From August 4th to 8th, 2008, the Taihe District Court in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province put four practitioners on trial in a decision that stood outside the boundaries of any legality and did not follow Chinese court proceedings. The practitioners are Ms. Liu Fengmei, Ms. Zhang Xiulan, Mr. Huang Cheng and Mr. Qu Chengye. Eight lawyers from Beijing, including Li Heping and Jiang Tianyong, defended the practitioners and entered a "not guilty" plea.
Lawyer Li and Jiang remonstrated that all evidence against the practitioners was trumped up. They also put in evidence that the trial violated China's laws. Lastly, they charged that the officers tortured the practitioners during interrogation.
Accusations Trumped up
Lawyer Jiang said the practitioners were accused of violating the laws as members of the Falun Gong organization. The prosecution accused Ms. Liu of wiring 60,000 yuan1 to Mr. Qu in Shandong to buy satellite equipment to transmit Falun Gong information, along with Ms. Zhang and Mr. Huang in China.
Jiang charged that the accusations were trumped up. First, Ms. Liu had never met Mr. Qu before the trial. Also, Mr. Liu's accounts, which were in the hands of the prosecutors, indicated that Ms. Liu never had more than 20,000 yuan in her account.
Jiang also charged that records indicated that the same prosecutor interrogated two witnesses in different places at the same time. "This is impossible. Either he had a clone or he is lying."
Trial Procedures Violate Chinese Laws
According to Jiang, legal documents in the hands of the persecutors said that the police delivered the statement of charges to the Procuratorate on April 8th and they were returned on May 8th to the police with a request for more details. This indicates that there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute the practitioners. On May 22nd, the police delivered a revised statement of charges to the procuratorate with no new evidence provided between May 8th and 22nd. "This means that the evidence is still missing," said Jiang.
Besides, there is a great deal of evidence indicating that torture was applied during the interrogation. When the defendants displayed wounds in court and asked the judge for a medical examination, the judge ignored the request, according to Mr. Jiang. Mr. Jiang said that instead of following established legal proceedings, the judge demanded that the defendants get up and greet the public prosecutors. The defendants had to wear handcuffs and prison uniforms in court. Mr. Jiang said that before the defendants could be found guilty, they should not be viewed as prisoners in court. This was a violation of existing laws.
Mr. Jiang also alleged that during court proceedings someone from the 610 Office2 was videotaping the proceedings. Some plain-clothes police were checking observers' identification and arrested several observers on the the first day of the trial.
Crime of Torture
The practitioners were subjected to torture during interrogation, including electric shocks, beating and the handcuffs were so tight that they cut into the flesh and exposed the bone. Ms. Liu suffered most from the torture. According to an officer from the the detention centre, Ms. Liu had been tortured by many different methods.
Mr. Huang was limping in court. One leg that was beaten had exposed tendons. Ms. Zhang has a ovarian fibroid tumour, 5 inches in diameter. During the trial, Ms. Zhang was in great pain but her request for medical attention was ignored by the judges.
Lawyer Li said Ms. Liu was inhumanly tortured before she appeared before the court and was weak. Ms. Zhang had not eaten for four days before the court date. There was a doctor present with an emergency first-aid kit throughout the entire time. Mr. Li said that this was the first time he saw medical staff in court.
Practitioners Are Law-abiding Citizens
Lawyer Jiang said that based on the facts, he is certain that the four practitioners did nothing that violated the law and were good citizens. "For example, Mr. Huang Cheng was a janitor and his employer said that he always hires Falun Gong practitioners because they are honest and do all that that the job requires," said Mr. Jiang, "We investigated this. Also, Ms. Liu was severely tortured but she doesn't hate those who tortured her. She just wants them to know the truth about Falun Gong. My clients are very forgiving and benevolent. Practitioners are good people and I wish those who torture them could learn from them."
Calling for International Attention
Lawyer Jiang called the international human rights organizations and media to pay attention to this large group of people in China whose basic human rights are not protected. Lawyer Li said Falun Gong had been treated unjustly for nine years and that is too long, "If tens of millions of people are treated unjustly, then the rule-of-law and human rights protection are empty promises."
Mr. Li said suppressing people with certain beliefs and restricting every aspect of their lives is an crime against humanity in 90 countries around the world. China did not join this Rome Convention when the Hague International Court of Justice passed it.
