canada on 20 May, 2005.
17. I am not now and have never been a Falun Gong practitioner.
18. I acted as a human rights lawyer since 2003, and as legal counsel and defence lawyer for six Falun Gong practitioners, including Qu Yanlai and Chen Guanghui, from July 2004 until my licence was suspended by the Shanghai Justice Bureau on February 23, 2005. After the suspension, I was placed under house arrest and could not continue to act for my clients.
19. Both the suspension of my licence to practice law and my house arrest occurred solely because of my insistence on providing legal representation to political dissidents especially as the defence lawyer of Qu Yanlai and Chen Guanghui and the other Falun Gong practitioners. Since February 2003 I have published six essays criticizing the policy of the Communist Party of China (“CCP”) for its persecution of Falun Gong. After applying to the prison four times to meet with my clients, and after being declined all such times, I published an essay on the internet entitled (translation) “Chinese Lawyers are Useless” on February 9, 2005, a traditional holiday in China. On February 23, 2005, my licence to practice law was suspended by the CCP.

PERSECUTION OF OTHER CHINESE LAWYERS BY THE CCP AND GOVERNMENT FOR DEFENDING FALUN GONG AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS CASES

20. Unless otherwise expressly stated, my information as set out in this section of my Affidavit is derived from my direct experience, correspondence and telephone calls with the lawyers involved and persons close to them, as well as secondary confirmation from internet news, and I believe this information to be true.
21. All Chinese lawyers who provide legal representation to Falun Gong practitioners encounter great pressure from the Chinese government, in the form of the Justice Bureau, and risk losing their licence to practice. I was the first lawyer to defend a Falun Gong practitioner in China and the first Chinese lawyer to lose his law license, in February 2005.
22. In December, 2005 prominent Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng's (“Gao”) law licence was suspended and his law firm shut down in retaliation for his writing three open letters to the National People’s Congress and Chinese President Hu Jintao, in defence of Falun Gong. His cell phone and home telephone were tapped. Police have placed him and his family under strict surveillance and repeatedly threatened them. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in December 2006. I am informed by information on several internet websites as to a conversation between Gao and Hu Jia and believe that Gao was also tortured by officials of the CCP. However, under heavy international pressure, he was released from prison and placed under house arrest.
23. Other lawyers who have defended Falun Gong have met with serious repercussions. In January 2006, Shangdong lawyer Liu Ruping was sent into labour camps for his defence of the Falun Gong and publishing an article appealing for the cessation of persecution of Falun Gong. In March 2007, Guangdong Lawyer Zhu Yibiao was sent into labour camps for two years for his defence of Falun Gong.
24. At least six Chinese Human Rights lawyers have recently been systematically harassed by the Chinese government and two (Lawyer Liu Luping and Lawyer Zu Yibiao) have been arrested and sent to a labour camp for persisting with the filing of lawsuits on behalf of Falun Gong victims. Lawyers Yang Zaixing and Zhang Jiankang were both fired from their law firms for persisting to represent Falun Gong practitioners.
25. Chinese lawyers who have taken on other human rights cases (other than in respect of Falun Gong), in defiance of the directives of the Chinese government and the CCP to either refuse such cases or to abandon them, have suffered experiences similar to mine.
1. Zheng Enchong, a Shanghai lawyer, brought suit against the Shanghai Municipal Government on behalf of 500 homeowners who were victims of unfair or uncompensated expropriation. The Justice Bureau refused registration of his law licence for two years. Then police placed his home under surveillance and tapped his telephone, made a forced search of his home, and arrested him on June 6^th, 2003. He had faxed two articles to the publication, Human Rights in China, and for this was charged with "illegally providing state secrets to foreigners" and sentenced to three years imprisonment in October, 2003.
2. Pu Zhiqiang, a well-known Beijing human rights lawyer, was black -listed, threatened, and subjected to telephone taps after he became my lawyer and brought suit against the Shanghai Justice Bureau on my behalf.
3. Li Boguang, a Beijing lawyer, was arrested on the charge of "gathering many persons to disturb social order", in December of 2004, after representing 10,000 peasants of Fuan, Fujian Province in a legal action to maintain their land rights; after eight months of detention, he was released on bail.
4. Zhu Jiuhu, a Beijing lawyer, was arrested for "illegally holding a meeting" and "gathering many persons to disturb social order" on May 26^th,2005. He was representing 170,000 oilfield owners in bringing suit against the local government of Yilin, Shangxi Province; after four months in detention, he was released on bail on September 26^th, 2005.
5. Guo Feixiong, a prominent Human Rights activist, was arrested on the charge of "gathering many persons to disturb social order" on September 13^th, 2005. He was representing peasants in Tai Shi Village, Guangdong Province and assisting them to maintain their rights; he was on a hunger strike in jail for twenty days and after release he was beaten by plainclothes policemen on February 3, 2006, provoking a rolling hunger strike around the world. Finally he was arrested again in February 2007 on the charge of "illegal publishing". While in detention, he was tortured by police with an iron to burn his face and penis. See: http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2007/05/200705290718.shtml
6. Tang Jiling, a Guangdong Lawyer, had his practice suspended in March 2007 for his defence of “sensitive” cases, which includes any case that challenges the CCP or Chinese Government.
7. Guo Yen, a Guangdong Lawyer, had her practice suspended in March 2007, for her defence of sensitive cases.
26. Because I was the first human rights lawyer to lose his law license in China as a result of defence of Falun Gong practitioners, I have kept myself intimately informed about the situation with Chinese human rights lawyers and I am trying to set up a Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Foundation to help my colleagues still residing in China.

PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG

27. My own clients, Qu Yanlai, Chen Guanhui, Lei Jiangtao, Wu Aizhong, Zhang Hui, and Huang Xiong, were all graduates from universities and were also Falun Gong practitioners. All the accusations against them concerned: editing articles about Falun Gong on the internet; making copies of the articles; delivering those articles; or simply going to Tian Anmen Square in Beijing to state publicly that "Falun Dafa is good" (Falun Dafa is another name for Falun Gong). All of them were sentenced to between three and eight years imprisonment. I, as their defence lawyer, was prevented from meeting my clients by the 610 office (the office established by the then president of China, Jiang Zemin to oversee the campaign of persecution against Falun Gong, named for the date on which it was established – June 10, 1999). This is in violation of a Chinese law that stipulates that defence lawyers have the right to meet criminal clients within 48 hours after application.
28. I am informed by an internet source http://library .minghui.org/category/32,96,1.htm and believe that at least 3031 Falun Gong practitioners are proven to have been tortured by police and prison guards while in custody and to have died. Based on my knowledge as a lawyer in China, and my knowledge gained through researching and representing Falun Gong, I believe that these numbers are far below the actual death toll.
29. The actual number of Falun Gong practitioners who have died as a result of torture by the CCP and the Government is likely much higher, likely several thousand. Based on my experience as a lawyer in China, I also believe that many thousands are currently held in prisons and slave labour camps where they are subjected to torture.
30. I am informed by the investigation report by David Matas and David Kilgour dated July 6, 2006 (amended January 31, 2007) and believe that there is evidence that thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have had their organs harvested while still alive, against their will, and died as a result of these "surgical procedures". I wrote about this in an article in English entitled “Why is the CCP harvesting Falun Gong Practitioners’ organs? It can be found at http://boxun.com/hero/2006/guoguoting/52_1.shtml.
31. I have no doubt whatsoever, based on my experience as a senior lawyer in China and a citizen of China, that any person in China who is known by the authorities to be a Falun Gong practitioner must anticipate arrest, incarceration, torture, and the very real possibility that he will be murdered in custody.
32. I am informed by my client Qu Yanlai’s mother and four visits I made to the jail and believe that at midnight on September 30, 2002, Qu Yanlai was kidnapped by the Shanghai local police. He was officially detained on October 2, 2002 and formally arrested on November 2, 2002. A Putuo Court hearing was held on June 2, 2003, and on the same day, the Court found Qu guilty of "using a cult organization to damage the execution of the law" and sentenced him to five years imprisonment. From the time he was first detained, Qu Yanlai was subjected to physical and mental torture. He undertook a hunger strike for 780 days during his incarceration. He was tortured to the brink of death four times and had to be treated in hospital for four months. After I was suspended to practice, he undertaken hunger strike again up to date, and he is tortured to the brink of death in April, 2007, his sister visit him in hospital and was kidnapped ! see http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200704/61972.html
33. My client Chen Guanhui was tortured and beaten to death, becoming a "vegetable" for his last two years, but the authorities still refused his application for bail before and during this time in order to receive treatment. He was refused the right to have his lawyer or anyone else visit him in hospital, and there were eight secret policemen watching him 24 hours per day. Finally he died in February 2007.
34. I wrote an article about Qu Yanlai which appeared on the internet on February 9,2005 (see http://www.boxun.com/hero/guoguoting/65_1.shtml). A couple of days after it was published, while I was preparing my defence of my other clients Mr. Zhang Ling and Mr. Shi Tao (their hearing was to be in seven days), officials from the Justice Bureau came into my office and removed my computer and all my legal files concerning human rights cases. My licence to practice law was then revoked and thirty Shanghai police officers surrounded my home. My telephone was cut off and I remained under house arrest until I left China on May 20, 2005. I did not want to leave my home, but felt I had no choice.
35. I have studied the systematic campaign against Falun Gong in the Chinese media ever since 1999, and I am intimately acquainted with the details of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
36. The Chinese Government has decreed that when any Falun Gong member dies during interrogation, there is to be no punishment for the interrogators.
37. All lawyers throughout China have been strictly forbidden to represent any Falun Gong practitioners as plaintiffs in litigation seeking redress for their unlawful incarceration and torture.
38. “Courts" in China are controlled by the CCP, which also makes and enforces law.
39. The persecution of Falun Gong adherents is conducted by an extra-legal entity known as the "610 Office".This organization has no legal basis or legitimacy. It completely usurps the powers of the Chinese "courts" without any constitutional authority whatsoever for so doing. The 610 office is a tool of the CCP.
40. The CCP has also issued a directive to all the "courts" in China stipulating that in all matters relating to Falun Gong, they are to take their instructions from the 610 Office, and that they are forbidden to accept any lawsuits filed by Falun Gong practitioners.
41. Lawyers who have ignored these directives and have persisted in their attempts to file lawsuits against the government or individual persecutors on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners, on constitutional grounds, have been bluntly informed by the Chinese "courts" that the "court" will not accept such cases.

