(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chuang Jing from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province was illegally arrested in September 2009 by officers from the Nangang Police Station and taken to the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp on December 22, 2009. Ms. Chuang's family hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend her. However, the lawyer encountered numerous obstructions from so-called law enforcement departments. These agencies also refused to provide any relevant evidence of her arrest. On November 9, 2009 due to pressure from public opinion both inside and outside of China and the support of these righteous lawyers, the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp finally released Ms. Chuang when her life was seriously endangered.
Faced with the unlawful and unscrupulous persecution of Falun Gong by the legal system in Jiamusi, Ms. Chuang and her family decided to take legal action against the relevant departments and individuals; including the Nangang Police Station and the Jiamusi Forced Labor Committee, and at the same time seek compensation for medical expenses and damages for her mental torment.
There is a common saying among Party officials in China, "Don't talk to us about the law; we are following orders from above." Indeed, in the persecution of Falun Gong, the Jiang Zemin clique and their accomplices have never heeded the law, and never truly followed any legal procedures. We can see from the persecution of Ms. Chuang Jing that the whole process of persecution is in fact a process of trampling on the law.
On September 19, 2009, Ms. Chuang and 14 others were arrested when they were studying Falun Dafa books together. The only reason for their arrest was because they had been studying Dafa together. Falun Gong is a peaceful practice that teaches the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Article 36 of China's Constitution clearly stipulates that the Constitution protects freedom of belief. People should enjoy the freedom to believe in Falun Gong. "Thoughts (belief) do not constitute crimes, and penalty is to punish criminal conduct." Belief in Falun Gong and studying Falun Gong books should be protected by the law. They cannot be used as "evidence" of having violated the law.
Article 39 in the Constitution stipulates, "The home of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable. Unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a citizen's home is prohibited." There are strict regulations regarding house searches of private residences by staff from state organs. They must follow legal procedures such as presenting search warrants, arrest warrants or detention warrants. The staff from a state organ has no right to search homes of citizens, and it constitutes a crime of illegal entry if they intrude into citizens' homes by exercising their authority improperly. Article 245 of China's Criminal Law clearly stipulates that any judicial functionary, who exercises his power improperly and commits a crime of unlawful intrusion into another person's residence, shall be given a heavy punishment. When officers from the Nangang Police Station went to arrest Ms. Chuang and other practitioners, they lied by saying that they were living upstairs and wanted to check a leak in the pipes. In essence, they deceived their way into a private residence without the owner's permission. When Falun Gong practitioners asked them to show their papers (as they were in plainclothes), one of them just flashed his personal ID card instead of showing any valid legal documents, such as a search, arrest or detention warrant. Therefore, the police 's conduct constituted the crimes of unlawful intrusion into a residence and unlawful search.
In the process of this unlawful arrest, the Nangang Police Station officers did not show any legal documents such as mentioned above, and their conduct has brought about adverse impact. Furthermore, during the arrest, Liu Jinshan, the deputy head of the Nangang Police Station, beat Ms. Chuang Jing and Mr. Sun Yufu, causing Ms. Chuang to bleed heavily in the lower part of her body and Mr. Sun to become unconscious followed by a heart attack. Afterward, the police detained the 15 practitioners at the Nangang Police Station. Five of them were released due to their advanced age and poor health, but only after bribes had been extorted from them. Three were sent to the Jiamusi Detention Center that same evening; the remaining seven practitioners were sent to a detention center the next day after overnight detention at the Nangang Police Station.
It is clearly stipulated by the law that any suspect who is to be detained must go through a health check-up, and the detention center officials will accept this person only when the examination is satisfactory. Otherwise, they can refuse to accept, or they may choose to have the suspected person released on bail or put him/her "under surveillance." At that time, Ms. Chuang was suffering from heavy bleeding as a result of being beaten by the police. Officers from the Nangang Police Station bought her a change of underwear, but with her own money. Therefore, they knew very clearly that Ms. Chuang was badly injured, but they still sent her to a detention center. When the detention center asked for her health certificate, the superiors pressured officials from the detention center to not examine her. Ms. Chuang was thus detained with injuries. According to the police in the detention center, they called the police station that handled her case every day and wrote a report, asking for a physical examination of Ms. Chuang. But they did not receive a reply until October 22, 2009, when she and four other practitioners were sent to the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp. That labor camp also had similar regulations that were stipulated in explicit terms, but they did not examine Ms. Chuang due to pressure from relevant personnel. As a result, she was detained without any treatment for her injuries. A week later, labor camp officials examined her and when they confirmed that her life could be in danger if they continued to detain her, the relevant personnel delayed her release for another week and then finally released her on November 9, 2009.
