Lawyer Hired to Investigate the Torture of Mr. Liu Yuhe at Jilin Prison

Name: Liu Yuhe
Gender: Male
Age: 39
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 12th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin Prison
City: Jilin City
Province: Jilin Province
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, beatings, torture, physical constraint, solitary confinement, forced-feedings.

Mr. Liu Yuhe is a Falun Gong practitioner in Huadian city, Jilin Province. Due to being tortured in detention, he is unable to speak and is suffering from incontinence. Mr. Liu is in the Jilin prison hospital and family members are not allowed to visit him. His family has hired a lawyer to find out who is legally responsible for Liu Yuhe's condition.

On November 12th, 2009 Mr. Liu's family members went with their lawyer to Jilin Prison to obtain Mr. Liu's signature. The family members of another practitioner, Shi Wenzhuo, and their lawyer went with them also. The officials there refused to let them see Mr. Liu.

An official at the prison, Li Yijao, asked the lawyer, "Which law office do you belong to? Do you have any proof?" After seeing the lawyer's legal document, he asked a police officer to take a copy and continued asking for the lawyer's identity card. The lawyer said, "My document has already identified who I am. There is no reason for me to show you my identity card." Another official at the prison pointed at the lawyer and said, "Do you consider Falun Gong to be an evil cult?" The lawyer replied, "My personal opinion is irrelevant. The issue is what the law says about Falun Gong. I have asked the court and the prosecutor's office for legal statements about what Falun Gong is, but they cannot come up with any."

On November 16th, 2009 Mr. Liu's family members went to the prison again to see Mr. Liu. The head of the Education Section, Xu Zhanfeng, said, "A prisoner has to be kept in prison for three months before he can see his family members." Thus, the prison officials stopped the legal process for Mr Liu's defence from being completed.

On November 17th, 2009 Liu Yuhe's family members went to the Prison Administration in the city of Changchun to appeal for a judgment on the illegal actions by the Jilin Prison officials. In particular, these prison officials had used criminal inmates to torture Mr. Liu. The response was that they would look into the matter.

Mr. Liu was arrested on December 12th, 2007 and sentenced to 8 years in Jilin Prison. Over the last two years he was beaten by criminals following orders from the guards. He was tortured with methods known as "stretching bed" and "big hang up."

It was reported that Mr Liu had informed higher authorities in the prison about the torture by criminal inmates Sun Xinghe, Liang Xinming, Ma Jingyu, and Fan Tiejun, directed by the guard Sun Fengjun. However, no legal action was taken against the perpetrators. Instead, they simply used a different group of criminals to continue the torture.

In April of 2009, Mr. Liu was kept in isolation. When he tried to go on a hunger strike to protest, the prison officials force-fed him. Currently, he is unable to care for himself and his life is in danger.

The family members plan to pursue legal actions against those responsible for the persecution of Mr. Liu.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/11/20/212944.html