Defence Attorneys Cite Illegal Police Actions in Court in Ji'an City, Jilin Province

On November 25th, 2009, the court of Jian City, Jilin Province held trials for practitioners Mr. Feng Zhengde, Mr. Zhang Xuejie, and Ms. Zhao Hongli. Defence attorneys entered innocent pleas and cited illegal police actions.

Three trials were held on the afternoon of November 25. Mr. Zhang Xuejie's trial was held between 1:00 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. Mr. Zhang Chuanli was Mr. Zhang's attorney. Mr. Feng Zhengde's trial was held between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Mr. Lan Zhixue was Mr. Feng's attorney. Ms. Zhao Hongli's trial was held between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Ms. Han Qinfang was Ms. Zhao's attorney.

During the first trial, the judge repeatedly ordered Mr. Zhang Chuanli to stop giving his statement for the defence. Mr. Zhang Chuanli refused and asserted that the judge's order was illegal. His stern words shocked the judges in the court, who were used to ruling the court without challenge.

In the following seven hours of trials, the three attorneys entered innocent pleas and cited illegal police actions in each of the cases.

1. While arresting practitioners and searching their homes, officers did not wear uniforms, and did not show identification, arrest warrants, or search warrants.

2. Interrogations of the accused is to be carried out by two or more investigators and a clerk. The Ji'an City Police Department had the interrogations carried out by only two officers from the police station.

3. Confessions were extracted through torture.

4. Evidence presented were not originals, but reproductions.

5. By law, a suspect can only be detained for 14 days without being charged, except in extremely severe cases. Jian City police arrested the practitioners after detaining them for 25 days.

6. The prosecutor provided only copies of documents. By law, they should be originals.

7. There were no legal witnesses or evidence to support the cases.

The prosecutors offered no rebuttal.

Without cause, the three practitioners were arrested with Mr. Liu Wei and Ms. Wang Liyan on the evening of July 24th, 2009, by officers from the Toudao Police Station, Ji'an City. Mr. Liu Wei was later released on bail because he developed a severe case of anaemia.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/11/29/213501.html