The Persecution of Ms. Li Mei from the Intermediate Court of Justice in Hefei City

On June 12th, 2008, several dozen personnel from the Hefei City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the Politics and Law Committee, and the Public Security Bureau detained Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Mei from the Intermediate Court of Justice, Hefei City, after breaking into her home in the Hefei City Court living quarters. Under unwarranted charges, Ms. Li was sentenced to one year at the Nanhu Detention Centre in Anhui Province. As Ms. Li refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong and the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, when her sentence expired, she was arrested again and sent to a brainwashing facility in the Jade Garden Hotel in Hefei. When Ms. Li still would not renounce her upright beliefs, she was sent to another brainwashing facility, this time at the Qifengyuan Hotel in Hefei, for further brainwashing attempts. Li Mei has now been transferred to a second detention centre in Hefei.

Due to her firm belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, in 2001, Li Mei was arrested by the Shushan Public Security Bureau outside her residential building. She was first sent to a detention centre and then to the Anhui Women's Re-education Centre for two years. Then, in March 2003, she was subjected to brainwashing until November 2007.

Li Mei continued to hold firm to her beliefs and maintained her innocence. She demanded her freedom, that her position in court be restored, and that her right to continue her duties as a wife and mother be restored. Her original sentence has now expired, and the authorities from the Hefei 610 Office realised they could not sway her belief through persecution. They changed their tactics and demanded that she sign a written statement that they had prepared. The statement read, "Uphold the great political guiding principles of our nation, abide by our national laws and regulations, and the remaining matters will be postponed for the future." They gave her twenty-four hours to sign her name on the document. They also promised to release her if she signed the statement, and threatened that she would be expelled from public office and face a prison sentence if she refused.

As a justice of the court, a person who understands the law and whose job is to uphold the law, Ms. Li Mei refused to sign any such unlawful document. Officials from the Hefei 610 Office then sent her to the Hefei Detention Centre for further persecution.

The Hefei 610 Office and the Yaohai District Court collaborated in sentencing Li Mei. They hired lawyers for her and informed them not to provide any form of evidence in her defence. They denied Li Mei any form of communication with her lawyers and she was given no notification until the third day of her trial. Even now, the 610 Office continues to demand that a "change in attitude" from Li Mei would grant her immediate release and the restoration of her job.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/11/30/213555.html