Lawyer Defends Mr. Chen Jizhong and His Sister, Ms. Chen Jihuan

Mr. Chen Jizhong, 69, and his younger sister, Ms. Chen Jihuan, 56, both live in Yonghe Village, Daotaiqiao Town, Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Mr. Chen was arrested five times and sentenced to five years of imprisonment in Lianjiangkou Prison in Jiamusi City. His wife, who was threatened by the police multiple times when they ransacked the family home, suffers from a mental disorder. She has to rely on Mr. Chen to take care of her. His younger sister, Ms. Chen Jihuan, is disabled, yet she was still sentenced to three years of forced labour due to her faith.

On November 29th, 2009, Mr. Chen and his sister were arrested again, and the Yilan County Procuratorate accepted their cases on December 29th, 2009. They were still detained in the Yilan County Detention Centre.

On March 24th, 2010, Mr. Chen and Ms. Chen were brought to trial in the Yilan County Court. An attorney defended them despite much interference. The prosecutor had nothing to argue with.

After the Yilan County police, procuratorate, and court heard that Mr. Chen and his sister had hired a lawyer from Henan Province to defend them, they were very nervous. They immediately reported it to Heilongjiang Province Department of Justice, which then pressured the lawyer's firm. They tried to force the lawyer give up his defence, and they ordered the Yilan County Justice Bureau to closely monitor him. After the lawyer arrived in Yilan County on March 23rd, 2010, a Yilan County Justice Bureau employee harassed and threatened him on the phone. The President of the Yilan County Court,, Fan Qinglu, and Judge Lu Shoufang also called the lawyer and threatened him, telling him he could only try for a lighter sentence but not an acquittal.

At 7 a.m. on March 24th, 2010, Fan Qinglu and an employee of the Justice Bureau both called the lawyer, demanding that he see them at 8 a.m. They tried to pressure him again. All work units and community administrations were required to monitor Falun Gong practitioners and not allow any of them to leave their jobs or homes during the day for three days.

At around 9 a.m. on March 24th, 2010, Mr. Chen Jizhong and Ms. Chen Jihuan's trial began. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Yilan County Committee was very worried that practitioners would expose this event, so it ordered Yao Sheng, the deputy chair of the County People's Congress; Wang Qingfeng, the director of the County Police Department; and Li Baihe, the deputy director of the County Police Department, to direct the on site security personally.

They placed two police vehicles with officers taking video across the street in front of the courthouse. There were many officers guarding the gate and the courtroom entrance. The trial was supposed to be open, but no one was allowed to come in, not even the family of the defendants. The Chen family protested vehemently, and four of them were allowed to go in. When they tried to enter, the doorway was barricaded, so they had to squeeze in. The police searched them one by one and took all the items in their pockets. There were only two seats left, so two of their family had to stand, with two court officers standing next to them.

Many were gathered outside the gate. Some were plainclothes police officers and security personnel sent by employers of Falun Gong practitioners, some were people interested in hearing the lawyer that would defend Falun Gong practitioners. People were talking about the barricaded entrance to an open trial. One asked the officer who kept him from entering, "Isn't this an open trial? Why are we not allowed to sit in? Where are our human rights?"

Another elderly man who used to work in the legal system commented, "I heard the lawyer will defend Falun Gong; I want to witness that. Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to destitution. A legal system worker must have a conscience." Another person, who had misunderstood Falun Gong in the past but had learned the truth, hoped to record the trial, but he could not get in.

In court, the prosecutors provided false evidence. Judge Lu Shoufang many times stopped the defendants and lawyer from speaking and even signalled prearranged people to make noise to keep the lawyer from being heard. The officers cursed the lawyer in court, and the lawyer had no choice but to protest, stating that if there were more interruptions, he would leave the courtroom. In these circumstances, he finally continued his defence.

The lawyer pointed out clearly that there was no legal reason to persecute Falun Gong; no item in the Constitution defined Falun Gong as a "cult," nor was it included in the 14 cults of the State Department and Public Safety Ministry. Falun Gong cultivators promote Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance with kindness and their good beliefs are no harm to society, uplift moral standards, and purify social morality. The defendants had not behaved in any way that undermined any laws or the execution of any legal enforcement. They were merely exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief. What crime had they committed? He argued that they should be acquitted immediately.

The court had to adjourn, and the judge said they would announce the sentencing at another date. The officers were cursing as they walked out, saying the lawyer had ruined a sure thing (a prison sentence).

During the trial, journalists dared not video record the lawyer's defence. Instead, they fabricated propaganda for the news and broadcast it on local television that day, slandering Falun Gong and poisoning people's minds.

Wang Chunsheng, CCP Yilan County Committee secretary: 86-451-57237599 (Office), 86- 13313694777 (Mobile)
Jing Gang, Yilan County commissioner: 86-451-57230218 (Office), 86-13766917001 (Mobile)
Yao Sheng, deputy chair of Yilan County People's Congress: 86-57229601 (Office), 86-451-57226455 (Home), 86-13904641896 (Mobile)
Zhang Shuwen, CCP Yilan County Political and Judiciary Committee secretary: 86-451-57237868 (Office), 86-13304665555(Mobile)
Xu Haibo, chair of Yilan County 610 Office: 86-451-57238610 (Office), 86-13104663971(Mobile)
Gao Hui, Yilan County Court chief: 86-451-57239229 (Office), 86-13946099366 (Mobile)
Fan Qinglu, president of the Yilan County Court of Assizes: 86-451-57226583 (Office), 86-451-59113888 (Home), 86-13904640569(Mobile)
Lu Shoufang: judge of the Yilan County Court of Assizes: 86-451-57221136 (Office), 86-13904640390 (Mobile)
Li Zhuoxun, chief procurator of Yilan County Procuratorate: 86-451-57283388 (Office), 86-13351707777 (Mobile)
Wang Qingfeng, director of Yilan County Police Department: 86-451-57235201 (Office), 86- 13329315577 (Mobile)
Li Baihe, deputy director of Yilan County Police Department: 86-451-57235205, 86-451-57287997 (Home), 86-13796144444 (Mobile)
Guo Qingji, Domestic Security Division cxhief of Yilan County Police Department: 86-451-57234798 (Office), 86-451-57225289 (Home), 86-13804637102 (Mobile)
Liu Dawei, director of Yilan County First Detention Centre: 86-451-57281496, 86-451-57232593 (Home), 86- 13936602593(Mobile)

Yilan County Procuratorate
Yilan County Police Department
Related report: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/9/10/77833.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/3/30/220648.html