Father Faces Wrath of Police after Hiring a Lawyer for His Son

Name: Zhang Haiming
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: Jincheng County, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 14th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hailar Forced Labour Camp
City: Hulun Beir
Province: Inner Mongolia
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, imprisonment, deprivation of legal representation

Mr. Zhang Haiming, 21 years old, is a resident of Jincheng County, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. On December 14th, 2009, Mr. Zhang was working in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. The police from Xinjian Police Station, Harbin City, colluded with police from Hailar District, Hulun Beir City, Inner Mongolia, and arrested Mr. Zhang at his workplace, along with four other practitioners. Mr. Zhang was then detained at the Hailar Detention Centre. On February 8th, 2010, he was sentenced to one year of forced labour.

Mr. Zhang Haiming's father, Mr. Zhang Lijun, hired a lawyer to appeal his son's case to the Hailar District Court. On March 9th, the court accepted the case. Mr. Zhang's father repeatedly contacted the Hailar District Court to find out the time of the hearing, and he was told to wait for the notice. On May 9th, officials from the Hailar Court informed Mr. Zhang Haiming's aunt that the documents for his case were sent to Zhang Haiming; however, neither his father nor his lawyer were notified.

When Mr. Zhang's father asked the court director why his son's lawyer was not contacted, the director replied that the order from higher-levels did not allow Falun Gong practitioners to hire lawyers. Mr. Zhang Lijun tried to deal with the court to have the lawyer defend his son.

On the morning of May 22nd, Wang Jun, the director of the Ewen Keqi Police Department, and Wang Haijun, the director of the Ewen Keqi Domestic Security Division from Hailar arrived in Jincheng County. They got the local police to lead them to Mr. Zhang Lijun's home, which they subsequently ransacked. They tried to arrest him, but he managed to escape.

During the period that his father hired the lawyer to defend him, for more than five months, Mr. Zhang Haiming had been detained at the Ewen Keqi Detention Centre. After his father's home was ransacked, his father was unable to continue taking care of his appeal. When Wang Jun and Wang Haijun returned, Mr. Zhang Haiming was sent to the Hailar Forced Labour Camp.

After Mr. Zhang Haiming's arrest, his grandmother travelled the long distance from their home to Hailar to visit him. The round trip took her a week, and she was unable to eat or sleep well. Mr. Zhang's grandfather worried about his grandson's safety and was restless. For long periods of time, the grandfather was silent, would get irritated easily, and became very angry. The whole family was unable to live happily or peacefully.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/7/16/227075.html