Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court Sentenced Mr. Song Aichang

On June 22nd, 2007, Mr. Song Aichang, a practitioner from Shijiazhuang City, was arrested at home by local police and has been held in a detention centre ever since.

The first trial involved three court appearances. On September 22nd, 2008, after Mr. Song had been detained for over nine months, during the first trial, Qiaoxi District Court sentenced him to three years in prison.

Mr. Song appealed the sentence to the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court. His attorney and family members filed appeals and complaints on several points of law in the first trial including; incorrect application of the law, a lack of evidence, forged court documents, extorting a confession by torture, and prolonged detention. On November 4th, 2008, the intermediate court ruled to "repeal the sentence passed during the first trail and send the case back to Qiaoxi District Court for a new trial." On November 21st, 2008, the case was formally returned to Qiaoxi District Court.

At 10:10 a.m. on February 17th, 2009, the No. 11 court, a division of Qiaoxi District Court, re-opened the case and convened a second trial. Because the initial evidence was invalid, the state prosecutor retracted the evidence. However, on March 15th, 2009, Qiaoxi District Court still sentenced Mr. Song Aichang to three years in prison, although there was no evidence.

Mr. Song deemed it an unfair trial and an unfair sentence. He appealed to Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court, and two fair-minded attorneys represented him in court. The appeal that Mr. Song and his attorneys, Xie Yanyi and Tang Jitian, filed with the Hebei Province High Court stated that the lower court had lost its credibility due to its illegal conduct during the first trial, and therefore they should not have jurisdiction over a second trial. Eventually Hebei Province High Court took the case according to the law.

However, a few months passed and the trial was delayed without reason. At the same time, Lv Ling from Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court claimed that she had seen the appeal letter copied to her by the high court. Despite knowing she had no jurisdiction in the case, she continued to interrogate Mr. Song. Mr. Song requested that his defence attorneys report the situation to the Shijiazhuang City Procuratorate and request an investigation into the activities of Xu Guangwei, the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court director, who was responsible for the misconduct and delinquency.

In July 2009, before the Hebei Province High Court had made a ruling in the case, Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court upheld the original three-year sentence, although it did not legally have jurisdiction in the case.

Currently Mr. Song Aichang remains in Shijiazhuang City's Second Detention Centre.

Government entities and personnel involved:

Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court

Xu Guangwei, head of the Court: 86-311-85187297
Liu Renjun, executive deputy head of the court: 86-311-85187297
Lv Ling, deputy court director (in charge of Falun Gong cases): 86-311-85187153
Pei Weihua, female, presiding judge at Song Aichang's second trial: 86-311-85187159

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/11/20/212942.html