All China Lawyers Association (ACLA)

42. ACLA and its local affiliated lawyers associations are all completely controlled by the Ministry of Justice (or Justice Bureau), which is controlled by the CCP.
43. According to articles 2, 5, 34, and 37 of the charter of All China Lawyers Association, the ACLA is a legal society with the purposes of self-regulation and discipline of all of China's lawyers; all lawyers who have a law license are members of ACLA and have the duty to pay the annual member's fee (failure to pay results in removal of the law licence). But ACLA is not a legal society in any way similar to the law societies and bar associations in Canada and the western world.
44. Article 11 of the 2005 Report on Policies for the Development of China's Legal Profession states (translation): “Instigate an education campaign among lawyers who are Chinese communist party members (hereinafter referred to as CCP lawyers), to ensure their advanced nature as CCP members.” This education campaign is part of the supervision of lawyers by the CCP as a means of exerting the CCP’s political power. This can be found at http://www.legalinfo.gov.cn/moj/lsgzgzzds/2005-05/31/content_193770.htm.
45. Justice Minister of China Wu Aiying spoke at a lawyers’ profession-building conference on March 16, 2006. She stated (translation): “First, truly and solidly enhance the education work, keep the ranks of law practitioners moving in the right direction. Constantly keep law practitioners studying political theories, conscientiously study Deng Xiaoping’s theory as well as the important thought of “Three Representatives Theory” (of Jiang Zemin) ….Solidly build up their firm faith in walking the path of Chinese-style socialism under the guidance of the Chinese Communist Party. Under no circumstances and at no time, is it acceptable to have any doubts, hesitation and wavering in lawyers’ mind about this ideal and faith. Adhere to and uphold the leadership of the CCP, and strictly keep in line with the Central Party Committee led by Secretary General Hu Jintao …. [We] shall remind the CCP lawyer not to forget that he is not only a lawyer, but more importantly he is a Party member. Lawyers should … take the lead in carrying out the Party’s policy and directives in the legal profession.”
46. Chinese Justice Minister Wu Aiying said, in her speech at the symposium to mark the 20^th Anniversary of the All-China Lawyers Association (translation): “With attention and care of the Party-state, the All-China Lawyers Association will conscientiously follow and carry out the Party’s policy and directives. The Lawyers Association is increasingly exerting the function of bridge and teacher between the Party/Government and lawyers….. [You] should … unify the thinking of the vast numbers of lawyers to meet the Central Party Committee’ s major strategic decisions …, to meet the important instructions and the important spirit of speeches given by general secretary, Hu Jintao and other comrade leaders of the Party Central Committee.”
47. Chinese Vice Minister of Justice Zhao Dacheng stated, in his speech at the 2^nd council meeting of the 6^th conference of the All-China Lawyers Association (translation): “Lawyers Associations must attach great importance to the overall interests … of the Party and state, and carry out the strategic decision and implement the plan made by the Party Branch in the ministry.…Lawyers [are] to take correct direction in their professional work … from the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership….[We] must continuously strengthen the Party’s operation in the lawyers’ profession…”
48. The CCP exerts ultimate control over ACLA at the national, provincial and city levels. In terms of the latter, as an example, in the Charter of Lian Yun Gang Lawyer Association, Chapter 8, it states through a number of Articles that the CCP has overall control of the lawyer’s association. The Shenzhen Municipal Lawyers Association charter states that its functions include to promote and implement the Party’s policy and to carry out assignments from higher-level Party Committees; to study and set down a Party-building plan and political work plan (see http://www.szlawyers.com/ShowDetail.asp?ArticleId=2284).
49. The CCP set up its party committees in all local lawyers Associations to control them. Especially in all so-called sensitive political and Falun Gong cases, ACLA governs its members to pressure or force them to remain silent and not take such cases, and also cooperates with the CCP to punish human rights lawyers who "disobey” such directives.
50. ACLA passed a resolution on March 20, 2006 at the 4^th standing council committee meeting of the 6^th conference, called “Guiding Opinion on Lawyers Handling Collective Cases” (translation). Collective cases are lawsuits that involve multiple claimants/plaintiffs, and usually have more complex social, economic and political causes and implications. These would include cases defending Falun Gong and politic. The resolution set forth a number of rules lawyers must follow, which include the following. Lawyers are required to report to the relevant government body, and in cases of potential escalation of conflicts, to immediately report to judicial administrative organs – which are controlled by the CCP. A law firm taking on a collective case should, without delay, report to the lawyers’ association to which it is a member. Lawyers must safeguard social stability as well as the lawful rights of the collective clients. Lawyers should do their best to advise/persuade their clients to bring claims against lower level government bodies. Lawyers associations can, if needed, express their opinions to the public on issues related to the case. For collective cases that have a significant impact, lawyers associations shall, without delay, share information with judicial administrative departments at their same level. Only after three partners agree, no lawyer are allow to handle sensitive cases. If any lawyer or firm violated this resolution, the lawyers’ association can hand down punishment or send the “offender” to the judicial administrative department for punishment.
51. ACLA fails to act in the interests of lawyers (its members) who defend or try to defend Falun Gong and other human rights cases, and even assists the CCP in the persecution of Falun Gong and any lawyers who try to defend them. For instance: when Human Rights lawyer Zhen Enchong, Guoting Guo, Zhu Jiuhu, Gao Zhisheng, Liu Ruping, Yang Zhaixi, Li Jianqiang, Zhang Jiankang, Zhu Yibiao, Tang Jinling and Guo Yen were sentenced to imprisonment, sent into labour camps, suspended from practice and forced out of country, for their defense of sensitive political and Falun Gong cases, ACLA and local Lawyers Associations failed to say or do anything to assist such lawyers. This is despite the statement in ACLA's charter that its main purpose is to "maintain the rights of members".
52. ACLA actively participated in the illegal crackdown of Falun Gong. The president of ACLA, Mr. Gao Zongze, said on Oct 31, 1999 when interviewed by a reporter: “all China local Lawyers Associations should do their best to fight the Falun Gong cult to the end."
53. Shanghai Lawyers Association on February 9, 2001 forwarded a news item to all Shanghai Lawyers via its website in which the head of the People's Congress, Li Peng, said that Falun Gong had become a reactionary political organization against China, against the CCP and against socialism. Li Peng called on all leaders and cadres of different levels to fight seriously against the Falun Gong organization. The implication to me of the Lawyers Association forwarding this message is that it was directing its members to follow the directives of the message.
54. On February 1, 2001, ACLA held a meeting with some law firms in Beijing, in which the general secretary of ACLA, Mr. Wu Deming, stated that all lawyers should hold the stance against Falun Gong. This news can be found in http://www.china-lawyering.com/main/list.asp?unid=117

