【新唐人2013年11月15日讯】在中国大陆，有一个非常特殊的群体，他们在权大于法的社会现实下，依然坚守良知、不畏强权的为弱势群体依法维权﹔他们常常遭到报复、打压甚至身陷囹圄﹔他们就是被民间称为“人权护卫者”，却被中共党媒归为“新黑五类”的——维权律师。在他们之中，又有一位被称为骨气最硬，受酷刑最惨烈的律师。他就是唐吉田。
在中国的微博上，可以看到维权律师唐吉田在人们心中的形象，网友形容：他曾是一位检察官，如果无视他人的苦难，原本可以安度人生﹔他因理想去当律师，为土地被非法征用的受害者、三聚氰胺受害人和信仰被迫害者穷尽精力﹔他是骨气最硬，受酷刑最惨烈的律师﹔他被吊销律师执照，没有收入，无法支付房租，甚至穿开口的鞋到天津声援受迫害者﹔他是坚守职业操守，信仰法治，正直的律师。他就是唐吉田！
是什么原因使得唐吉田放弃了原本体制内的检察官工作，而改做一名维权律师？为什么后来又被吊销律师执照？他究竟遭受了哪些迫害和酷刑？
唐吉田：“我认为帮助别人维护权益，其实也就是在维护自己的权益，同时这个社会如果掌握技能的人都去逃避现实，只在自己小圈子里头想和做，那实际上这种时候人人自危，其他的人的苦难如果我们不伸出手，很可能在我们自己身上复制，甚至有可能扩大化。”
据了解，唐吉田1988年调入吉林省延边检察院从事刑事公诉工作，在7年的检察官生涯中，他办理了上百起重大的公诉案件，但与此同时，唐吉田也发现，公权力滥用造成的司法不公和腐败，充斥着整个司法系统。
是维护法律的公平正义﹖还是维护统治阶级的利益﹖这一问题常常令唐吉田失眠、焦虑和矛盾。
最终，唐吉田决定放弃检察官工作，并在2004年底通过了律师资格考试，05年辞去公职，成为了一名律师。在随后的几年中，唐吉田一面为强拆受害者、上访者、三聚氢胺受害者、爱滋病受害者等弱势群体维权，一面参与联名呼吁废除劳教制度、积极推动北京律师协会直选等活动，因此成为中共当局的眼中钉，不断受到打压，甚至在2008年不得不被强迫离开所在律师事务所。
在唐吉田接受了多起法轮功案件，为被非法关押的法轮功学员成功的做了无罪辩护后，更是遭到当局的残酷迫害。
唐吉田不但在2010年4月被北京市司法局吊销了律师执业执照，而且从2009年至今，每年都会“强迫失踪”。尤其在2011年2月16号，中共当局打压“茉莉花革命”行动中，唐吉田遭到北京警方黑头套绑架，在这期间，唐吉田受到剥夺睡眠、体罚、“练军姿”、吹空调冷风、辱骂殴打，和强力洗脑等折磨。他被释放时，体重下降30斤，并患上了重症肺结核，目前仍在治疗中。
唐吉田：“自从为这些政府不喜欢的人提供法律帮助以后，就像经常被骚扰啊，包括强迫失踪，被羁押或者是不同形式的酷刑，包括在派出所被短期关押以及后来的行政拘留等等。”
今年10月6号，唐吉田前往黑龙江省鸡西市，帮助被强迫拘禁在“洗脑班”的法轮功受害者，而被鸡西市国保非法拘禁，引发了律师界和维权人士的抗议和声援。在各界强烈呼吁下，当局被迫在10月22号将 唐吉田释放。
一次次的残酷打压与迫害，不但没有令唐吉田屈服和怯步，反而让更多的人被他的正义与职业操守所感动，因此称他为“良心律师”，及中国律师“执照吊销”第一人。
采访/李韵 编辑/张天宇 后制/葛雷
From A Prosecutor to A Human Rights Lawyer: Tang Jitian
In China, there is a very special group of people.
