Jiaozhou City Prosecutor Kept Lawyers from Seeing Their Clients

On March 23rd, Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Li Yuzhen, Mr. Song Yongzhan, and Ms. Song Guilan, all from Jiaozhou City, and Mr. Yong Zongquan from Wendeng City were arrested and detained. Mr. Li and Mr. Song's families hired lawyers Li and Dong to defend them, but the prosecutor's office gave the lawyers a tough time when they tried to interview their clients.

After finding out that the case was already in the court for public prosecution, both lawyers rushed to Jiaozhou City. The lawyers and their clients' family members went to see prosecutor Kuang on May 26th and asked him for permission to see the practitioners. The prosecutor said that in order to see them, they had to have approval from the Justice Bureau. According to the “Code of Criminal Procedure,” there is no such requirement. Because the prosecutor was abusing his power, both lawyers were determined to reason with him. However, the prosecutor slipped away without saying anything. Because lawyer Dong had another engagement the following day, he had to leave by train that same day.

The law states that two lawyers must be present when interviewing a client, so Attorney Li started looking for another lawyer in Jiaozhou City. He approached several firms, but no one wanted to take the case when they heard it was about Falun Gong. Several lawyers said that provisions at the Qingdao City's Bureau of Justice didn't allow lawyers to accept Falun Gong cases. Whoever took such a case would be held responsible, and their licence would be revoked. In desperation, they had to get a lawyer from out of town.

On May 27th at 8:30 a.m., Attorney Li went with the lawyer from out of town to the detention centre to see Mr. Song Yongzhan. The police at the detention centre told them, “You've got to see the prosecutor, because he said that Song Yongzhan doesn't have any lawyers.” So the lawyers and Mr. Song's wife went again to look for prosecutor Kuang in the Procuratorate, where they were told that he had already left for work at the courthouse. The lawyers and Mr. Song's wife rushed to the courthouse, only to discover that court was not even in session.

When the lawyers and Mrs. Song rushed back to the Procuratorate, they were told that Kuang was not there, and no one answered the phone in his office. Running around for almost a day without any making any progress, the lawyers and Mrs. Song went to complain at the Letters and Appeals Office, where they were told that the case was inadmissible, and that they should go to the court and the Procuratorate. The lawyers and Mrs. Song said that they had already done so but to no avail, which was why they were at the Appeals Office. However, they were again told that Mr. Song's case was absolutely inadmissible.

On top of that, Kuang intimidated Mrs. Song many times, demanding to know who hired the lawyers, how much she paid them, and where were they from, causing Mrs. Song and other family members serious mental anguish.

Contact information:

Jiaozhou Procuratorate Court: 86-532-83012589, 83012559
Mo Yonghe, Procurator: 13687689877（mobile）
Kuang's office: 86-532-83012563
Jiaozhou City 610 Office: 86-532-8228807
Xue Yubin, manager: 86-532-82288570 (Office), 87220886 (Home), 15318860699 （mobile）
Jian Yunfei, assistant manager: 86-532-82288073(Office), 13780699969（mobile）
Yang Xiuwu, head of the Jiaozhou Detention Centre: （mobile） 13606300221

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/6/1/241768.html