Jailing of China gang lawyer alarms legal world

A Chinese lawyer for a suspected mafia boss in one of the nation's most high-profile trials was jailed on Friday, drawing warnings from lawyers worried the government is trampling rules in its zeal for convictions.

A court in the southwestern city of Chongqing gave Li Zhuang two years and six months in prison on charges of falsifying evidence and jeopardising testimony.

Police arrested Li, the defence lawyer for alleged gang leader Gong Gangmo, late last year. Li was accused of telling Gong to lie in court by testifying that he was tortured in detention, state media reports said at the time.

The trials of gang leaders accused of reigning over the hilly, smog-shrouded industrial hub of Chongqing using robbery, extortion and graft have captivated Chinese media, burnishing the image of the city's ambitious Communist Party chief, Bo Xilai.

But Chinese lawyers have complained that officials zealous to score convictions have trampled on legal rules, and the rights of Li to a fair trial. Chinese newspapers have dubbed the case 'Lawyer fake-gate'.

Chinese criminal defence lawyers have complained for years that laws give scant protection for the accused and their advocates, and in particular that provisions on evidence fabrication are vague and open to abuse by police.

Zhang Kai, a Beijing lawyer who has been campaigning for Li, said the sentencing set a bad precedent, threatening to further limit access to the law for people charged with serious crimes.

"Some people have said Li Zhuang was helping criminal gangs. But all we are trying to do is help the development of a proper legal system," he told Reuters by telephone.

Li has denied the charges against him, news reports have said. Chongqing's legal authorities have likewise denied any wrongdoing. Li's lawyer, Chen Youxi, earlier told the China Daily that he would appeal if convicted.

Chinese courts come under Communist Party control and rarely reject prosecution accusations, especially in politically sensitive cases such as serious crimes or for dissidents.

Over the past several months Chongqing, run by the former commerce minister Bo, has mounted a much-publicised campaign against crime gangs, handing out death sentences and publishing gory pictures of victims.

Bo, son of one of Mao Zedong's chief economic officials, has used the anti-gang campaign to overshadow up-and-coming Party member Wang Yang, an ally of president Hu Jintao, who has launched his own corruption crackdown in wealthy Guangdong.

Wang preceded Bo as Communist Party boss of Chongqing.

The anti-mafia campaign has been marked by graphic tales of murder and extortion committed by the cops-turned-robbers, as citizens have besieged government offices waving bloody photos and swords allegedly used by the gangs.

The deep ties between police and organised crime hark back to China's tumultuous years before the Communist Party won power in 1949, when local warlords and rich businessmen had close connections with the criminal underworld.