Mr. Ma Guobiao and His Parents Sentenced in Secret Trial

Mr. Ma Guobiao, 36, and his parents were detained at the Jiading District Detention Centre for eleven months. On January 12th, 2009, Mr. Ma was sentenced to six years in prison during a secret court trial held in Shanghai. His mother, Ms. Jin Runfang, received a 4-year sentence and his father, Mr. Ma Dongquan, received a 3-year sentence with a 4-year suspended term.

Mr. Ma Guobiao's home is in Shanghai City. His whole family has been practising Falun Gong and conducting themselves according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Mr. Ma Guobiao had invited over ten practitioners to come to his home to watch a Falun Gong DVD on February 22nd, 2008. He was not able to stay with the practitioners because he had to go to work that day.

Approximately one hour later, the power in his home suddenly went out. As everyone was walking outside to see what happened, dozens of police officers stormed in and arrested the practitioners. The officers hastily ransacked Mr. Ma Guobiao's home then went to his workplace to arrest him.

On March 28th, 2008, Mr. Ma Guobiao, along with his father and mother, were issued a formal arrest warrant and later detained at the Jiading District Detention Centre, where they remain to this day. During his detention, Mr. Ma Guobiao developed several severe illnesses. Whenever his symptoms flared up, he found it very difficult to walk.

Once the guards drove him back home with the excuse that he needed more spending money to live on. But as soon as they entered his home, they began to ransack it like gangsters, taking away his TV satellite receiver.

On January 12th, 2009, a secret trial was held for the three family members. Since they were all imprisoned and unable to find a lawyer to defend them, the court eventually assigned them several defence lawyers: Cai Hao from the Zhengda Attorney Affairs Office, Gu Xixi (female) from the Huadian Attorney Affairs Office, and Wu Xiaole from the Zhengzheng Attorney Affairs Office.

During the trial, Mr. Ma Guobiao and his mother told the court that "Falun Gong is righteous. It's nothing like what the Chinese Communist Party says it is!" They continued to express their beliefs from the beginning of the trial to the end.

While Mr. Ma Guobiao was at work in December 2002, he was arrested by police officers from the Changning District Police Department and sentenced to two years of forced labour. While imprisoned, he was shocked with electric batons on his private parts and was subjected to the "Shanghai Style Tiger Bench" torture method (the practitioner is pushed against a wall and several people stretch his legs 180 degrees apart, while others beat him). He was also tortured with extended periods of sleep derivation.

Ms. Jin Runfang was arrested when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in 2001. When she was taken back to Shanghai, she was sentenced to two years of forced labour. The guards tortured her by trying to brainwash her, forcing her to stand in a corner for long periods of time, and making her hand-copy the labour camp rules and read magazine articles containing fabricated stories about Falun Gong. She also suffered sleep derivation and was forced to work as a slave. When she did not follow the guards' orders, they would hang her up by her arms.

Fan Dongliang, Zhou Jun, Zhang Pinxing, and Chen Qishan, personnel at the Jiading District National Security 610 Office

Jiading District Court:
Xu Wenliao, chief judge
Xiang Yongming and Ye, judges
Gao Jiwei, secretary

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/1/25/194104.html