On the 10th day, a judge from the Chengjiang County Court of Yuxi City in Yunnan Province decided on the spot to handcuff a lawyer for his dissatisfaction with the lawyer's signature on the trial record. The lawyer was then handcuffed under the basketball hoop at the court. Yesterday, the Intermediate People's Court of Yuxi City reported that the judge's actions were wrong and would be dealt with seriously according to relevant regulations.
■ Incident: Lawyer raised objections to the trial record
On July 10, Lawyer He from a certain law firm in Kunming appeared in court to represent a land use rights transfer dispute case, which was solely handled by Judge Hong Meng, the head of the Civil First Division of Chengjiang County Court.
According to Lawyer He's recount, after the judge announced the start of the trial, the defendant's lawyer, Mr. He, proposed: "The plaintiff in this case involves joint marital property, so the plaintiff's wife should be added to participate in this litigation. We submitted an application to the court 15 days ago requesting the addition of a party to the litigation. What is the court's opinion?" The presiding judge said: "There is no need to add her. I will now orally inform you." Lawyer He said: "Presiding judge, if we do not add the plaintiff's wife as a party, isn't it omitting a party? There is an issue with the procedure." Subsequently, Judge Hong said: "You can present your views during the courtroom debate, there is no need to say anything now."
After the trial, the judge asked both parties to sign the trial record. "I took the record, first signed on the first page of the record, flipped to the second page, and found that my debate points were omitted in the record," Lawyer He said. The omitted debate point was "the judge orally disagreed to add the parties involved." The judge said: "Do not tamper with the record. Any opinions can be submitted in writing separately." Lawyer He said: "The record records the entire trial process. If it is not added, I will not sign it." "It's up to you whether or not you sign," the judge immediately replied. Subsequently, Lawyer He crossed out the name he had signed on the first page and added on the second page of the record: "I request to correct the trial record, but it was not approved. The defendant's agent refuses to sign." And wrote down his own name.
The judge, upon seeing the record, loudly said: "What right do you have to write arbitrarily on it?" Lawyer He replied: "This is the trial record, the agent has the right to sign on it, and if the agency opinion is incomplete, there is the right to write down the opinion."
The lawyer was handcuffed under the basketball hoop for 40 minutes
The judge said: "I already told you before, don't bring up this matter again. Clerk, go call the judicial police and detain him." Lawyer He said: "Detention is fine, but there must be complete detention procedures, such as requiring the court president's signature to agree."
At this time, there were still 15 spectators in the courtroom who witnessed the conversation between Lawyer He and the judge. After the judge remained silent for a while, he said to Lawyer He: "I'll give you three choices: detention, fine, or write a self-examination." Lawyer He said: "Writing the reason for refusing to sign the record is my right, so I absolutely will not write the self-examination." Soon, the clerk brought in two judicial police officers into the courtroom. The judge said: "Handcuff him and take him away." Subsequently, Lawyer He was handcuffed under the basketball hoop at the court.
When the deputy president of the court, Hong Jiajing, removed the handcuffs, Lawyer He had been exposed to the scorching sun for more than 40 minutes. After understanding the situation, Hong Jiajing said to Lawyer He: "This judge is impetuous, has many cases, and is under great pressure. His detention of you did not follow the procedures, I'm sorry for you. Please understand."
■ Handling: Investigation proved the judge's behavior was wrong
In the afternoon of the 10th, President Pan Wanjian of Chengjiang County Court learned about the situation, apologized to Lawyer He on the spot, and expressed that he would rectify the judges' team and definitely give Lawyer He an explanation.
At around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the 10th, relevant personnel from the Yunnan Provincial Bar Association rushed to Chengjiang County Court to investigate the situation.
On July 11, President Xu Qianfei of the Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court learned about the "lawyer being handcuffed" incident that occurred at Chengjiang County Court, attached great importance to it, and ordered the Yuxi Intermediate People's Court to immediately form an investigation team to look into the matter.
Yesterday, the Yuxi Intermediate People's Court reported that, after investigation and verification, it was confirmed that the trial judge of Chengjiang County People's Court took compulsory measures against Lawyer He without approval, and this action was wrong. On the same day of the report, the vice president of the Yuxi Intermediate People's Court, the president of Chengjiang County Court, and the involved judge went to Kunming to apologize to the lawyer on behalf of Chengjiang County Court.
It is introduced that currently, the Yuxi Intermediate People's Court and Chengjiang County Court are studying disciplinary actions against the relevant responsible persons of the court.
■ Lawyer: Should charge Judge Hong with illegal detention
Lawyer He said in an interview: "I used to be a criminal judge in the court for 10 years and turned to be a lawyer in 2005. This kind of thing is the first time I've encountered."
He said that in the afternoon of the 10th, six hours after this incident occurred, "the involved judge never came out to clarify the process of the event, and did not even apologize," "I suggest that such judges be expelled from the judge corps."
Yesterday, Lawyer He posted online and publicly disclosed a letter titled "Accusation Letter Regarding the Illegal Criminal Acts of Judge Hong Meng of Chengjiang County People's Court", claiming that he would submit it to the Yunnan Provincial People's Procuratorate today.
Regarding the handling of the handcuffing incident, Lawyer He proposed in the "Accusation Letter": Judge Hong Meng's behavior from Chengjiang County Court trampled on citizens' rights, insulted lawyers' rights, and constituted a criminal act, hoping that relevant departments would handle this matter seriously and conscientiously.
The "Accusation Letter" stated: "Throughout the entire incident, Judge Hong Meng verbally decided to detain me without obtaining the president's approval and announced it publicly in the courtroom, immediately ordering the judicial police to put restraints on me and kept me under the open-air basketball hoop for more than 40 minutes. During this period, he also confiscated my mobile phone and deleted its contents. According to relevant regulations, 'Judicial staff who know someone is innocent but illegally detains them' shall be investigated for illegal detention, here I request your office to initiate an investigation into Hong Meng." (Source: Xinhua News Agency, "Chun Cheng Evening News", "Urban Times")