Guangzhou Lawyer Zhu Yubiao Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

Name: Zhu Yubiao
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Occupation: Attorney of Guangda Law Firm, Attorney of Hengyi Law Firm
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

The Zhuhai District Court in Guangzhou held a session on July 13th, 2011. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhu Yubiao was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Mr. Zhu's mother denounced the judge for being controlled by the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and sentencing her son, bringing shame to the law. After she spoke, the judge was speechless.

In the court Mr. Zhu did not wear the prison uniform but his own clothes. From the first day he was arrested, he has always refused to wear the uniform as a protest against the persecution.

However, judicial officials from the Zhuhai District Court deliberately ignored the innocence defence from Mr. Zhu and his lawyer Liu Zhengqing, and sentenced him.

As soon as the verdict was announced, Mr. Zhu's seventy-year-old mother sternly questioned the presiding judge Zou Shifa, and told him that it was legal for her son to practise Falun Gong and to defend other Falun Gong practitioners. What he did was very shameful. Zou Shifa and Prosecutor Chen Xinmin from Zhuhai District Procuratorate were speechless and left in a hurry.

To hide their lawless actions, the Zhuhai District Court delayed the time of the trial by three months. They also waited until 11:30 a.m. on the day of the trial to inform Mr. Zhu's family about it, whereas the trial began just three hours later, at 2:30 p.m. They also deliberately held the trial when Mr. Zhu's lawyer was not available. Although his lawyer applied several times to change the date of the trial to July 14th or later, the court would not approve his application, and continued to hold the trial without a defence lawyer. Except for Mr. Zhu's elderly mother, all the other people in the courtroom were police officers. No one from the public was allowed to audit the trial.

After the trial Mr. Zhu refused to sign the documents and filed an appeal.

Mr. Zhu obtained his Master of Law degree at Sun Yat-Sen University in 1994. He was an attorney with the Guangda Law Firm and the Hengyi Law Firm in Guangdong. He offered low-income people discounts, as well as pro bono (or free) legal services. On February 11th, 2007, he was arrested and sentenced to forced labour for one and a half years. On August 18th, 2010, he was arrested again at his home. The reason given was that he defended the innocence of Falun Gong practitioners.

Zhuhai District Court: 86-20-83005593

Those involved in the persecution:

Judge: Zou Shifa
Judicial officers: Liu Weihong, Ma Lan
Secretary: Mao Yingchao, Zhou Xiaoyun

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/7/20/244144.html