Chengdu Falun Gong Practitioner Gu Huaibing Sentenced; His Family Is Appealing

Name: Gu Huaibing
Gender: Male
Age: 37
Address: Pi County, Chengdu City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 21st, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Detention Centre in Chengdu City
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, interrogation, beatings, sleep deprivation

Wuhou District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, sentenced seven practitioners to imprisonment. Mr. Gu Huaibing was sentenced to seven years, Zhou Yaping to two years and four months, and Liao Jianpu to two years and six months. Zhao Haiping, Wang Hongbo, Wang Jianguo, and Li Xiaoyan received three years each. The seven practitioners all said that they would appeal their sentences because practising Falun Gong does not violate the law. Below are selected parts from Mr. Gu's appeal letter, prepared by members of his family.

I. Appellant

Gu Huaibing was born in Pi County, Chengdu. He worked in Qinghe Electronics at the Computer Mall in Chengdu. He was arrested on the evening of July 21st, 2009, in the employee dorm by officers from Tiaosanta Police Station in the Wuhou District. Without any legal basis or factual evidence, he was detained for over two years (July 21st, 2009 to August 28th, 2011) and his case was transferred between the police station and the procuratorate several times. On August 28th, 2011, he was sentenced to seven years by Wuhou District Court.

II. Appeal Requests

1. Immediately revoke the seven-year sentence imposed on Gu Huaibing;
2. Immediately and unconditionally release Gu Huaibing and the six others sentenced with him;
3. Punish Prosecutor Li Yanping and Judges Huang Yi, Jia Longjun, and Gu Zhifeng for their violations of the law;
4. Compensation for Gu Huaibing from the state.

III. Facts and Evidence

Wuhou District Court in Chengdu City sentenced Mr. Gu Huaibing to seven years, Zhou Yaping to two years and four months, Liao Jianpu to two years and six months, and Zhao Haiping, Wang Hongbo, Wang Jianguo, and Li Xiaoyan to three years each. The seven practitioners all announced that they would not accept their sentences and would appeal, because practising Falun Gong does not violate the law.

Mr. Gu Huaibing, 37 years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner in Xinminchang Town, Pi County. He is well known for being a good person. His father is deaf and not able to speak. His son is 11 years old and goes to junior high school. His wife does not have a job. Mr. Gu works in Chengdu and the whole family is dependent on his income.

On July 21st, 2009, Mr. Gu's mother, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Yuanru, 66, went to ask for her son's release. She is from the countryside. She was arrested by officers from Hongguang Town Police Station. They tied her to a chair, hit and kicked her, whipped her with leather straps, shocked her with electric batons, and kicked her face, sustaining multiple injuries. Ms. Zhang's sister, Ms. Zhang Yuanzhen, has also suffered similar beatings in Hongguang Police Station.

The trial of the Falun Gong practitioners lasted from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The seven practitioners stated how they were tortured and forced to confess by the police; their lawyer legally refuted all the evidence presented by the accuser and discredited the made-up evidence. However, Judge Huang Yi frequently interrupted the defence and imposed the sentences on the seven practitioners with no legal basis or genuine factual evidence. We, the family and relatives of Mr. Gu, who total of over 60 people, are lodging this appeal. We demand that the prosecutors and judges be punished for breaking the law. We also request that all levels of the procuratorates, courts, and sectors of society pay attention to this issue.

Main Judge Huang Yi's Unethical Behaviour Prior to the Trial

During the trial, the lawyer pointed out that the entire process of detaining Mr. Gu has been illegal. For instance, Mr. Gu was detained for two years with no legal documents. Several other practitioners also pointed out that when Tiaosanta Police Station officers arrested them, they did not show any arrest warrants or proper documents.

It was known that Judge Huang Yi went to the detention centre several times to threaten the practitioners and tried to trick them into pleading guilty for a “reduced and lenient sentence.” He also tried to make them to tell their families to release the lawyers they hired and use lawyers appointed by the court. Huang Yi will be punished by heaven for his crime of depriving people of their freedom of belief. He has also violated Article 36 of China's Constitution and Article 251 of China's Criminal Law.

