Mr. Zhang Qingsheng Facing Trial; His Wife Tortured to Death

Name: Zhang Qingsheng
Gender: Male
Age: 56
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Former engineer of the Harbin Thermal Power Company
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 18th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin No. 1 Detention Centre
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: detention, imprisonment, home ransacked

Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Zhang Qingsheng, Ms. Yang Xiuying, and Ms. Wen Shufan have been detained for over a year. The Hulan District Court in Harbin City planned to put them on trial on December 28th, 2012.

The three practitioners were previously tried by the Hulan District Court on July 31st, 2012. During that trial, Mr. Zhang's lawyer pointed out that this court had no jurisdiction over his case, as Mr. Zhang resided in Songbei District and had been arrested by officers from the Songbei Police Department. The case was thus adjourned.

In early December 2012, however, the district court notified Mr. Zhang's lawyer that Harbin City Intermediate Court had given it the jurisdiction to try all three practitioners. The court also informed the lawyer that the Hulan District Procuratorate had filed additional charges against Mr. Zhang, saying that Mr. Zhang had confessed to other crimes. The addition of these charges is in clear violation of the existing Chinese laws and regulations.

Mr. Zhang and his daughter, Ms. Zhang Hui, were arrested near their home by officers from the Leye Police Station and Domestic Security Division of the Songbei District Police Department on October 18th, 2011. Ms. Zhang was released on November 17th, 2011, but Mr. Zhang is still incarcerated at the Harbin No. 1 Detention Centre.

Fabricated Evidence

The so-called “criminal evidence” presented in Ms. Zhang's case included Falun Gong informational materials, books, a computer, and other personal belongings confiscated by police when they ransacked Mr. Zhang's home on January 14th, 2004, after arresting his wife, Ms. Sun Yuhua.

However, Mr. Zhang was not home at the time of his wife's arrest; he had been arrested on November 18th, 2003, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong and was still incarcerated in the Hulan District Detention Centre at the time.

Ms. Sun was tortured to death and passed away on March 8th, 2004.

Mr. Zhang's wife, Ms. Sun Yuhua, was tortured to death for practising Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhang was sentenced to three years in prison by the Hulan District Court in early 2004 and subsequently transferred to Hulan Prison. To prevent him from investigating his wife's death, Hulan Domestic Security Division colluded with court officials to hold another hearing in Hulan Prison around May 2004, sentencing Mr. Zhang to eight more years in prison. Mr. Zhang appealed to the Harbin Intermediate Court, which overruled the eight-year sentence.

Mr. Zhang was released on November 18th, 2006, but detained again in 2011.

Parties involved in the persecution of Mr. Zhang:
Songbei District Domestic Security Division: +86-451-88192093, +86-451-88192092
Wei Debin, chief judge of the Hulan District Court: +86-451-57358013
Harbin No. 1 Detention Centre: +86-451-84304176
Hulan District Procuratorate: +86-451-57355293