Jinchang District Court Rejected Mr. Lu Tong's Appeal

Name: Lu Tong
Gender: Male
Age: In his 50s
Address: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 4th, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Wuxi City
City: Wuxi
Province: Jiangsu
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, imprisonment, torture, interrogation, detention
Defence Attorneys: Jiang Tianyong, Li Chunfu

Mr. Lu Tong was sentenced to four years in prison by Jinchang District Court in Suzhou City on December 17th, 2008. His daughter, Lu Yan, and his attorneys appealed for him. The court held a hearing on December 10th, 2009, but refused to reverse the sentence and made things difficult for the attorneys.

On July 4th, 2008, the 50-year-old Mr. Lu was arrested by officers from the Caixiang Police Station and put in Wuxi City Prison after the court sentenced him. Prior to this, he was once held in Fangqiang Forced Labour Camp in Jiangsu Province and brutally tortured. His daughter, Lu Yan, was once jailed too, in trying to rescue him.

Mr. Lu's family and two attorneys, Jiang Tianyong and Li Chunfu, appealed to the Suzhou City Superior Court as early as May 6th, 2009, when the court accepted the case. The superior court turned the case back to the Jinchang District Court to retry it. The Jinchang District Court held meetings with Mr. Lu's family members on July 18th and 22nd to "explain" its position, basically telling them that it was correct in its judgement. Mr. Lu and his family members refused to accept this, but the court ignored them from then on.

On November 3rd, the family members, after having waited since July, asked the attorneys to inquire about the results of their appeals. The attorneys first asked at the superior court. Court clerk Zhou Jun told them that the case had been returned to the district court, and it was out of their hands. The attorneys then went to the district court, which told them that they had already explained their position to Mr. Lu and his family. When pressed by the attorneys, they said, "If the family does not agree with the results, they can appeal in writing." The family immediately submitted the "continue to appeal" document.

The court notified the attorneys that a hearing would be held on December 10th. What was unusual was that that day the court was filled with and surrounded by plainclothes police officers. Besides agents from the local 610 Office(an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), national security captain Zhou Shunhong, communication department manager Zhu, Caixiang Police Station deputy chief Zhang Laiyong, as well as agents from other districts, such as the Wuzhong District National Security Squadron Captain Bao Jianfang, Huqiu District National Security Squadron Captain Zhou Wenqiu (also serving as 610 Office deputy director), Taicang District 610 Office Xia Zhigang, and Taicang Southern Police Station Deputy Chief Lin Fang were all there. In and out of the courthouse and in the surrounding streets, photographers took pictures openly and secretly.

Mr. Lu's family and friends went to the courthouse first thing in the morning but were told that only close relatives with ID cards were allowed in. Mr. Lu's parents were stopped outside because they did not bring their ID cards.

It was apparent that the attitude of the court was not favourable. Sure enough, as soon as the session began, the judge declared that the hearing was only for new evidence and the attorneys were not to argue about the nature of the case and the applicability of the law, which were actually the most fundamental and critical points. Even the hearing of the evidence was not accurate, since the attorney had been turned down by office manager Zhang Xiaohong all three times when he went to the courthouse to examine and copy the documents on file.

It was apparent that the hearing was purely a formality and it was concluded quickly. A few days later, the attorney received a notification from the court that the appeal had been rejected. Mr. Lu's family, however, will not give up their quest for justice.

Related reports:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/12/8/112912.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/10/14/78954.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/5/215745.html