Four Practitioners Put on Trial Unlawfully in Liaoning Province

On September 12th 2005, the Xinglongtai District Court in Panjin City, Liaoning Province, put on trial four practitioners who had been arrested without due cause. The practitioners are: Mr. Hou Yunfei, Ms. Hu Zhehui, Mr. Xin Minduo and Ms. Bao Juncen. They were physically very weak due to torture from the persecution and could no longer walk. Policemen carried the two female practitioners in blankets. The police pulled the two male practitioners cruelly up and down the stairs. The court ignored procedural obligations and deprived practitioners of legal representation. The trial ended without a verdict within a very short period of time.

At around 9:00 a.m. the same day, police officers took the practitioners to the courthouse waiting area. The entire courthouse was guarded heavily. The police didn't allow practitioners' friends or family members to talk to the practitioners. Plainclothes agents were everywhere taking pictures with cameras and camcorders. Courthouse guards required everyone entering the courtroom to show his or her identification card and apply for a temporary badge. People attending the hearing were questioned repeatedly, and their pictures were taken multiple times.

Observers saw clearly that the four practitioners had become physically debilitated due to the persecution. Policemen carried practitioners Ms. Hu Zhehui and Ms. Bao Juncen in blankets and dragged practitioners Mr. Hou Yunfei and Mr. Xin Minduo up and down the stairs. Mr. Xin Minduo had lost one tooth, and he couldn't straighten either of his legs. During the trial, many of the police officers couldn't face the practitioners' relatives and friends and went downstairs.

At around 10:00 a.m., practitioner Ms. Hu Zhehui's limbs suddenly started twitching uncontrollably, and her face turned blue and purple. Her relatives and friends requested that she be sent to the hospital immediately. The police at first said she was fine. Only after they realised that she was close to death did they call the emergency staff. After receiving an intravenous drip for about an hour, Ms. Hu regained consciousness.

At around 11:20 a.m., the court heard the illegal trial of Ms. Hu Zhehui and Mr. Hou Yunfei. Ms. Hu was carried into the courtroom and could only lie on her back. Mr. Hou was dragged into the room and could only sit bent over. During the trial, they were carried in and out multiple times.

The "defence lawyers" for the four practitioners were court-appointed (Note: The lawyers could only enter guilty pleas for the practitioners and were not allowed to speak in their defence.) Ms. Hu wanted to defend her innocence, but the court refused to hear her. Her lawyer said, "I'm not allowed to enter a not guilty plea for you. I can only enter a guilty plea of misdemeanour." Mr. Hou's lawyer was not allowed to enter a not guilty plea and thus entered a guilty plea for misdemeanour for him as well. At around 11:50 a.m., the illegal trial ended without a verdict within a short period of time.

On August 3rd police officers from the Panjin City Police Department "arrested" nine practitioners and a landlord. The four practitioners on trial that day were among those arrested. They were illegally detained at the Panjin City Detention Centre. To protest the persecution, quite a few practitioners had gone on a hunger strike from the time they were abducted. Mr. Xin Minduo, Ms. Bao Juncen and Ms. Hu Zhehui were brutally tortured. The police inserted feeding tubes into their noses brutally and left them in for a long time. The police disclosed that they had received instructions from their superiors that the practitioners could be sentenced to up to a twenty-year prison term. Before the trial on September 12th the Xinglongtai District Court tried every possible way to block the news and didn't notify the practitioners' families. The practitioners' relatives found out about the trial after they made enquiries.

After the illegal trial, Ms. Hu Zhehui and Ms. Bao Juncen were carried to the police car. Ms. Hu told her relatives, "I've been on a hunger strike for 39 days. I didn't die because I practise Falun Gong. My teacher protected me. This is an illegal trial, a trial that perpetrates injustice, by a fake court. This is a disgrace to the Chinese legal system." The police put her in the police car before she finished her sentence. Later she saw her husband and told him, "I'll come out alive."

When Ms. Bao Juncen was carried out of the courtroom, she told her relatives in a weak voice, "I will not die. Be strong." The practitioners' behaviour moved their relatives.

Perpetrators:

Panjin City Police Department
Panjin City Police Department Xinglongtai District Branch National Security Brigade
Qinggong Police Station
Xinglongtai District Procurator's Office
Liaohe Oil Field and Xinglongtai District Court

Panjin City Detention Centre
Jing Chengsheng, head: 86-427-2682511 (Office), 86-13909875868 (Mobile)
Han, head: 86-427-2682555 (Office), 86-13514278086 (Mobile)

Panjin City Police Department Xinglongtai District Branch Address: Shiyou Blvd., Xinglongtai District, 124010
Yang Zhenfu, head: 86-427-2822003

Liu Desheng, Panjin City Political and Judicial Committee Secretary: 86-427-2839045, 86-427-2839049
Panjin City Procurator's Office: 86-427-2825549
Panjin City Court: 86-427-2823173
Xinglongtai District Procurator's Office: 86-427-7823280
Xinglongtai District Court: 86-427-7821409

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/9/25/111139.html