CAT/C/CHN/CO/5 Independent medical examination 16. While welcoming the information that all the detention centres of the State party have implemented a system of medical examinations upon entry, the Committee remains concerned that public security officials in detention centres can verify the health examination form recorded by doctors, and that doctors must report to the supervisory department of the public security organ whenever they identify signs of torture. The Committee is concerned that these arrangements may create a conflict of duties for medical practitioners and expose them to pressure to supress evidence (art. 2). 17. The State party should: (a) Ensure that detained persons undergo a medical examination at the detention centre by medical professionals who operate independently of the police and custodial authorities; (b) Ensure that all examinations are conducted out of the hearing and sight of public security organs; (c) Make the records of such examinations accessible to detainees and their legal representatives; (d) Ensure that doctors report signs and allegations of torture or illtreatment confidentially and without fear of reprisals to an independent investigating authority. Reported crackdown on defence lawyers and activists 18. The Committee is deeply concerned about the unprecedented detention and interrogation of, reportedly, more than 200 lawyers and activists since 9 July 2015. Of those, 25 remain reportedly under residential surveillance at a designated location and 4 are allegedly unaccounted for. This reported crackdown on human rights lawyers follows a series of other reported escalating abuses on lawyers for carrying out their professional responsibilities, particularly on cases involving government accountability and issues such as torture and the defence of human rights activists and religious practitioners. Such abuses include detention on suspicion of broadly defined charges, such as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, and ill-treatment and torture while in detention. Other interferences with the legal profession have been, reportedly, the refusal of annual re-registration, the revocation of lawyers’ licences and evictions from courtrooms on questionable grounds, as in the cases of Wang Quanzhang, Wu Liangshu or Zhang Keke. The Committee expresses concern at the all-inclusive category of “other conduct that disrupts court order” in various articles of the Law on Lawyers, the Criminal Procedure Law and in the newly amended article 309 of the Criminal Law, which in its view is overbroad, undermines the principle of legal certainty and is open to abusive interpretation and application. The Committee is concerned that the above-mentioned abuses and restrictions may deter lawyers from raising reports of torture in their clients’ defence for fear of reprisals, weakening the safeguards of the rule of law that are necessary for the effective protection against torture (art. 2). 19. The State party should stop sanctioning lawyers for actions taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, such as legitimately advising or representing any client or client’s cause or challenging procedural violations in court, which should be made possible without fear of prosecution under national security laws, or being accused of disrupting the court order (see Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, para. 16). The State party should also: (a) Ensure the prompt, thorough and impartial investigation of all the human rights violations perpetrated against lawyers, that those responsible are tried 5