21 January 2008 :

after 10 years on China's highest court, the Supreme People's Court, Xuan Dong walked away from the bench to battle for human rights.
Now, as China re-evaluates its hard-line policies on capital punishment, the 59 year old defence lawyer has called for public trials, more media exposure and protections for lawyers and less party interference with the judiciary.
Recently, there has been progress within the legal system. Legislation enacted last year requires the high court to review all death sentences. Sitting on the Supreme People's Court, Xuan represented the condemned's last hope.
Secretly, he loathed rubber-stamping party death sentences against people who he thought rarely deserved such a fate, often accepting confessions he knew were gotten by torture.
He watched silently as lawyers were beaten and dragged from court if they dared to challenge the party's will. Xuan said he once saw officials tape a lawyer's mouth shut. He said police tortured a defendant to make him change his story, then charged his lawyer with fabricating evidence.