Mr. Tao Yuan Detained, His Lawyer Beaten and Injured, His Mother Monitored and Harassed

Forty-two-year-old Mr. Tao Yuan from Chengdu City and his mother Zhang Shengrong are both Falun Gong practitioners. After the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, they were both severely persecuted. After the persecution started, Tao Yuan was detained and sent to forced labour camps many times. In early 2007, he was arrested at home by officers from the Jinyang Police Station. His parents went to the Jinyang Police Station and the Jinyang Street Committee asking for information many times, and their inquiries were all dodged, and they were threatened. In September 2007, Tao Yuan's parents received a "notice of imprisonment" from the Guangyuan Prison, and only then did they learn that Tao Yuan had been sentenced to four years of imprisonment by the Wuhou Court. However the Guangyuan Prison didn't let Tao Yuan see his family, claiming that the local Jinyang 610 Office¹ wouldn't approve of it. Tao Yuan's mother has not been allowed to see her son since early 2007 when Tao Yuan was arrested.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong, who is in her seventies, had been detained many times and was detained at the Jinhua Brainwashing Centre for three years and three months. Beginning in December 2005, Zhang Shengrong was followed, monitored and harassed by an agent from the Jinyang Street Committee. On March 27th, 2009, she received a phone call from the Guangyuan Prison and was told that her son Tao Yuan had cervical vertebra dislocation and needed surgery, and Zhang Shengrong needed to sign. After the mother signed, the prison let her hurriedly see Tao Yuan, who was lying in bed and monitored by many officers. The police forced the mother to leave quickly without letting her talk to her son. The prison personnel said that Tao Yuan had cervical vertebra dislocation and also blood clots in his head.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong went to the Guangyuan prison to see her son on April 1st, 2009. Prison personnel prohibited her from seeing him, claiming that the local 610 Office did not approve of visitation. When she returned home that night, a couple of people, including the head of the Jinyang Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee and Gong Daoquan, went to Ms. Zhang's home and using threats tried to make her tell them who had accompanied her to go to Guangyuan Prison. The committee has since intensified their monitoring of her. They often call to harass her, knock on her door, and prohibit her from going outside.

On April 7th, Ms. Zhang was able to evade the person who was monitoring her and she went outside. On the afternoon of that day, Jinyang police and agents from the Jinyang CCP committee blocked the entrance of her apartment unit and the entrance of the apartment building at Hongyun Garden. The doorway was full of people as was the corridor and the door to her apartment.

On April 11th, there was a seal on Zhang Shengrong's door. The mother decided to hire a lawyer to seek justice for her son.

On the afternoon of April 12th, 2009, two lawyers for Mr. Tao Yuan accompanied Ms. Zhang Shengrong to her home to get the ID, the household register, etc., and met with an agent from the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office, the person who was following Zhang Shengrong. The lawyers sternly warned him that his behaviour was illegal. Later many people from the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office and officers from the Jinyang Police Station, including assistant police chief Deng Xingqiang, broke into her house and tried to threaten the lawyers and Ms. Zhang. One lawyer pointed out that they had already broken the law by "breaking into a personal residence," and told them he would make a complaint about Deng Xingqiang to the police commissioners of Wuhou District and Wuhan City.

Several people from the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office blocked the corridor and stopped Ms. Zhang from leaving. The lawyers had no choice but to leave first, but they agreed to pick up Ms. Zhang to visit her injured son at Guangyuan the following day.

At about 9:00 a.m. on the morning of April 13th, two lawyers went to Zhang Shengrong's house. Lawyer Cheng Hai was beaten. He reported the incident to the police and made a written record at around noon. Jiang Ning, deputy secretary of the local neighbourhood committee, and Gong Daoquan, director of the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office, appeared and requested that the personnel from the neighbourhood committee go with her.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong went to the Guangyuan Prison together with the two lawyers and two ladies from the neighbourhood committee.

Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office
Gong Daoquan, head: 86-13981970353(Mobile)
Jiang Ning, deputy secretary of the neighbouring committee
Jinyang Police Station of Wuhou District:
Deng Xingqiang deputy head, Luo Gang, head: 86-28-80573296, 86-13908063323(Mobile)

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/14/198944.html