From August 23rd to September 1st, 2011, the Jiaonan Court of Shandong Province sentenced Falun Gong practitioners Xing Huaiping, Liu Meiqin, Fu Aixian, Zhang Xiuhua, and Zhang Shuhua during a court session held inside the Qingdao Dashan Detention Centre. The practitioners’ families were not notified and the court rejected the practitioners’ lawyers efforts to represent them at the hearing.
The entire process was a farce. Procurator Zhu Ye read the charges, such as: “So and so went to such and such places to distribute brochures entitled “Staying Safe” and “Heavenly Blessings”; so and so distributed materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and Falun Gong DVDs”. Then judge Liu Jinren asked the practitioners whether the charges as read were true and told them to wait for the results of the sentencing.
I. Five Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested
On the evening of January 15th, in Jiaonan, Falun Gong practitioners Fu Aixian, Xue Lianxia, Zhang Shuhua, Liu Meiqin, and Liu Huimin went to the town of Dacun in a rental van to distribute Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and tell people about the persecution of Falun Gong. They were reported in Maojiazhuang and Fu Aixian, Xue Lianxia, Zhang Shuhua, Liu Huimin, and driver Wang Zongli (not a Falun Gong practitioner) were arrested by police. The driver could not bear the torture and gave the police the name of Liu Meiqin as another practitioner. On January 16th, when Liu Meiqin and the other practitioners' families went to the police station to ask for the release of the four practitioners, she too was detained.
At the police station, the five practitioners were brutally beaten by director Dong Qiqiang and police officer Yin Zheng. Their faces were swollen and they sustained many injuries to their bodies. Liu Meiqin's eye was bleeding, Zhang Shuhua's face was a purple colour, and Fu Aixian could no longer raise her arm. Dong Qiqiang told the practitioners as he was beating them that he would show them no mercy and would sentence them heavily.
On January 17th, Jiaonan police officers ransacked the practitioners' homes under the direction of the Jiaonan 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong). On January 18th, the five Falun Gong practitioners were transferred to Qingdao Dashan Detention Centre. Liu Meiqin, Xue Lianxia, Zhang Shuhua, and Fu Aixian were rejected by the detention centre as they failed the physical examination. They were transferred back to the Dacun police station. Liu Huimin was put in the detention centre.
On January 21st, officers from the Dacun Police Station again transported the four practitioners to the Dashan Detention Centre. Xue Lianxia's condition was very poor, so the police extorted 10,000 yuan1 from her family and released her. The detention centre was forced to take the other three practitioners despite the fact that they all failed the physical examination.
After the five practitioners were arrested, overseas practitioners immediately called the police station and told them the facts of the persecution. The director, Dong Qiqiang, lied over the phone and said that he had released the practitioners a while ago. After he hung up the phone, he continued to torture the practitioners. Liu Huimin was released from the detention centre on January 28th.
II. More Falun Gong Practitioners Harassed and Arrested
After arresting the above five practitioners, officers from the Dacun police station and Jiaonan 610 Office harassed and arrested other Falun Gong practitioners.
Just after 6 a.m. on February 22nd, 2011, Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yongchun was arrested and taken to the Tianshanlu Police Station. On the same morning, practitioner Xing Huaiping disappeared from home. Her family could not contact her so they went to the Tieshan Road Police Station to look for her. They saw both Zhang Yongchun and Xing Huaiping detained there.
At around 7 a.m. on February 25th, practitioner Ye Ping was arrested by officers from the Tianshanlu Police Station. All the practitioners detained there suffered beatings to various degrees. They were then taken to the hospital for a physical check. Zhang Yongchun and Ye Ping failed the physical exam and were released on February 27th; meanwhile, Xing Huaiping was taken to the Dashan Detention Centre in Qingdao.
Around February 24th, practitioner Zhang Xiuhua was arrested by police. Her husband and son were arrested at the same time because they tried to stop the police. The husband and the son were detained at the Jiaonan Detention Centre for ten and seven days, respectively. Zhang Xiuhua was sent to the Dashan Detention Centre on February 25th.
At around 4 p.m. on February 27th, practitioner Zhao Jiyi, who is over 70 years old, was arrested by three plainclothes policemen. He was allowed to return home at around 8 p.m.
Many more Falun Gong practitioners in the area had been constantly harassed, arrested, taken to brainwashing centres, and forced to do labour. The arrests and detention have caused a lot of pain and hardship for these practitioners as well as their families.
