Arrest and Subsequent Release of Falun Gong Practitioner Liu Liping's Lawyer in Hegang City

The officials at the Xiangyang District Court in Hegang City commenced a trial on June 13th, 2006 against five Falun Gong practitioners: Shang Xiping, Liu Liping, Yang Yongying, Hu Guijie, and Zhao Guiyou. Two of them sought help from lawyers, while the other three defended themselves. Practitioner Liu Liping's lawyer submitted a "not guilty" plea for her. The practitioners denied all fabricated criminal charges. The practitioners further exposed in court that the police had violated the law in handling the case; that the police had resorted to severe tortures, to several consecutive days' of sleep deprivation, and other cruel means to extort a confession under torture. This led to the prosecuting side losing the momentum it had before. The trial lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and ended without a verdict. The court officials stated a verdict would be announced after deliberations.

Prior to this trial, the police had arrested Liu Liping's attorney. In the process, this is what took place:

On May 26th, 2006, Wang Jidong, a person from the Xiangyang District Court in Hegang City who was handling Liu Liping's case, called her family members and told them that she asked them to find a lawyer for her.

On May 27th, Liu Liping's sister Liu Lijuan went to Hegang City with a lawyer who met Liu Liping on May 28th. Liu Liping told him of all the severe tortures she had experienced inside the detention centre. The lawyer was moved to tears and indicated that he was greatly shocked. He had not imagined that Falun Gong practitioners had been treated so badly.

Liu Liping told her lawyer and her family member of several incidents that the persecutors had subjected her to: Yang Zengxian, deputy chief of Xiangyang District Police Department and Zhang Shujun, chief of the National Security Division of the police department, confiscated the 3,714 Yuan¹ in her possession when they arrested her. Then she was taken to a detention centre. As the detention centre officials forbade the family members to bring things to the practitioners, Liu repeatedly requested the detention centre director to ask Xiangyang District Police Department agents to return her money to her. The police department made two returns, 500 Yuan and 700 Yuan. The police refused to return the remaining 2,500 Yuan. Yang Zengxian said, "The money is gone and cannot be returned. I spent it for accommodations costs."

With Liu Liping's request on May 28th, Liu Lijuan's husband and the lawyer went to Xiangyang District Police Department to ask for the return of the 2,500 Yuan. Yang Zengxian acknowledged the confiscation incident but said, "The money just cannot be returned." Later he said that it was Zhang Shujun who handled all the money.

Liu Lijuan's husband and the lawyer then went to see Zhang Shujun. Zhang said, "We did not return this money to Liu Liping, since we were afraid that the others would spend the money very quickly." When he was asked why the money had not been put on the list of Liu Liping's personal belongings and questioned if this was normal, Zhang said, "Not putting the money on the list of Liu's withheld belongings was for Liu Liping's sake." If it was for the sake of Liu Liping, now that her family member and lawyer were here, it was time to return the money. Zhang replied, "No. I need to talk about this with the upper management."

Liu Lijuan's husband told Zhang that Liu Liping had been subjected to extremely inhumane treatment inside the detention centre and she would not let those who had tortured her escape the punishment of the law. The family would file lawsuits against these individuals and investigate the case to the end. Official Zhang Shujun became very worried, indicating that he was not aware of this issue and had not been involved in the persecution.

Liu Lijuan and the lawyer prepared to go to Harbin City at 9 p.m. of the same day. When the lawyer went out at 7:00 p.m. to buy things, six riot policemen from Xiangyang District Police Department arrested him. Two of them were in plain clothes and the other four in police uniforms. They gave no reasons for the arrest, showed no ID and revealed nothing about their identities. They dragged the lawyer forcibly into a police vehicle.

Liu Liping's lawyer said, "I am a lawyer. I have a proper licence and am handling the case according to the law." One police officer said, "I do not care if you are acting according to the law or not. Who wants to see your ID? What is the use?" The lawyer explained his side of the issue repeatedly, but it did not work. The lawyer questioned the police why they had arrested him. The police said, "We just want to find troubles for the lawyer. Do you know the law?" The lawyer was taken to the Riot Division at the Xiangyang District Police Department.

After Liu Lijuan learned that the lawyer had been arrested she called Zhang Shujun to ask about the case. Zhang replied that he knew nothing about it. Liu Lijuan again called Yang Zengxian and he replied, "I was not involved in the case and it has nothing to do with me."

Liu Lijuan questioned him, "On what basis did you have the lawyer arrested? This is a crime. I want to file a lawsuit!" She also told him that she had found another lawyer from Beijing who would come tomorrow.

Subsequently, Liu Liping's husband called the lawyer in Beijing. The attorney from Beijing told the police by phone that he had enough experience for what the police had done, as well as the ability to bring them to justice. Liu Lijuan also explicitly told them, as soon as the lawyer from Beijing would arrive, their actions would be certainly exposed. The police became a little scared, hinting that their police department head had ordered them to make the arrest. Being worried that something bad would happen and they might lose their jobs, they hurriedly called the police department head, which suggests that all these things were done by orders of the police department head.

The police quickly reversed their attitude. They told the family that they should not worry; the lawyer would soon be released, and that the police department head had already called them. Ten minutes later the arrested lawyer returned.

After the court hearings on June 13th, 2006, Liu Lijuan called Zhang Shujun again to ask for the return of 2,500 Yuan, which they had illegally withheld. Zhang's attitude was very good this time and he said, "There is no need for Liu Liping's husband to come to get the money. The money will be put onto Liu Liping's bank card in the detention centre." He also asked where Liu Liping's husband was and whether he had gone back home. Liu Lijuan said that Liu Liping's husband would not go back home until he had confirmed that the money had indeed been put into the account.

Yang Zengxian and Zhang Shujun knew that Liu Liping's husband had got two lawyers for Liu Liping. By the time the court proceedings ended, past 5:00 p.m., Liu Liping's husband and the two lawyers became aware there were at least three plainclothes police officers keeping them under surveillance and following them.

Related phone numbers in Hegang City:

1. Xiangyang District Police Department:
Yang Zengxian, the executive deputy head, 86-13359970909 (mobile)
Zhang Shujun, chief of the National Security Division at the police department, 86-13351933633(mobile)
Police Department Head's Office, 86-468-3224647

2. Hegang City No. 1 Detention Centre:
Li Yingchen, Head, 86-468-3400777 (office), 86-468-3279283 (home), 86-13803681777
Kong Fanqi, Political Head, 86-468-3406171 (office), 86-468-3457288 (home), 86-13945769618

3. Hegang City Police Department
Switchboard, 86-468-3340600, 86-468-3340277
Address: Hongqi Road, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/26/131434.html