Background Information
On February 25th, 2008, officers from the Nverhe Police Station arrested Ms. Liu Fengmei, Ms. Zhang Xiulan, and Mr. Huang Cheng and ransacked their houses. The police detained Mr. Huang's wife and took her to the Jinzhou City 1st Detention Centre and then transferred her to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City. The same day, the Jinzhou City Public Safety Bureau and the local police broke into Mr. Qu Chengye's house in Laizhou City, Shandong Province and arrested him. These practitioners have been persecuted since 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong was initiated.
When in court, the four practitioners exposed how the police tortured them to obtain confessions on the day of their arrest. Police from the Taihe Public Safety Bureau put covers on their heads and beat them. Ms. Liu's arms and legs were tied to an iron chair and the police hit her head with books and beat her. Her head was swollen and her shoulder bone was fractured. Then, another police officer joined them and punched Ms. Liu's chest. Ms. Liu passed out immediately.
After Ms. Zhang's head was covered, the police beat her and shocked her with electric batons. There are still scars on the arches of her feet from the electric shocks.
Mr. Huang's head was covered and his hands and his legs were cuffed. He was tied to a tiger bench. For eighteen hours, the police took turns beating him and shocking him with electric batons. Mr. Huang's face was severely disfigured and the bones in his legs and shoulders were broken. His face is still swollen and his right arm is disabled.
Mr. Qu was handcuffed during the entire forty hour trip from Shandong Province to Liaoning Province. When Mr. Qu arrived in Jinzhou at 7 a.m., his head was covered and the police beat him until 4 p.m.
When officers from the Taihe Police station took the four practitioners to a detention centre, they were unable to walk. The detention centre refused to take them because they were too badly injured. The police finally forced the detention centre take the practitioners. Guards in the detention centre said that most practitioners sent there could walk, except these four from the Taihe police station.
Ms. Liu talked about how she was tortured in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. She was shocked with multiple electric batons at the same time and had to jump from the third floor because she couldn't bear the pain. Her spine was broken in many places and there are still metal plates in her spine.
Ms. Zhang said in her statement, "Not long after I arrived at the detention centre, my abdomen hurt and I was diagnosed with a five inch ovarian fibroid tumour. I also have a cyst on my neck that is the size of a ping-pong ball. I asked the guards to take me to a hospital but they told me I had to sign a statement renouncing Falun Gong before they could take me."
People who participated in the persecution of the four practitioners:
Liang Hexiang, Chief of the Taihe District Court criminal division: 86-416-7188099 (Office); 86-138-40608699 (Mobile)
Jin (first name unknown), director of the Taihe District Court: 86-416-7189999 (Office)
Staff from the Jinzhou Public Safety Bureau (anti-Falun Gong division):
Wang Hui, Captain: 86-416-2389966 (Home)
Zhang Haiquan. He went to Shandong province to arrest Mr. Qu and help Wang Hui put together false charges against the practitioners.
Lu Hao went to Shandong province to arrest Mr. Qu. He was in charge of monitoring observers and practitioners during the trial. He has been highly active in the persecution of practitioners..
Hao (first name unknown). He was in charge of taking pictures of and videotaping practitioners and lawyers in the court observing the trial. He has been highly active in the persecution of practitioners.
Li Yinting, Director of the Taihe Public Safety Bureau in Jinzhou City : 86-416-5178899 (Office), 86-416-2343777 (Home), 86-139-41630777(Mobile),
Li Dongming, captain of the Taihe Public Safety Bureau criminal division (the department that is in charge of torturing the four practitioners)
Dai Yong and Wang Zhi, heads of the domestic safety brigade of the Taihe Public Safety Bureau: 86-416-5168615 (Office)
Officers from the Taihe Public Safety Bureau who put together the charges against the practitioners: Gao Bao, Wei Wenwang, Liu Chuang, Cui Jiakun, Chai Yong, Shi Gang, Wang Liyong, and Zhang Jijiu.
Zhang Jiuyi, Director of the Nverhe Police Station in Jinzhou City: 86-416-5136158 (Office), 86-139-40694055(Mobile)
Li Yazhou, Deputy Director of the Jinzhou City Public Safety Bureau (in charge of persecuting Falun Gong): 86-416-2572018 (Office), 86-416-2388888 (Home) and 86-138-97886666 (Mobile)
Liu Bo, Judge of the the Jinzhou City Middle Court criminal division: 86-416-2526804 (Office). Liu has been in charge of other trials that vilified Falun Gong practitioners. Liu did not hold public trials, and always handed down the same verdict.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/8/21/184513.html
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