Xing Huaiping is detained at the Third Detention Centre of Qingdao. Officers from the Tieshanlu Police Station notified her family to send 1,000 yuan and clothes, but the family refused. Prior to that, the family was also asked for 5,000 yuan to pay for the physical examination, which they also refused to pay. The family said to the police that Xing had been very healthy at home and that the police station and the detention center would be responsible for anything that happened to her. The police also told the family to sign a detention notice that did not have the times specified, and again the family refused to do so. In fact, the police knew that they had passed the detention time limit and thus left the times blank so that they could go back and put in whatever they wanted.
III. Court Session: Lawyer Not Allowed to Be Involved
Practitioner Zhang Shuhua's husband passed away many years ago and she and her son lived together. In order to protect his mother's rights, Ms. Zhang's son hired a lawyer who came all the way from Beijing. However, the Dashan Detention Centre refused to let the lawyer meet with Ms. Zhang.
On April 1st, the lawyer went to the Jiaonan Police Station and handed in the application necessary for him to be able to see his client. The police staff asked the lawyer whether permission from the court was needed for this type of case, and the lawyer answered no. They then asked for the lawyer's ID and said they would get back to him within 48 hours. However, two days later the lawyer called and was told “the head is not here”. In the end, they refused to let the lawyer meet his client.
The families of practitioners Xing Huaiping and Zhang Xiuhua hired lawyers from Beijing and both were rejected by judge Liu Jinren for no reason. Ms. Xing was taken from her home and arrested on February 22nd, 2011. The family has not seen her since then. Her son, a high school student, missed his mum a lot. When the family heard that the court session would be held on August 23rd at the Dashan Detention Centre, they immediately hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend her.
On the morning of August 22nd, Ms. Xing's family and the lawyer went to the court and submitted a power of attorney to the judge to get the required documents to see Ms. Xing, but the request was rejected by judge Liu Jinren. He said that the lawyer had to get proof from the Department of Justice that he was allowed to investigate the case. The lawyer's ID clearly had the seal from the Department of Justice and it is obviously legal for a lawyer to investigate his client's case. The lawyer said, “As a law-enforcement agency, you don't do things according to the law. The law is being destroyed by people like you.” In the end, the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client.
Ms. Zhang's lawyer encountered the same situation. Her court session was held without notifying the family. They were very upset and asked for a reason. Judge Liu said that he was obliged to do things as directed by the 610 Office. The family asked, “The 610 can tell you what to do?” Liu said, “The 610 Office represents the party.” Liu directly called the lawyer and told him that he was not allowed to be involved. The lawyer said, “What you are doing is illegal.” Liu immediately hung up.
On August 23rd, without notifying the families, the Jiaonan Court opened a court session for Xing Huaiping, Liu Meiqin, Zhang Xiuhua, and Fu Aixian at the Dashan Detention Centre. Only Ms. Xing's family got to know about the court session beforehand from another source, but the other three families did not know. The four practitioners have been in the detention centre for seven months and their families have not seen them. They were not notified of the court session, so the families were very upset. Ms. Zhang's family questioned the judge as to why the court did not notify them. Judge Liu Jinren lied and said that he could not find the families. The family said, “You could find our homes when you arrested the practitioners but you cannot find the families now?” Liu then said, “This is according to the directive of the 610 Office.” Under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the judicial system is not independent at all. The courts are basically just hatchet men for framing innocent people.
Jiaonan Court also opened court sessions for Falun Gong practitioners Zhang Yongchun, Liu Huimin, Xue Lianxia, and Ye Ping, but they were released because they failed the physical exams.
Main responsible people in Jiaonan:
610 Office director Zhang Zerong: 86-532-85161920 (Office), 86-13589363738 (Mobile)
Comprehensive Management Office Deputy Director Yang Zexin: 86-532-85161328 (Office), 86-13863987877 (Mobile)
Jiaonan Court Judge Liu Jinren: 86-13573234262 (Mobile)
The new Criminal Court President Zong Guiping: 86-15615889218 (Mobile)
Jiaonan Political and Law Committee Secretary Yang Dongliang: 86-532-85701717 (Office)
Jiaonan Court President Jiang Zhenzhu: 86-532-8818078886-13806427875 (Mobile)
Jiaonan Procuratorate President Luan Chengzhang: 86-532-83012866 (Office), 86-13791927688 (Mobile)
Jiaonan Police Department Director Kong Fanpei: 86-532-88191808 (Office), 86-532-55586777 (Office), 86-13969687665 (Mobile)
Jiaonan City Dacun Town Police Station Director Dong Qiqiang: 86-532-85111568 (Office), 86-13589238000(Mobile)
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2012/1/9/251627.html
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