On September 8, 2023, after attending the 2023 launching ceremony of the "1+1" China Legal Aid Volunteer Action in the Great Hall of the People, Li Fanghua, a lawyer from Fujian Haishan Law Firm, went to Qamdo, Tibet, a service place more than 3,000 kilometers away from Fuzhou and 3,200 meters above sea level, with his volunteer badge.
As of May 10, 2024, Li Fanghua has responded to 544 legal consultations at the Changdu Public Legal Service Center, written 28 documents, accepted 37 legal aid cases (including 25 criminal cases and 12 civil cases) assigned by the Changdu Municipal Bureau of Justice, witnessed 35 pleas of guilt and accepted punishment, participated in 11 administrative reconsideration rulings of the Changdu Municipal Government, and participated in 9 administrative litigation on behalf of the Changdu Municipal Government.
"When you come, you have to be meaningful"
When asked why he wanted to go to Tibet, Li Fanghua's answer was an understatement, "I just want to change my lifestyle." In fact, this seed of aid to Tibet has been buried in her heart for several years, and it sprouted when she saw the "1+1" China Legal Aid Volunteer Recruitment Program in 2023. So, she submitted the registration form that night.
The submission of this registration form is no less than a "depth charge", and Li Fanghua's life circle is "boiling".
"At such a high altitude, can the body withstand it?" "There will be sequelae when you come back." "It's so cold over there, can you stand it as a southerner?" …… Her parents, relatives and friends had all kinds of worries and took turns to persuade her to give up the registration, but Li Fanghua's determination to help Tibet was very firm and her attitude was very optimistic, "I checked, and only 75% of people had altitude sickness after entering Tibet. Men have a higher probability of altitude sickness than women. I went over to take a look, maybe the girl didn't have sequelae. ”
When arriving at Qamdo, where she was served, with this optimism, Li Fanghua felt that she was "lucky". Changdu is the second lowest city in Tibet, and she has no obvious discomfort there, but she usually has difficulty breathing, and she will be short of breath and weak until late November, when she can walk to the Tea Horse Square, which is 1.2 kilometers away from the Changdu Judicial Bureau.
On the afternoon of arriving in Changdu, Li Fanghua put himself into work. "I have worked in the United States (a case law country with advanced legislative experience in some areas) and in Iran (where the courts use the Koran to decide). I also want to work in Tibet, a relatively barren land with a relatively backward rule of law, and experience how the law can well divide the rights and obligations between people in different social and cultural environments. After arriving here, she has a clearer understanding of her assistance work, which has a population of more than 700,000 but only more than 30 lawyers, making it difficult to meet the needs of local legal services.
Thousands of miles away, just because the original intention remains the same, only for the rule of law rooted in the bottom of the heart. Li Fanghua felt that the responsibility on her body was heavy. In addition to taking every assigned case seriously, she also actively does a good job of mentoring and cultivating local legal talents. When the amount of legal consultation was small, she even took the initiative to find cases in other administrative units to broaden the legal horizons of the lawyers.
Li Fanghua gave training on the new "Administrative Reconsideration Law" to the Changdu Metropolitan Bureau of Justice and the law enforcement departments of various municipal bureaus
Li Fanghua participated in the publicity activities of the 12.4 Constitution Day
"When you come, you have to do something meaningful. One of the consultants said that he heard that a very powerful legal aid lawyer from the Municipal Bureau of Justice had come and drove more than five hours from Jiangda County to come for consultation. Li Fanghua said that she is happy that her efforts have been recognized, and the heavy thing is that the publicity of the 12348 legal advice hotline still has a long way to go.
"I changed a man's 32-40 years old"
On the evening of January 18, 2024, when it was snowing heavily in Qamdo, Li Fanghua suddenly received a strange phone call, and the voice on the other end of the phone was excited and a little nervous, "Lawyer Li, I am Bu, I have been released." Li Fanghua, who heard the news, was instantly surrounded by great joy, and then felt infinite emotion.
This was a robbery case 13 years ago, and the defendant Bu was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the first instance. Li Fanghua was assigned as his defense lawyer for the second trial. In all nine confessions, the defendant denied committing the crime and insisted that he was not guilty. Through the meeting and reading the case file, Li Fanghua believed that he was telling the truth. As a result, she began to look for evidence and actively communicated with the court of second instance, the Lhasa City Public Security Bureau, the Lhasa City Detention Center, and the Lhasa City Prison to defend her innocence.
Li Fanghua's not-guilty defense opinion was partially recognized by the court of second instance, and the case was remanded for retrial.
