Policeman Chen Ju from Qitaihe Blocks Lawyer from Meeting with His Client, a Falun Gong Practitioner

The Qitaihe legal system of the Heilongjiang Province has been preparing to put practitioner Mr. Jiang Botao on trial. Mr. Jiang's wife hired a lawyer for him. When the lawyer tried to proceed with the legal procedure, the head of the Domestic Security Division sub-branch team, Mr. Chen Ju, intervened and refused to allow the lawyer to meet with his client Mr. Jiang. The lawyer then decided to sue Mr. Chen Ju.

On the afternoon of September 22nd, 2009, the police from the Qitaihe City Police Department, the local police station and the director of 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), Bi Shuqing, arrested six practitioners and local business owners Ms. Zhang Xiuliang and her sister who were selling computers and accessories. Due to rescue efforts from overseas practitioners and families of arrested people, Ms. Zhang Xiulian and her sister, practitioner Li Fengbo - who developed advanced stage lung cancer due to the arrest and subsequent persecution, have been released.

Mr. Jiang Botao is still detained. On November 23rd, his lawyer went to talk with Mr. Ding Yihui who is the head of the Domestic Security Division of the Xinxing Police Department, to get the information of Mr. Jiang's case. Ding was surprised and told the lawyer that he had never known that a lawyer would take a stand for Falun Gong practitioners and he had no clue how to handle it. The lawyer asked Ding to accompany him to meet with his client. Ding told the lawyer to come back around 2 p.m. for the meeting. When the lawyer returned at 2 p.m., Ding told him that the head of the Domestic Security Division sub-branch, Mr. Chen Ju, refused to allow the lawyer to meet with his client. The reason given was that Mr. Jiang's case was still under investigation.

The regulation of the Ministry of the Public Security states that the detainee has the right to meet with his lawyer after 24 hours. The lawyer reminded Ding that the police actions were in violation of the law. Ding the replied, "Well, you can sue him," referring to Mr. Chen Ju. The lawyer is now preparing his case to sue Mr. Chen Ju.

Other detained practitioners include: Li Xinchun, Guo Qizhong, Guan Shuxue, Liu Yunrong

Responsible personnel:
Du Jun, secretary of the Politics and Law Committee for Qitaihe City
Qitaihe Police Department
Bi Shuqing, director of 610 Office: 86-13946550880(Mobile), 86-13314640880(Mobile), 86-464-8281932(Home), 86-464-8284932(Home), 86-464-8297021(Office)
Chen Ju, team head of Domestic Security Division sub-branch: 86-13089556565(Mobile), 86-464-8267007(Home)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/12/5/213860.html