Three Chinese human rights lawyers and an unknown number of other citizens remain in detention after being taken away by police on March 21 while visiting a ‘black jail’ in Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang Province.
At least one of the lawyers, Tang Jitian, has been given a 15-day administrative sentence for ‘using a cult to disrupt social order’. It is not clear what charges have been brought against the other detainees.
According to a statement released by the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Group, Jiang Tianyong, Tang Jitian, Wang Cheng and Zhang Junjie, along with many other citizens, were taken away by local police the day after they had visited a legal education centre. The four lawyers were in the process of filing a lawsuit with the local authorities on behalf of the relatives of detainees held at the centre.
