(Clearwisdom.net, October 7, 2005) On August 27, 2004, Mr. Leandro Despouy, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, sent an allegation letter concerning the situation of Wei Jun, an attorney from the Baicheng law firm in Baise city, Guangxi province, who had allegedly been threatened and harassed for defending Liang Changying, a Falun Gong practitioner.

Attorney Wei was threatened and harassed for defending practitioner Liang Changying. Ms. Liang was sentenced to 5 years in prison. After the court adjourned, the public prosecutor allegedly asked about the existence of a regulation stating that lawyers cannot defend Falun Gong practitioners who plead "not guilty". The same day Mr. Wei's home phone, cell phone and office phone were put under surveillance, and several days later police officers asked the Judiciary Bureau to suspend Mr. Wei's license to practice law and to sentence him to three years of forced labor. After the director of the Judiciary Bureau refused their request, the police reportedly warned Mr. Wei that in the future he would not be allowed to defend Falun Gong practitioners, and confiscated all of his materials regarding Ms. Liang's case.

On October 15, 2004 the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special

Rapporteur on the question of torture, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, the Special Rapporteur on the right to everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, to express their concern at reports of systemic repression against the Falun Gong.

Over the past five years, hundreds of cases of alleged violations of the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteurs. Many of these allegations have been reported back to the Chinese authorities and are reflected in reports of the Special Rapporteurs to the Commission on Human Rights. The Special Rapporteurs are concerned that reports of arrest, detention, ill-treatment, torture, denial of adequate medical treatment, sexual violence, deaths, and unfair trial of Falun Gong practitioners are increasing. They expressed concern that these allegations may reflect a deliberate and institutionalized policy by the authorities to target specific groups such as the Falun Gong.

An analysis of reports indicates that the alleged human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, including systematic arrest and detention, are part of a pattern of repression against members of this group. Most of those arrested are reportedly heavily fined and released, but many are detained and ill treated in order to force them to formally renounce Falun Gong. Those who refuse are sent to re-education through labor camps, where torture is reportedly used routinely and in many cases has resulted in death. When charges are laid they reportedly include allegations such as "disturbing social order", "assembling to disrupt public order", "stealing or leaking State secrets", or "using a heretical organization to undermine the law."

According to the information received, those prosecuted have been unfairly tried and many have received lengthy prison sentences. In this respect it is reported that on 5 November 1999, a notice issued by the Supreme People's Court instructed all local courts to do their "'political duty"' in bringing to trial and punishing "severely" those charged with "organization crimes", "particularly Falun Gong", and to handle these cases "under the leadership of the Party committees".

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers is available at http://www.falunhr.org/reports/UN2005/lawyer_chn.pdf