Mr. Wei Liangyue from Harbin City Missing After Being Arrested by Domestic Security Agents

At 6:30 a.m. on May 25th, a man claiming to be a property management company employee called Mr. Wei Liangyue, a lawyer in Harbin City, telling Mr. Wei that his car had been hit. The man asked him to come outside to see the damage. Since Mr. Wei kept his car in a garage, he did not believe the man's claim and disregarded it.

Next, Liu Min from the Dacheng Police Station knocked at Mr. Wei's door multiple times, repeatedly asking Mr. Wei to open the door and continuing to claim that Mr. Wei's car had been hit. After finally coming outside, Mr. Wei was arrested by over 20 plainclothes and uniformed policemen. He has not been in touch with his family until only recently, and his family has not received any documentation explaining the arrest.

A few days ago, several lawyers went to Harbin to take up defence for Falun Gong practitioners in Harbin; Mr. Wei was one of the practitioners being defended. He was once harassed over the phone by a policewoman from the Dacheng Police Station. His wife was also harassed by policemen in her home town.

Mr. Wei's family trusted a lawyer named Xie Yanyi to find his whereabouts through legal means. Xie and Mr. Wei's family members went to the legal departments in Harbin one after another, but they never received reasonable answers.

At 10:30 a.m. on May 26th, Xie and one of Mr. Wei's family members arrived at the Dacheng Street Police Station in Nangang District, Harbin. The policemen on duty were Wu Xinpeng and Zhang Yuandong. The policemen called their instructor, Li Shenlin, and learned that Mr. Wei had been abducted by over 20 policemen from the Harbin City Domestic Security Division, including on-duty policeman Liu Min, under the order of the chief of the Nangang District Domestic Security Division, Zhou Songbin.

Xie and the family member then went to the Nangang Police Department where they were received by the on-duty policeman, who had the last name of Lu. Lu called Zhou Songbin, who spoke with Mr. Wei's family member over the phone. Zhou told the family member that he knew nothing about the incident. The family member asked Zhou to speak with Xie, but Zhou said, “You can go wherever you like, but I don't talk with lawyers.” Zhou hung up on the lawyer several times.

The family member called Zhou again later and pointed out the fact that Mr. Wei had been detained for over 24 hours, and according to the law, his family members must be notified. The family member told him that the Dacheng Street Police Station had admitted that Zhou was aware of the situation. Zhou then said, “Mr. Wei has been taken to a detention center, and his release date has not been determined.”

Mr. Wei's family member eagerly wanted to know whether or not Mr. Wei was safe and the reason for his arrest but received no reply. The family member called the police department deputy director Gong Zhibin, who is in charge of domestic security affairs. Gong said that he was currently out of town, and that if any documents were missing they could be recovered on the following Monday.

From there, Xie and Mr. Wei's family member went to the provincial procuratorate. A policewoman with last name of Hu (police number JJ0185) and the on-duty policewoman, Chu, told them that they should first go to the municipal procuratorate. At about 2:30 p.m., they arrived at the municipal procuratorate located at 186 Hongqi Boulevard, Harbin City, postal code 150090. The person on duty was director Zhao (female), who gave Xie a phone number (82359223) and promised that he would receive a response as soon as possible.

At about 3 p.m., they went to the Harbin City Police Department and asked for a supervisor. Since it was a Saturday, Wang Xiaopeng of the security office received their materials and promised to contact deputy director Gong Zhibin. Gong was supposedly still out of town and would respond when he returned on Monday.

At that time, director Zhao of the municipal procuratorate called Xie and said that she had reported to her supervisor, but that her supervisor would not take their inquiry. Xie pointed out that the municipal procuratorate had failed to fulfill their duties, and Zhao quickly hung up the phone.

Mr. Wei Liangyue is 48 years old and a graduate of the Department of Law at Jilin University. He has handled over 600 economic, civil, criminal, administrative, and miscellaneous cases during his practice of over a decade. He has served as a long-term legal consultant for over 20 enterprises such as Harbin Economics Radio Station, Harbin Radio and Television Weekly, Heilongjiang Provincial Jiahe Trading, Ltd., and Heilongjiang Provincial Yongtai Flax Joint-Stock Company.

Although the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners began in 1999, only since 2008 have some practitioners' families successfully hired lawyers to defend practitioners, and many of their appeals have fallen on deaf ears. Mr. Wei was one of the brave lawyers who accepted practitioners' cases. His clients are very appreciative for his defence, which is based upon legal documentation and seeking truth from the facts.

As a result of his defence, some officers within the legal system have gradually come to realize the truth and have become introspective of their own behaviour. The just acts of upright lawyers have enraged the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and thus the regime plotted against Mr. Wei.

On February 28th, 2009, Mr. Wei and his wife, Ms. Du Yongjing, who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, were both arrested by policemen. With the support of many just people and organizations, they were both released on bail on March 30th, 2009.

Mr. Wei is a good lawyer who is praised everywhere. His second arrest shocked his community of lawyers and confused his friends. The fact that a good lawyer's personal safety cannot be protected by law is a disgrace to human rights and universal values.

In the name of humanity and common sense, Mr. Wei's community will not just sit back and watch this go on, and they will hold those who are responsible accountable until the end. All just people please support them with righteous thoughts in order to restore moral principles to society and justice to common people.

Parties involved in the persecution of Mr. Wei:

Dacheng Street Police Station:
Wu Xinpeng, officer, police number 017663: +86-13936005978 (Mobile)
Zhang Yuandong, officer: +86-13633631068 (Mobile)Li Shenlin, instructor: +86-13945171561

Zhou Songbin, chief of the Nangang District Domestic Security Division: +86-18845168110 (Mobile)86-13303609772 (Mobile)