Officials from Shanghai Xuhui Court Mistreat Falun Gong Practitioners

At 1:30 p.m. on October 21st, 2008, the Shanghai Xuhui Court held a hearing for practitioners Mr. Liu Peng, Ms. Zheng Yan and Ms. Zhang Xumei. There were over seventy police officers and plain-clothes police officers in the courtroom and security was tight.

The following officials participated in the hearing: Chief Judge Peng Tao, Judge Lu Wenjia, Substitute Judge Luo Tao, and the prosecutor, Xu Zhenhui. Lu Wenjia was the primary judge.

The Shanghai Xuhui Court announced that the hearing would not be open to the public. Many restrictions were placed on people who wanted to watch the hearing. Some of the people who planned to watch the hearing were threatened. Ms. Zhang Yuxia has been a friend of Mr. Liu Peng and Ms. Zhang Xumei for many years. The authorities found her to be "suspicious" and detained her. Ms. Zhang Yuxia had planned to watch the hearing, however, officials from the court called the officials from the school where she is employed and demanded that they stop her from watching the hearing. They also threatened that she would be arrested and held temporarily if she did come to watch.

Before the hearing, Judge Lu Wenjia threatened the defence lawyer, Li Duiyong, and ordered that he comply with the court. The judge told him when he could speak and not speak. The judge also threatened him by telling him that there would be many Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in the courtroom listening to the hearing including officials from the judicial bureau.

During the trial, the defence lawyer made the argument that imposing the charge of "undermining the enforcement of the law because one belongs to a cult" on Falun Gong practitioners was wrong. The lawyer pointed out that this was an incorrect concept and was a misinterpretation of criminal law. He also questioned which law or regulation was actually undermined. Judge Lu Wenjia rudely interrupted his argument and did not allow the defence lawyer to continue, stating that the question of belief was a legislative question and had nothing to do with the case.

The judge was not only unreasonable, but interrupted the lawyer's defence many times. The self defence testimonies of Mr. Liu Peng, Ms. Zheng Yan and Ms. Zhang Xumei's were also repeatedly interrupted. Mr. Liu Peng was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair with a force-feeding tube inserted in his nose. He described how he was interrogated with torture and deprived of sleep for several days. He asked to be able to call a witness but the judge interrupted him and said that he would not allow the witness to testify and that the witness would only be allowed to contact the court with a statement. Mr. Liu Peng said that the court did not tell him about the hearing. He had only learned about the trial the day before the hearing when he met with his lawyer. He did not have time to prepare for the hearing, and had recently been deprived of sleep for several days before the trial so he was extremely weak. The officers from the Shanghai Police Department and the Xuhui State Security Division coerced him to sign the paperwork while his mind was unclear. He refused to accept the hearing and requested that the court select another date for retrial. The judge did not allow Ms. Zhang Xumei to defend herself. She was only allowed to submit a written statement.

After giving their testimonies, Mr. Liu Peng, Ms. Zheng Yan and Ms. Zhang Xumei were threatened with punishment by the prosecuting lawyer for their "bad attitudes."

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/10/25/188501.html