Letter from Six Lawyers Exposes Illegal Activities of Chief Justice and other Officials of the Hejiang County Court, Sichuan Province

At 9:00 a.m. on May 19th, 2009, the Hejiang County Court in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province held a public trial of Mr. Wei Fengming and five other Falun Gong practitioners. The six defending lawyers, Mr. Tang Jitian, Mr. Liu Wei, Mr. Wen Haibo, Mr. Li Subin, Mr. Li Jinglin, and Mr. Dong Qianyong arrived at the court on time. However, the court set up two obstacles denying the lawyers access to the trial.

The first obstacle was at the gate of the court. First, seven or eight bailiffs guarded the half-metre wide gate, examining people's ID if they tried to enter. They asked the lawyers to show the notice of trial or else they wouldn't be allowed to pass. After much discussion, the bailiffs let them through. In fact, the court never sent the notice of the trial to the lawyers. However, lawyer Mr. Li Subin was expelled from court because the presiding judge, Zhang Ke, would not allow him to be there, using the reason that there were already enough lawyers.

Second, what was originally a public trial became a closed trial as the bailiffs denied access to any audience. This violated the rules of a public trial. At the same time, the court arranged for staff to video record the audience that gathered and waited at the gate. Court video recording is used in the trial, the monitoring of audience outside the court completely violated conventions. If the recordings were used illegally, then the court would have to bear all responsibilities for the violation of civil rights.

The second obstacle was set at the entrance to the court. The bailiffs once again asked to see the notice of trial or else the lawyers would be denied access. The lawyers explained that they didn't receive any notice, but the bailiffs ignored their explanation and wouldn't notify the presiding judge in the court. The bailiffs did not follow the law, they followed the illegal directions of the head of the court. Second, they asked the lawyers to cooperate with this court's own security measures. Not only did the lawyers have to go through the normal security inspection, but bailiffs also searched their bags, their bodies and confiscated all of the metal objects they carried. However, some special plainclothes officers were allowed to enter and leave the court without going through security. The treatment of the lawyers was the same as that given to criminal suspects. These illegal discriminatory treatments eventually caused the defence lawyers to be unable to perform their duties in the trial.

The Supreme People's Court's document "People's Court Bailiff Security Inspection Rule," sixth provision, first section reads, "Effective inspection of credentials and registration should be performed on the public prosecutors, lawyers and others attending trial to perform their respective duties." This provision clearly states that bailiffs may only inspect the credentials of the lawyers, they may not inspect their bodies or belongings.

The chief justice, vice-chief, and over ten other judges and bailiffs of the Hejiang County Court publicly defied the law. They recklessly encroached upon the attorneys' legitimate rights. The most unreasonable and overbearing people were chief justice Wang Hong, vice-chief Yuan Hailiang, and executive judge Tang Xianrong.

The illegal actions by the Chief Justice of the Hejiang County Court and others not only publicly discriminates against the lawyers, they are an affront to the accused's right to legal counsel. Even though the court was trying the accused on charges of obstructing the law, the court staff publicly challenged and damaged the implementation of the law. Their actions not only are an infringement of the accused's rights, they also damage the rule of law and create a very negative impact on society. Given that Chief Justice Wang Hong, Vice-Chief Yuan Hailiang, Executive Judge Tang Xianrong, and Presiding Judge Zhang Ke conducted illegal acts during this trial, including not opening the trial to the public and impeding the lawyers' entrance to the court, we request that the related authorities investigate these four men according to the law. We request that a legitimate response be provided to the lawyers, and a legitimate compensation be provided to the accused.

The complainants request:
1. An investigation into the illegal abandonment of responsibilities
by Chief Justice Wang Hong, Vice-Chief Yuan Hailiang, Executive Judge Tang Xianrong, and Presiding Judge Zhang Ke;
2. An apology from the two chiefs, executive judge, and presiding judge to the six lawyers;
3. A confirmation that the May 19th, 2009 trial was illegal and invalid;
4. A resumption of the public trial of this case.

Sincerely

Complainant:
Mr. Tang Jitian: 86-13161302848 (Mobile)
Mr. Liu Wei: 86-15901371049 (Mobile)
Mr. Wen Haibo: 86-13811778770 (Mobile)
Mr. Li Subin: 86-15811200660 (Mobile)
Mr. Li Jinglin: 86-13693283418 (Mobile)
Mr. Dong Qianyong: 86-13366373454 (Mobile)

Cc:
Hejiang County Party Committee, Discipline Committee, Politics and Law Committee, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Procuratorate; Luzhou City Party Committee, Discipline Committee, Politics and Law Committee, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Procuratorate; Sichuan Province Party Committee, Discipline Committee, Politics and Law Committee, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Procuratorate; Courts at various levels in Hejiang County, Luzhou City and Sichuan Province.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/5/31/201959.html