Falun Gong Practitioner and Attorney Mr. Zhu Yubiao Arrested

Name: Zhu Yubiao
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Lawyer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 18th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Haizhu District Detention Centre
City: Guangzhou
Province: Guangdong
Persecution Suffered: imprisonment, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhu Yubiao, a lawyer, was arrested by agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) again on August 18th, 2010. He has been detained at Haizhu District Detention Centre now for over 50 days.

Mr. Zhu Yubiao graduated with a law degree from Sun Yat-sen University. He practised law at the Guangda Attorney's Office in Guangdong and the Hengyi Attorney's Office. He is a lawyer with high morals--he has defended people in the lower economic class, charging low fees, discounted fees, and sometimes even pro bono. His achievements have been reported in Chinese newspapers.

Mr. Zhu's Defence for Justice Shames CCP Court

Between 2005 and 2006, Mr. Zhu defended three Falun Gong practitioners in court with strong arguments. After Mr. Zhu's speech defending practitioner Gao Huanlian, the scene in the courtroom was a sight to behold: the judge and the other court room officials were speechless, looking at each other. Mr. Zhu was the first lawyer in Guangdong province to openly defend the rights of Falun Gong practitioners; and the officials were aware that his defence was based on the law. With no way to refute the facts, the court officials did not know how to respond.

After a period of silence, one of the prosecutors said, "If you like Falun Gong, you can practise at home! Just don't come out [to practise or appeal in public]."

Later, Mr. Zhu defended practitioners Wei Yingxi and Song Hongfeng in court.

While defending Song Hongfeng, there was an embarrassing moment for the court. The prosecutor stated, "This [CCP treatment of Falun Gong] is policy." Mr. Zhu calmly interrupted, "I want to remind your honor, this is a courtroom, and we will talk about the policy when it becomes an article in the law."

Mr. Zhu argued that the CCP used no legal procedure in determining a label for Falun Gong and that the legislation drawn up by the Ministry of Public Security discriminating against Falun Gong practitioners was against the law. The judge rudely interrupted Mr. Zhu three times, and at the end, the judge got very angry; saying, "You will be kicked out of court if you say another word..."

During the defence of the three practitioners, the CCP heightened security. They blocked the street, and people going into the courtroom were asked to show identification and were also searched and questioned. CCP officials recorded and photographed people both inside and outside the courtroom. They prohibited some Falun Gong practitioners from sitting in the courtroom and harassed those who attended.

During the trial, someone from the court office accused Mr. Zhu of being "anti-communist" and threatened to remove Mr. Zhu from the case. After threats failed, the court office arranged a Falun Gong case and a case of another one of Mr. Zhu's clients to start at the same time, thus resulting in Mr. Zhu being unable to defend the practitioners.

Distinguishing Between Right and Wrong, Remaining Firm in His Belief

While Mr. Zhu was a student at Sun Yat-sen University, he took advantage of the opportunity to learn about Falun Gong. At the beginning of the persecution, Mr. Zhu was once fooled by CCP fabrications; however, after learning the facts, he started taking up Falun Gong practitioners' cases. To help with the cases, he read all the Falun Gong books. During this process, he came to see the evil nature of the CCP and also became a firm believer in Falun Gong. Eventually he became a Falun Gong practitioner himself.

On February 10th, 2007, Mr. Zhu visited Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lin Zhiyong at his home. Half an hour later, Mr. Lin's home was ransacked by agents from the 610 Office[an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong]. At the time, Mr. Zhu admitted that he was also a Falun Gong practitioner, so the agents arrested and sentenced him to a year and a half in a forced labour camp.

On April 30th, 2008, Mr. Zhu went home after being released. However, soon after, the legal system gave him another year of administrative punishment. Since Mr. Zhu lost his licence to practise law during the arrest, the legal system used this opportunity to ask him to write a "guarantee letter" that he would never again defend Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Zhu refused to write such a letter, and so the legal system would not issue him a licence. The legal system also informed him that even if he did not need to reinstate his licence at that moment, they could still refuse to renew his licence later, and that he would never practise law again. Mr. Zhu did not give in. Although the legal system interrupted Mr. Zhu's work and personal life, and even with the CCP still following him, Mr. Zhu was able to distinguish between right and wrong, and this solidified his confidence.

Mr. Zhu was arrested again on August 18th, 2010. The reason for his arrest is still unknown. He is still detained as of this article.

Back when Mr. Zhu was defending Falun Gong practitioners in court, he said, "Our country bans and punishes cult organizations and activities severely; however, none of these provisions mention Falun Gong. In another words, the law does not say Falun Gong is a cult."

Mr. Zhu also pointed out, "To punish Falun Gong practitioners because of their activities and gatherings solely based on a notification from the two chambers, has damaged the solemnity of our country's law. To obey the law, I suggest the accusing side and collegiate bench to drop the charges and stop trials against Falun Gong practitioners based on Articles 3 and 4 in The Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which cite, 'One has not committed a crime if that crime has not been defined on paper.' and 'No one is allowed to be above the law.'"

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/10/11/230833.html