67-Year-Old Mr. Zhang Xingwu from Jinan City, Shandong Province, Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison

Professor Zhang Xingwu, 67, is a Falun Gong practitioner in Jinan City, Shandong Province. His family was notified that Mr. Zhang was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. Practitioner Ms. Yang Suhua was sentenced to five years.

In the morning on March 31st, Shizhong District Court in Jinan City tried Mr. Zhang Xingwu. They not only prevented Professor Zhang Xingwu's defence lawyer from attending the proceedings, but also keep his family from being present in the courtroom. In addition, 70 armed, anti-riot police and nearly 200 other officers (both uniformed and plain clothes) were deployed around the courthouse. One of Mr. Zhang's relatives, Ms. Liu Lijie, was detained for fifteen days and later sentenced to 21 months' forced labour just because she wanted to attend the session. Practitioner Mr. Zhu Xiaodong only asked a question: "What happened?" He was then arrested, held for ten days at a detention centre, and later sentenced to 21 months of forced labour. Practitioner Mr. Miao Peihua left home and was arrested before he even arrived at the courthouse. After being detained for fifteen days, he was sentenced to 21 months of forced labour.

Xie Yajie, the head of Shizhong District Court, personally gave orders to the police and ordered them to keep Professor Zhang Xingwu's defence lawyer, Mr. Li Subin, from entering the court. Xie Yajie attended the trial in person. Only two detained Falun Gong practitioners and one person from each of their families were allowed to be present for the proceedings. Aside from them, there were all the officials from the 610 Office¹ and the head of each court in Jinan City.

In the absence of his defence lawyer, Mr. Zhang Xingwu rationally and logically used the law to explain that he should be released immediately and submitted a "not guilty" plea. Wang Limin, the Court Chief, and Zhang Xiaohui, the prosecutor, had nothing to say, but they claimed that Mr. Zhang's attitude wasn't good so that they were going to sentence him to a heavy prison term.

The verdict in Mr. Zhang Xingwu's case generated more concerns. What's more, during the trial, none of the witnesses was called in, and nobody even knew who they were. The name of Mrs. Liu Pinjie, Mr. Zhang Xingwu's wife, appeared several times as a witness. However, in investigating the case of Mr. Zhang, his wife had never accused him of anything. Mr. Zhang's defence lawyer recently planned to appeal to the supreme court.

Mr. Zhang Xingwu is a former professor at Normal University of Jinan City. At around 11 p.m. on July 16th, 2008, instigated by the 610 Office, more than twenty officers from Weijiazhuang Police Station in the Shizhong District broke into Mr. Zhang's house, ransacked it, and confiscated his belongings. They illegally arrested Mr. Zhang and his wife, Mrs. Liu Pinjie. That night, Mrs. Li had severe stroke symptoms. After they extorted a 10,000 yuan² bail from her, she was released the following morning.

After she regained the ability to walk on her own, she immediately went to the judicial system in Jinan City to explain the facts about Falun Gong to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and try to rescue her husband. On August 6th, Mrs. Liu Pinjie was detained again by the officers from Weijiazhuang Police Station. Agents from the 610 Office reported to their superiors and wanted to arrest her. However, the Procuratorate refused to have her arrested, using the excuse that she had the severe stroke symptoms and there was no solid evidence for her so-called "crime." Later on, the 610 Office detained her in a brainwashing session for 37 days. After they again extorted of a lot of money from her as bail, they released her.

List of pertinent contacts:
Shizhong District Court, Jinan City
Head of the Court Xie Yajie: 86-531-89873578(Office), 86-13854161977(Mobile)
Chief of the Criminal Court Fu Chunlei: 86-531-82567091
Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court Wang Limen: 86-531-8256-7176

Note

1. "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.

2. "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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/26/199672.html