Changchun City Intermediate Court Obstructs Human Rights Lawyers from Defending Falun Gong Practitioners

On March 27th, 2009, the Nong'an County Court in Jilin Province held a "public sentencing" of seven Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Li Fengming and Mr. Han Xixiang, without notifying any family members. After that day, other Nong'an County practitioners and their families hired fourteen human rights lawyers to defend them at the second trial. The Changchun City Intermediate Court continues to obstruct the involvement of the lawyers in this case.

After overcoming various obstacles, the fourteen lawyers delivered the lawyers' letter to the intermediate court. The court was afraid after seeing this large team of lawyers that were defending the practitioners, so they never responded regarding the date of the second trial. The date of the second trial is still in limbo.

On June 9th, 2009, the family of arrested and detained practitioner Mr. Tang Moqiu hired a Beijing human rights lawyer to defend him in the first trial.

When the lawyer arrived in the courtroom, the court stated that senior authorities have a notice barring out-of-state lawyers from getting involved in any Falun Gong case and that only lawyers assigned by the local court were allowed.

On the afternoon of June 10th, 2009, the person in charge of this case, Guo Qingxi, deputy director of the criminal division at the Nong'an County Court, encouraged the Politics and Law Committee and the head of the local 610 Office¹ to pressure the lawyer. They said, "Senior management has a document saying that out-of-state lawyers cannot be involved." The lawyer demanded to see the document but Guo Qingxi said, "The CCP's policies may not all be written on paper." The lawyer requested a written statement for proof, but they claimed that it was a "political issue." The lawyer clearly pointed out, "What you are doing is against the law. Instead of enforcing the law, you are breaking the law. You are denying a citizen's most basic rights."

They had nothing to reply to the lawyer's justifiable arguments. They got up in a hurry and left.

Before this article was submitted, it was reported that the Changchun City Intermediate Court and the Beijing Judicial Bureau have been putting pressure on human rights lawyers in an effort to continue the persecution of Dafa practitioners.

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/2009/6/28/203580.html