Ningan City Police Threaten Mr. Ge Zhifu's Family for Hiring a Lawyer

Four months ago, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ge Zhifu was arrested by police in Ningan City, Heilongjiang Province. When his family hired a lawyer to represent him, the police threatened them, "We will arrest you if you refuse to give up hiring the lawyer."

At around 6:00 a.m. on July 7th, 2009, police from the Domestic Security Division of Ningan City First Police Station arrested Mr. Ge Zhifu, his wife, Ms. Tian Junhuan, and his mother, Ms. Mi Xinrong, at his home. Then they ransacked his home and confiscated his property, including the taxi that he drives to earn a living. Mr. Ge's father, who is over 70 years old and suffers from serious liver cirrhosis, was left home alone.

While Mr. Ge's wife was in police custody, the officers constantly harassed and threatened her until she suffered a mental breakdown. She didn't eat, drink or sleep, and was dependent on others. On July 22nd, the police released Ms. Tian and Ms. Mi, but only after extorting 3,000 yuan¹ from them. The police forced the family to pay another 3,000 yuan to cover a so-called "expense" for Mr. Tian's check-up.

On the morning of November 9th, 2009, Mr. Ge's mother and the lawyer the family hired went to the Prosecution Section of the Procuratorate Court to get information about Mr. Ge's case. The head of the section, Li Jige, told them to return at 9:00 a.m. on November 13th because he couldn't release the information to them. Liu Ying, who was in charge of the case, was out of town on a business trip to Harbin City. The next day, Ms. Mi was informed that Liu Ying was not out of town, so she went to meet her in the afternoon. Liu Ying said that she had submitted the case several days before to higher authorities. At around 5:00 p.m., Ms. Mi and the lawyer again went to the Procuratorate Court to meet with Li Jige. He told them to return 20 days later because the case lacked evidence and was rejected by the Public Security Bureau.

On the morning of November 11th, Ms. Mi went to the Public Security Bureau to find out more about the case. The head of the Domestic Security Division, Duan Muqinhai, threatened her, "Where does your lawyer live? You'd better fire your lawyer, otherwise I will have the two of you [Ms. Mi and Ms. Tian] arrested again."

Responsible units:

Wang Jianmin, Ningan City 610 Office: 86-453-7666615 (Office)

Ningan City Public Security Bureau

Mei Songhe, Chief: 86-453-7623330 (Office)
Duan Muqinghai, head of the Domestic Security Bureau
Deng Hongwei, Xu Youcai, Deng Hongwei, Zhao Lianying, deputy heads of the Domestic Security Bureau

Ningan City Procuratorate Court
Li Jige, head of Prosecution Section
Liu Ying of Prosecution Section

Note

1. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/11/15/212682.html