The Defence Repeatedly Interrupted During the Trial

Judge Huang Yi frequently interrupted the defence by Mr. Gu's lawyer. The lawyer referred to China's Constitution and talked about freedom of belief and natural rights, that ideology cannot be criminal and that criminal law is used to punish criminal actions; that currently there is no law in China that says Falun Gong is a cult; that Falun Gong practitioners should not be sentenced according to Article 301 of the Criminal Law; and that the “criminal facts” presented had no legal bases. The lawyer asked the prosecutor and the main judge, “Which national law or administrative regulation did Falun Gong practitioners violate?” Neither the prosecutor nor the judge could answer. The lawyer's defence was interrupted over ten times, and Judge Huang Yi threatened the lawyer that if he continued to speak, his right to defend his client would be rescinded.

Forced Confessions

During the trial, almost every practitioner talked about the confessions that, by means of torture, they were forced to make. Mr. Gu said that about 15 days after his arrest, on August 4th, he and another practitioner, Liao Jianpu, were taken to a place with no displayed address. There were two buildings, and Mr. Gu was put in the one in the back, and Mr. Liao in the one in the front. Mr. Gu was there from August 4th to August 7th. The first day, Mr. Gu was handcuffed to the metal window and the “investigators,” Wang Pengfei and Wan Li, forced him to stay awake. They poured cold water on him and beat him with sticks if he fell asleep. The next day, the police again handcuffed him to the metal window and hit his chest and said, “We will let you taste the power of the dictating authorities.” The other practitioners, including Liao Jianpu and Wang Jianguo, all talked about similar forced confessions. Mr. Gu said that he lost almost all of his hearing on one side as the result of the beatings. Wang Jianguo mentioned that the police said to him, “We have prepared more than 20 ways to torture you!” Almost all the practitioners, including Mr. Gu, denied the charges that the police accused them of because all the “confessions” were forced.

The Defence Showed How Evidence Was Falsified

The defence showed how the purported “evidence” had been made up by the police. For example, Tiaosanta Police Station officers arrested several practitioners and searched their employers' companies on the evening of July 21st. However, the document listing the items found was dated July 8th, which meant that the document listing the found items had already been prepared before the arrests were made and the searches were conducted, so their list of “evidence” was created ahead of time. The prosecutors were trying to use the law to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. This is definitely a crime.

The lawyer asked the court to play a DVD (one piece of “evidence”) during the trial. The court did not dare to follow the normal procedure of playing it on the big screen, but instead played it on a laptop computer, which could be seen by only a few people. But even so, one person who saw it said that nothing really played. That is to say, the prosecutors had absolutely no evidence or facts to support their charges against Mr. Gu and the other practitioners.

Unjust Sentencing

The prosecutor and the judges said that part of the evidence that a crime had been committed were the things that the Falun Gong practitioners had done. But they could not point to any laws that practitioners' actions violated. This is obviously illegal sentencing and bending of the laws.

Since the persecution of Falun Gong began 12 years ago, those in the law enforcement business who have been able to make up better lies justifying the prosecution of Falun Gong have been rewarded with money and promotions. They have deprived innocent people of their freedom, and it is safe to say that 100% of Falun Gong practitioners' sentences have been unjust ones. Those “indictments,” “sentencing documents,” and “ruling documents” are all secrets that they dare not make public. At the same time, they are all evidence of the criminal acts of those in law enforcement, including police stations, procuratorates, and courts. From ancient times to the present, there has been an eternal truth, which says that evil actions will be punished and repaid.

Appellants: Gu Huaibing's families and relatives
September 8th, 2011

Related article:
Thirty-three Family Members and Friends Demand the Release of Mr. Gu Huaibing (Photos)
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2009/8/24/110283.html

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/9/9/246444.html