Mr. Yang Jinmiao and His Daughter Unjustly Sentenced--Another Daughter Detained

Name: Yang Jinmiao
Gender: Male
Age: 70
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Retired
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 4th, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Pudong New Area Detention Centre
City: Shanghai
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, Sleep Deprivation, Brainwashing

Mr. Yang Jinmiao, 70, is a retired from the Yangpu District Bureau of Archives in Shanghai. His elder daughter, Ms. Yang Haiyang, is an employee of the Shanghai Xingjia Industries Co., Ltd. His younger daughter, Ms. Yang Hairong, was an employee of the Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Institute, Pudong Branch. She was dismissed by her workplace in late 2001 for her belief in Falun Gong.

On June 4th, 2008, Mr. Yang was reported by Weng Zhikou from the Yangjing Neighbourhood Night Patrol Team when he was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in the Yangjingxizheng Subdivision in Pudong District. He was arrested and taken to the Yangjing Police Station. Under orders from Chen Tianshan, Lu Aibao and Shen Hong, officers Chen Guorong, Shen Xiaoping and Ni Hua searched Mr. Yang's home, during which time the officers managed to find two unrelated individuals, Li Pingqi and Yao Zhiyong, as the so-called witnesses.

The officers then took Ms. Yang Haiyan and Ms. Yang Hairong, who happened to be home, to the Yangjing Police Station. Officers Yu Hui, Zhou Weiqing, Zhang Yu, Lu Xiaojun, Xue Zhenzhong, Chen Jianhua, Zhang Ying, Huang Wei, Cai Mingkang, Huang Hao and Li Weiwei interrogated Mr. Yang and his two daughters through the night and then sent them to the Pudong New Area Police Station.

On July 2nd, 2008, Mr. Yang's elder daughter, Ms. Yang Haiyan was sent to the brainwashing centre in Qingpu District, where she was held until the Olympic Games were over. On June 27th, 2008, Zhang Jian, director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Pudong Branch, submitted the request to arrest Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong, and take them to the Pudong New Area Procuratorate. On July 3rd, 2008, the Pudong New Area Procuratorate approved the request.

In August 2008, under the name of "arraignment," officers Yu Hui and Zhou Weiqing took Ms. Yang Hairong out of the detention centre and tortured her with sleep deprivation for five consecutive nights.

On February 11th, 2009, the Pudong New Area Court held a public hearing of Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong's cases. Only two family members were allowed to sit in on the hearing. Mr. Yang's family hired Mr. Tang Jitian from Beijing and Mr. Wei Liangyue from Heilongjiang Province and two other attorneys as their legal counsels.

The four attorneys pleaded not guilty on behalf of Mr. Yang and Ms. Yang. They stated to the court that Falun Gong practitioners' activities have not violated any of the existing Chinese laws, that Falun Gong practitioners are entitled to the rights of freedom of belief, freedom of speech and freedom of press guaranteed by the [Chinese] Constitution. In other words, Falun Gong practitioners are merely exercising their constitutional rights when they make and distribute informational materials, and such activities do not constitute any crime. Furthermore, practitioners' distribution of Falun Gong materials does not meet the objective or subjective aspect of the constitutive requirements of "organizing superstitious sects to violate laws or administrative regulations," as stipulated in Article 300 in the Criminal Law, and therefore it does not constitute the alleged crimes. At the same time, there are no existing rules throughout the current Chinese laws, regulations or statutory interpretations that define Falun Gong as a cult or sect. Therefore, regardless of whether Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong did distribute materials about the persecution of Falun Gong or not, since Falun Gong is not a cult, that point alone determines that it is wrong to sentence Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong based on Article 300 of the Criminal Law.

The four attorneys' reasonable defences were interrupted and stopped several times by Shi Yaohui, judge of the Pudong New Area Court. The presiding judge of the collegiate bench, Liu Juanjuan, judges Shi Yaohui and Wang Meiling, court clerks Qian and Chen, along with Dai Yi and others from the Pudong New Area People's Procuratorate, abused the laws and sentenced Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong to a three-and-half-year term.

Mr. Yang Jinmiao and Ms. Yang Hairong appealed to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court and filed complaints against the court's unconstitutional acts during the first trial, which included failing to provide evidence or witnesses during the trial, the judge's unlawful denial of the defence attorneys' rights to a complete defence (interrupting defence attorney's rightful defence several times), and the wrongful application of law. They requested that the court conduct a public hearing and acquit Mr. Yang Jimiao and Ms. Yang Hairong, to uphold the lawful rights of citizens. However, Chen Xing, judge of Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court, upheld the lower court's ruling without hearing or notifying the defence attorneys, who were unaware that the case had been closed until they received the court's written ruling several days later.

Persecutors involved:

Yangjing Police Station: 86-21-58520229
Officers from the Yangjing Police Station: Chen Guorong, Shen Xiaoping, Ni Hua, Chen Tianshan, Lu Aibao, Shen Hong
Pudong Domestic Security Division: 86-21-50614567
Agents at the Domestic Security Division: Yu Hui, Zhou Weiqing, Zhang Yu, Lu Xiaojun, Xue Zhenzhong, Chen Jianhua, Zhang Ying, Huang Wei, Cai Mingkang, Huang Hao, Li Weiwei
Shi Yaohui, judge of the Pudong New Area Court: 86-21-68541824
Court clerk Chen: 86-21-38794518, ext. 11113
Court clerk Qian: 86-21-38794518, ext. 11122
Dai Yi, procurator from the Pudong New Area People's Procuratorate: 86-21-68542534
Chen Xing, judge of the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court: 86-21-62751200, ext. 0724
Weng Zhikou, person who reported Mr. Yang Jinmiao: 86-13032140738 (Mobile)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/9/3/207642.html