Police Arrest Dozens of Practitioners' Relatives and Friends during Trial in Mudanjiang City

At 9:30 a.m. on November 28th, 2008, the Heilongjiang Provincial Mudanjiang Municipal Xi'an District Court held a trial against Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Zhao Boliang, Ms. Zhang Yuhua, Mr. Li Haifeng and Mr. Li Yongsheng. Relatives and friends of these four practitioners came to the court from places such as Harbin City, Hulin County, Mishan City, Jixi City, Jidong City, Hailin County. Including their local relatives and friends, the total was approximately 150 people. At about 8:00 a.m., the relatives and friends entered the court hall to request to watch the trial. The court personnel, citing higher authority's orders as the reason, only allowed those with ID cards in. When the friends and relatives entered the court, their IDs were inspected again, and this time, only the practitioners' close family members were allowed to enter. In the end only 14 people were allowed to enter the court to watch. The other 140 people were driven by staff to the courtyard.

Some of the people who were not allowed to watch the trial went to negotiate with the court staff, but they were threatened by court personnel using very coarse language. The police also used a camcorder and camera to take photographs and video of the people standing there, saying, "We are recording to prepare a profile for all of you." Police waved the camcorder to drive away those standing outside the front door. Some police shut the metal gate while at the same time continuing to take videos and photographs from inside.

At about 10:00 a.m., police started to intercept vehicles, and some vehicles were blocked outside the street intersection. Soon, six or seven police vehicles had stopped at the front door of the court. Approximately 40 police got out of the vehicles and stood in the courtyard in three rows. One person spoke to them briefly, and they dispersed very quickly. The police stood on both sides inside the court front door. The people inside were not allowed to go outside, and the people outside were not allowed to go inside. Meanwhile, the police started to arrest the relatives and friends who were peacefully waiting to hear the result of the trial.

All of the arrests were directed by Chief Li Zhe of the State Security Division Municipal Police Department, and Peng Fuming and Yang Danbei (female). Many local police officers also participated in the arrests. Altogether 40-50 people were arrested. Their family members asked why they were being arrested, but the police did not reply.

The hearing finished at about 12:30 p.m. and the relatives who were allowed to watch the trial discovered that all of their family members and friends outside were gone. After inquiring multiple times, they were told that their family members and friends outside were arrested by police. A few of the relatives who watched the trial immediately went to the police department, the Mudanjiang Municipal Party Committee, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political and Judiciary Committee, the municipal National People's Congress, the Political Consultative Conference, and the appeals office to ask for help, but nobody listened to them. A receptionist at the political and judiciary committee said: "Regarding Falun Gong issues it is stipulated that we are not allowed to accept complaints or meddle with it, so we also cannot help." Someone called the mayor's hot-line, but the line was constantly busy.

At 5:30 p.m., some relatives and friends arrived at the municipal police department and inquired at the gate. The guard said: "Indeed we arrested 40 to 50 people, but they have already been processed by now. Some of them were released and some were taken to the detention centre. You should come back again next Monday." An insider there said that after making the arrests, the head of the State Security Division turned off all mobile phones and office telephones, refusing to take any calls.

Presiding Judge Liu Hui of Xi'an District Court: 86-453-6299901 (Office)
Mudanjiang 610 Office chief Guan Jiumian: 86-13836378002 (Mobile), 86-453-6412208 (Home), 86-453-6528931 (Office)
Mudanjiang Municipal Police Department Chief Zhao Jincheng: 86-13314636111 (Mobile)
The State Security Division Municipal Police Department: 86-453-6282523, 86-453-6282520, chief: Li Zhe

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/11/29/190699.html