Recommendation (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6) Situation during visit in 2005 (See E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6) independence and impartiality of the judiciary (k) The power to order or approve arrest and supervision of the police and detention facilities of the procurators should be transferred to independent courts. Information received on steps taken since December 2007/current situation were unable to process their annual license renewal in May 2008 • Over 70% of criminal cases do not involve lawyers. This is despite the continuously growing number of qualified lawyers. A likely cause for the absence of lawyers from criminal cases is that lawyers refuse to take up cases for fear of repression or harassment (see infra recommendation l Non-governmental sources: The Public Procuratorate continues to be in charge of decisions over extending police custody and pretrial detention. Non-governmental sources: CL articles 306 and CPL 38 remain in force allowing prosecutors to arrest lawyers on grounds of “perjury” or “false testimony”, offences which are punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. These articles have been used to intimidate, threaten and detain lawyers, who defend human rights. Defence lawyers have increasingly become the target of violence and torture. A/HRC/10/44/Add.5 page 13 (l) Article 306 of the Criminal Law, according to which any lawyer who counsels a client to repudiate a forced confession, for example, could risk prosecution should be abolished. There was no provision under Chinese law for individuals to be brought promptly before an independent judicial authority to assess the lawfulness of the detention; decisions over an extension of custody and pretrial detention rested with the Public Procuratorate. Together with article 38 of the CPL, which made “interfering with the proceedings before judicial organs” an offence, CL article 306 could be invoked to harass, intimidate and sanction lawyers. Steps taken in previous years (See A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 and A/HRC/7/3/Add.2)