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Judge in handcuff incident booted

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-17 09:14

A controversial judge who ordered police to handcuff a lawyer to a basketball post for 40 minutes has been sacked.

Hong Meng, a judge at Chengjiang county of Yunnan province, made the unusual order after a disagreement with lawyer He Yunxiang over a change to a court record last Friday. The provincial higher court requested an immediate investigation into the incident.

The Yunnan Higher People's Court yesterday announced that officials of Chengjiang county court had dismissed Hong from his post on Tuesday.

The investigation confirmed that in a discussion about a land-use rights case on Friday, the lawyer suggested that a woman be included along with her husband as a defendant since the property in question was in both their names. Hong refused.

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The lawyer then refused to sign the record that did not have the change he had suggested. An irritated Hong asked He to perform a "self-criticism" in the court. He refused and Hong ordered police to handcuff him to the post.

The investigation team concluded that Hong "violated the law during enforcement of the law". He also violated basic moral ethics and should be dismissed.

He, a lawyer from Kunming-based Zhenxu Law Firm, submitted a letter of accusation over the issue to the Yunnan provincial procuratorate on Monday. He also posted the letter on Tianya.cn, a popular online bulletin board.

He said that though the investigation team asked Hong to apologize to him, he would not accept it.

"Hong committed illegal imprisonment by asking the police to handcuff me without the court director's approval," the lawyer said on Monday.

"The court has a right to investigate the case and Hong. But that has nothing to do with my right to sue him."

Yunnan provincial procuratorate has accepted the case, reported Legal Daily.

Reached by China Daily yesterday, He would not discuss the issue any further.

"The case has caused too much disturbance to my work and life. I hope to continue my normal life as soon as possible," he said.

Song Di, a law professor of Yunnan University, said that a lawyer has the right to ask for changes to a case record.