In a society where authorities are higher than the law,
they adhere to their conscience to defend the vulnerable
who are defying the authorities;
They often meet with reprisal, suppression
and even imprisonment.
They are the human rights lawyers, known
as the “rights defenders" to the people
but the state media of the Chinese Communist regime
calls them the “new black five".
Among them, the one believed to be the toughest, who also
suffers the most cruel torture is Tang Jitian.
Chinese Microblogging demonstrates how the Chinese view
rights defender Tang Jitian.
Chinese Internet users describe him as a prosecutor.
He could have had a sound life if he could have simply
ignored others’ suffering.
He became a lawyer to fulfill his passion.
He defended those victims who lost their land due to
illegal expropriation, and he exhausted himself to defend
those who suffer from melamine contamination
and spiritual and religious persecution.
He is the toughest, but also the most brutally tortured lawyer.
His attorney license was revoked, he lost his income,
he can not afford the rent, and he even showed up in Tianjin
with a pair of broken shoes to pay solidarity
to the persecuted.
He is a lawyer adhering to professional ethics,
belief in rule of law, and honesty.
He is Tang Jitian!
What made Tang Jitian decide to give up his job
as a prosecutor to become a human rights lawyer?
Why was his law license revoked?
What type of persecution and torture has he encountered?
Tang Jitian (recording): “I believe helping others defend
their rights is in fact helping to defend my own rights.
If people with the capability only stay in their own circle
and ignore what’s surrounding us, that puts everyone in danger.
Because when we don’t help those who are suffering,
the same suffering could manifest and happen to us."
Tang Jiian began his criminal prosecution job
at the Procuratorate of Yanbian, Jilin in 1988.
As a prosecutor, he spent seven years handling hundreds
of cases of major indictment.
It is also during those years when Tang Jitian realized
how the injustice and corruption has filled the entire
justice system due to the abusive manipulation
of the authorities.
Should he uphold fairness and justice?
Should he work for the interests of the ruling class?
These questions resulted in numerous sleepless nights,
anxiety and confusion for Tang Jitian.
Finally, Tang Jitian decided to give up on his prosecutor job.
At the end of 2004, he passed the bar exam.
He resigned from his post in 2005 and became a lawyer.
In the following years, Tang Jitian took the side of the victims
of forced demolitions, those with governmental grievances,
melamine and AIDS, and engaged in activities of calling
on the abolition of re-education through labor and promoting
elections in the Beijing Lawyers Association.
He became a thorn in the side of the CCP authorities.
He has since been constantly suppressed, and even forced
to leave his firm in 2008.
Ever since Tang Jitian began to defend cases of Falun Gong
practitioners’ illegal detention, he has suffered even more brutal persecution by the authorities.
In April 2010 Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice revoked
his license to practice law.
Since 2009, he has been “forced to disappear" every year.
On February 16, 2011, during the CCP campaign
to suppress the Jasmine Revolution, Tang Jitian
was kidnapped by the Beijing police with black hoods.
During this period of absence, Tang Jitian was put through
sleep deprivation, corporal punishment, cold AC air blowing,
abusive cursing and beatings, enforced brainwashing,
and he was forced to practice army poses.
When he was released, he lost 15 pounds and contracted
severe tuberculosis, which is still not cured.
Tang Jitian (recording): “Since I began (offering)
legal services to those who are disliked by the government,
I have often been harassed in various forms,
such as forced disappearances, detention, and various
tortures during the detentions at the police station
or administrative detention."
October 6, Tang Jitian went to Jixi City, Heilongjiang
Province, to help Falun Gong practitioners who were
forcibly detained at a brainwashing center.
He was illegally detained by the Jixi City state security.
Through protest and solidarity led by other lawyers
and activists, Tang Jitian was released on October 22.
All the brutal suppression and persecution did not deter
Tang Jitian.Rather, his righteousness and ethics have touched
many more.He is called the “conscience lawyer," and the number one
lawyer whose license is being revoked in China.
Interview/LeeYun Edit/ZhangTianyu Post-production/GeLei