55. On February 13, 2001, Chongqing City Lawyers Association required all lawyers dealing with Falun Gong cases to get and stay in line with the position of the central CCP politically, and required them to report such cases to the Justice Bureau while engaged, and prior to any hearing they must submit the statement of defense to the committee of criminal cases of ACLA for approval. Otherwise the lawyers would be punished and denounced publicly.
56. The Lawyers Association of Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, in its working report of November 11, 2001, stated that lawyers should fight against the Falun Gong cult organization firmly.
57. In or about 2001, the Shanghai Lawyers Association gave notice to all law firms’ managing partners in its area that they were not allow lawyers to defend Falun Gong or they would be punished.
58. Guangdong Province Lawyers Association delivered a document to all lawyers in Guangdong Province on November 1, 2002, which said that it criticizes the Falun Gong, and that lawyers should keep the right attitude and follow the CCP forever. This statement can still be found at: http://www.gdmjzz.gov.cn/ArticleShow .
59. On January 25, 2005, Heilongjiang Province Lawyers Association organized women lawyers to visit prison and labour camps to "explain" to Falun Gong detainees why Falun Gong is a danger and a criminal organization, and to "encourage" them back to society. This news can be found at (http://www.hljls.org/show.asp?id=173)
60. In summary, ACLA is totally controlled by the CCP and always maintains silence whenever there is persecution of lawyers working to defend Falun Gong. ACLA cooperates with the CCP to punish Chinese human rights lawyers. ACLA and its provincial and city level lawyers associations play a disgraceful role in the CCP regime's illegal crackdown against Falun Gong.

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