Former lawyer lodges complaint with supreme procuratorate

BEIJING - Li Zhuang, a former lawyer who had been jailed for encouraging a client to fabricate evidence, has lodged a complaint with the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), the agency said Saturday.

Li, 51, submitted a written petition on Friday along with lawyer Wang Shihua and Gong Ganghua, the elder brother of Li's former client Gong Gangmo, said a brief statement obtained by Xinhua.

The statement offered no details about the complaint but said the SPP will handle Li's petition "in accordance with due procedures."

Li, then a lawyer with a Beijing law firm, was arrested in 2009. He was charged with encouraging his client Gong Gangmo, then a high-profile defendant in Chongqing's battle against underworld gangs, to lie about being mistreated in law enforcers' custody.

Li was convicted in January 2010 and released in June 2011 after serving an 18-month jail term.

Gong Gangmo was sentenced to life imprisonment for gang-related crimes in February 2010.