In judicial practices, it is deemed an offense of unlawful detention if one deprives another person's personal freedom continuously for a certain period of time. Accordingly, Liu Jinshan and the police at various administrative levels have committed crimes. Under Article 238 of China's Criminal Law, any staff member of a state organ who takes advantage of his office to commit a crime of unlawful detention shall be given a heavy punishment.
Five of the 15 Falun Gong practitioners who were unlawfully arrested are elderly and physically weak. Officers from the Nangang Police Station threatened them with detention and demanded money from their families; if they failed to pay, they were not released. Family members of those five elderly practitioners were forced to pay the police a certain amount of money before the police released these practitioners. Such conduct also constitutes a crime. The police told family members of the ten other practitioners that if they paid money, these practitioners could also be released. It constitutes a crime of extortion for any staff member working in the judiciary system to demand money or personal belongings from detainees or their family members by way of threat and coercion. When the police unlawfully arrested Falun Gong practitioners, they knew very well that the money and personal belongings, mobile phones and cash were the private property of these practitioners, but they still took them away for their own use, and refused to return them. When practitioners' family members went to ask for their return, they found out that no records of those items that had been taken by the police, and there was no signature of any person or party concerned. This police conduct constitutes a crime of robbery.
In order to send Falun Gong practitioners to the labor camp, political head Li Wensheng of the Nangang Police Station fabricated evidence and gathered illegally-acquired materials. Li Wensheng has already admitted to his criminal conduct. Article 243 of China's Criminal Law stipulates: Whoever fabricates facts to implicate another person on false charges in order that another person is prosecuted as a criminal shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed term of imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance. If serious consequences are caused, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than ten years. Any state functionary who commits a crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be given a heavier punishment.
After Ms. Chuang Jing was arrested, her family hired a lawyer to defend her rights and uphold justice. However, her lawyer encountered layers of obstruction in the legal procedures. On October 26, 2009, the lawyer went to the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp to request a meeting with Ms. Chuang. When the deputy head found out that the lawyer wanted Ms. Chuang to sign an entrustment agreement and to ask for the "forced labor decision," he firmly refused to allow Ms. Chuang to sign the entrustment agreement and told the lawyer to go to the forced labor committee in the Jiamusi Police Department. When he lawyer arrived there, staff member Li Shucai tried to stall him with excuses that the person in charge of the case was attending a meeting, then that he was away on business or did not have time, and he refused the lawyer's request for a copy of the case file and a copy of the forced labor decision. When the lawyer went there the second time, Han Xuefeng, head of the legal office and head of the forced labor committee, was extremely rude and made things difficult for the lawyer in every way. He spoke impolitely and even threatened the lawyer. Later, Li Shucai told the lawyer that he was in charge of the case and asked the lawyer to come to his office. When the lawyer challenged him, "When I came last time, you told me the person in charge of the case was away on business and would return in a week's time," Li Shucai looked very embarrassed. He then asked the lawyer to start all over again with a new entrustment agreement under the excuse that Chuang Jing was back and she must now represent herself, and other fabrications.
Under Article 96 of China's Criminal Procedure Law, after the criminal suspect is interrogated by an investigation organ for the first time or from the day on which compulsory measures are adopted against him, he may appoint a lawyer to provide him with legal advice and to file petitions and complaints on his behalf. If the criminal suspect is arrested, the appointed lawyer may apply on his behalf to obtain a guarantor pending trial. The appointed lawyer shall have the right to find out from the investigation organ about the crime he is suspected of, and may meet with the criminal suspect in custody to inquire about the case. Ms. Chuang Jing is innocent of any violation of the law and it is legal for her lawyer to meet with her and to inquire about relevant information. However, law enforcement staff knowingly violated the law and refused to cooperate with the lawyer in carrying out his legal obligations.
Article 20 of China's Police Law stipulates: policemen must fulfill the following obligations: 1) enforcing law and handling matters impartially; 2) playing an exemplary role in observing social ethics; 3) being courteous and polite in performing duties; and 4) showing respect for the customs and habits of the masses.
However, when the police unlawfully arrested Ms. Chuang Jing and other practitioners, they swore at, insulted, threatened and beat them. They tried to shift responsibility onto each other and refused to fulfill their obligations. The police force is provided by the taxpayers of the people, and yet they do not serve the interests of the people; instead they bully and oppress them. Their conduct itself violates the law. Article 50 of the China's Police Law stipulates: If an officer of the people's police, in performing duties infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen or an organization, thus causing damage thereto, he shall pay damages in accordance with China's Law on State Compensation and the provisions of other relevant laws and regulations.
Mentioned above are only a few typical unlawful acts of the police. When they are actually brought to justice, there will be much more than these simple accusations. Under International Law, their conduct in the persecution of Falun Gong also constitutes crimes of torture and crimes of genocide.
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