Li Fanghua has been a foreign-related civil and commercial lawyer for 15 years, and has no experience in criminal defense, so she can only be more careful and serious, combing through the evidence of the procuratorate one by one. The case from 13 years ago, with hundreds of pieces of evidence, is not an easy task.
At the end of December 2023, the case will be re-examined, and the prosecution provided three thick supplementary evidence on the eve of the trial, and Li Fanghua could only familiarize himself with the evidence overnight and look for a breakthrough. After careful analysis, Li Fanghua found that the prosecution's key evidence, the two identification records, had obvious hints, so he advocated the exclusion of illegal evidence. The final result was that the court of first instance rejected all hundreds of pieces of evidence except for the detention warrant and the arrest warrant, except for the exclusion of key evidence. Bu was acquitted and released on the spot.
When Bu was released from prison, the Changdu Detention Center was "fried", and when he was taking things in the cell, he also sang a song "Go Home" to his fellow inmates, and the inmates wept one after another. He said a little shyly: "I have a premonition that I will be released, so I have been secretly practicing and singing this song "Coming Home" a few days ago. ”
Li Fanghua received a pennant from the acquitted Bu
This is the first criminal case in Li Fanghua's professional career, and it is also the first acquittal case assigned to Changdu Legal Aid Center since its establishment. It is understood that the acquittal rate in China is only 4 per 10,000. "Criminal cases are not the same as civil and commercial cases. In civil and commercial cases, enforcement should be carried out only after the judgment takes effect; In criminal cases, after the acquittal, the defendant is released in court. This kind of immediate feedback and ecstasy is something I have never experienced in civil and commercial cases. It suddenly dawned on me that I had changed a person's 32-40 years old. Li Fanghua said happily that at this moment, her sense of happiness and accomplishment in practice has reached "full".
"Be responsible"
On October 18, 2023, Ganyan Township, Dingqing County, Changdu City, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and in the folds of the mountains, is holding a law popularization lecture.
"It's the first time I've participated in this form of preaching, and it's quite down-to-earth." Li Fanghua said. There were no neat tables and chairs, perfect equipment, and clearly defined podiums in this preaching activity, and the preacher and the villagers sat face-to-face on the ground and communicated with each other at zero distance. It had just snowed, and the ground had not yet dried, so the villagers had taken off the lid of the sewer and sat down.
The whole process of Chinese-Tibetan bilingual law popularization, with the fluttering snowflakes, the lecturer explained the law with cases, vivid and practical, and the villagers listened very carefully.
In Dingqing County, during a week's special law popularization and research work, Li Fanghua went to six villages and towns, went to 12 households to give lectures, and publicly gave one lecture on law popularization. It takes nearly 9 hours to drive from Qamdo to Dingqing County, and the altitude of about 4,000 meters makes her suffer, but the serious attitude of the villagers makes her feel very sweet.
Li Fanghua participated in the activities of popularizing the law in the countryside of Changdu City's culture, science and technology, and health
According to statistics, as of May 10, 2024, Li Fanghua has also gone to Dingqing County, Jiangda County, Chaya County, the Independent Battalion of the Qamdo Military Subdivision of the Tibet Military Region, and the construction site of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway Project of the Third Bureau of China Railway to give 27 public law popularization lectures.
In addition, Li Fanghua also served as a temporary legal adviser to the Changdu Municipal People's Government. In the previous municipal government meetings, Li Fanghua only got the materials when he arrived at the venue. The materials that can be used at the meeting are reviewed and approved by all parties in advance, and few people express their opinions during the meeting. In line with the work attitude of seeking truth from facts, Li Fanghua went to the venue half an hour in advance to read the materials, reviewed the risk points, and directly expressed his opinions at the meeting. After three consecutive opinions, the Secretariat of the Municipal Government requested all municipal bureaus to give their opinions to the legal counsel for all the materials at the meeting.
In the past eight months, Li Fanghua has attended or participated in 13 municipal government meetings, participated in the decision-making activities of the Qamdo municipal government and was adopted by the government 37 times, and participated in the drafting of 43 normative documents or the review of legal documents of the municipal government.
Jue Ajiangcun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Changdu Judicial Bureau, issued a letter of appointment as legal counsel to Li Fanghua
"I'm a legal aid lawyer, and in this position, I have to fulfill my responsibilities." Li Fanghua said this and did the same, whether it was to publicize the rule of law or serve as a legal adviser, she did her best to do a good job.
The summer sun is beginning to grow, the grass and trees are verdant, and Li Fanghua's road to Tibet is not over. Full of love for the legal profession and the land of Qamdo, she continues to walk on the eastern Tibetan plateau and practice the original mission of a legal practitioner.