(Minghui.org) Nongan County Court in Jilin Province was placed on high alert the afternoon of October 11, 2013. The trial of eight practitioners of Falun Gong was being held. The case involving Liu Wei, Zhang Guozhen, Yang Hongbiao, Xiu Jixue, Chang Baojun, Wang Yajuan, Yang Wenjuan, and Su Xiufu took almost a year to investigate and come to trial.
Show of Police Force Goes Overboard
About 100 officers and 20 police cars surrounded the courthouse. Almost the entire county police force was present. Areas were blocked off and no family members or defending attorneys were allowed in the courtroom. The trial lasted only two hours. Many passersby wondered who was being tried to bring out such a show of police force.
The police picked up the defendants from the detention center at 12:45 p.m. on October 11, 2013, and arrived at the courthouse at 1:30. The trial was over by 3:30 p.m.. Officers from the Nongan County Police Department, the Gucheng Police Station, and the Debiao Police Station were on the scene. Lu Mingxuan and Zhou Dahai of the Domestic Security Division were also in the crowd dressed in plainclothes. Marshals of the court, special duty police, and riot police were also present. Even a fire truck and ambulance were summoned.
When the trial was over, the family members of the defendants called over to their relatives: “Don't worry. We will appeal.” The police started to push them around to stop them from shouting. The court staff told them very matter-of-fact, “I don't know what you are all yelling about. The verdict was decided long ago by Changchun City. Today's trial was just a formality. Someone will go to the detention center later to announce the sentence, and the defendants will be taken away.”
Domestic Security officer Lu Mingxuan took a family member into custody, erased the memory on his camera, and wrote down his cell phone number.
A bystander asked the police, “What's going on?”
“All of this is so that the Falun Gong will not cause a riot,” responded an officer
That didn't make any sense to the crowd. Falun Gong practitioners don’t hit back when attacked or talk back when insulted, and they follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Many people are aware that practitioners have handled the brutal persecution rationally and peacefully. How could Falun Gong cause a riot? The CCP agents knew they had gone overboard with such a large police presence and were really only exposing their own fears.
Three Horror Stories
The eight defendants on trial were: Mr. Liu Wei, Ms. Zhang Guozhen, Yang Hongbiao, Xiu Jixue, Chang Baojun, Wang Yajuan, Ms. Yang Wenjuan, and Su Xiufu. Their stories reveal what horrific conditions they have had to endure since being arrested.
Mr. Liu Wei was formerly a department manager in the Nongan County Refinery. He supported a school age son along with three adopted children whose parents had been persecuted and were unable to care for them.
On November 2, 2012, a dozen officers from the Nongan Domestic Security Division and the criminal defense department went to his house and confiscated his personal property including 100,000 yuan (about $16,500) cash, a stamp collection worth 300,000 yuan (about $49,500), a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a printer, a DVD maker, cell phones, and many other items.
Mr. Liu was taken to an interrogation room at the Criminal Defense No. 5 Squadron. Four officers led by Captain Tang Ke used a spade handle to hit his legs. He was stripped down to his underwear. All of the doors and windows were opened, they poured cold water on him, and turned on an electric fan. When he was dry, they poured more water on him. A wooden baton was put in front of him and the spade handle was inserted between his arms and pulled upward until he was almost suffocated. When they were done, he was dragged back to the cell. He was unable to stand.
The inmates were shocked when they saw his face covered in bruises and swollen. His lower legs were larger than his thighs, and he was bruised from the knees down, including his toes and the soles of his feet. The other inmates in the cell, all murderers and drug addicts, cursed the police for their cruelty. Mr. Liu had a fractured leg and he could stand for no more than five minutes ten days after the incident.
But the police beat him again when he got slightly better.
Mr. Liu’s family hired an attorney to seek redress for the atrocities he endured at the hands of the police. The attorney asked to see Mr. Liu on September 2, 2013, but Warden Li Qingguo of the Detention Center denied the request for no apparent reason. The attorney indicated that he was going to sue the warden. When the attorney left, the police tortured Mr. Liu again. He was cuffed to the ground for a day and put on a “stretching bed” for another day.
Ms. Zhang Guozhen , in her 50s, was retired from the Nongan Refinery. She has been arrested three times and was imprisoned in a forced labor camp because of her belief in Falun Gong. She was arrested while at her mother’s house on November 3, 2012, interrogated in the Nongan Police Department, and taken to the Nongan Detention Center at 8:00 p.m. that night.
Torture illustration: Hanged and beaten
Captain Tang Ke and instructors Zheng Yongfeng and Zhou Dahai of the Nongan Domestic Security Division took Ms. Zhang to the interrogation room in the Criminal Offense Squadron No. 5 four days later at about 9:00 p.m. She was hung up by her thumbs and then the four police officers beat her with spade handles and rubber tubes. She was handcuffed behind her back and then lifted to inflict excruciating pain.
Ms. Zhang was unable to stand after the beating, but the police forced her to walk. After she was dragged back to the cell, the inmates helped her cut open her pants. Over 30 inmates were horrified by what they saw and almost every one of them was driven to tears. Both of Ms. Zhang's lower legs were smashed and bloody. Her thighs, hips, back, and front were badly bruised. Her arms and legs hurt so much that she dared not move, and she could not talk or breath deeply because of the pain in her chest. One of the inmates asked the police, “Why did you beat her like this?” The police said, “Who saw us beat her? She fell on her own.”
The detention center took Ms. Zhang to the Changchun City Provincial Hospital twice to be examined. The detention center staff was shocked at by her condition and exclaimed, “How could they beat her like this? They could have killed her.”
Ms. Zhang was carried to Changchun Hospital for surgery. The doctor said that her legs had severe injuries and one of the nerves was dead. One leg bone was fractured. She was taken back to the detention center on February 6, 2013, and was still limping in October 2013, when she was taken to the courthouse to stand trial.
Mr. Yang Hongbiao is a doctor. He has helped thousands of patients and has a very good reputation. He often helped the poor by reducing their fees, and provided free services and medicines to elderly women. This did not stop the CCP agents from arresting him and sentencing him to prison.
Obstruction of Justice
Eight attorneys were hired by the families of the practitioners to defend the practitioners, but they have been hampered by officials every step of the way. To keep them from representing the defendants, they were told “lawyers are not allowed to represent cases involving Falun Gong.”
The warden of the detention center, Li Qingguo, said arrogantly, “Other cases are OK. But you are not allowed to meet with clients that practice Falun Gong. Cases involving Falun Gong are outside the law.”
Deputy court manager Guo Qingxi said, “Have you ever seen what justice is like under the rule of the CCP? This is pretty characteristic of how justice is handled in Jilin Province.” The attorneys contacted many officials, who told them they were not in a position to make an authoritative decision. They were advised to go talk to the director of the 610 Office, Ma Chi.
Another strange thing happened when the family went to the court to apply for a entry permit to observe the trial on October 8, 2013. The deputy criminal court manager, Guo Qingxi, said, “We will put out notices when the trial is to be held. We will issue permits to whoever wants one.” On October 11, 2013, when the family went to ask for the permits after they knew the trial date, Guo said, “Go to the first floor and ask for them.” The reception said, “Our court never issues entry permits. Just come before the trial.”
On October 10, 2013, Ms. Yang Wenjuan’s attorney went to the court to arrange for the trial proceedings. He also wanted to meet with his client but was not allowed to. Guo did not tell the attorney that the trial would be the next day. According to law, the families and defending attorneys must be informed of a trial seven days in advance.
The Nongan County Police Department arrested practitioners and tortured them while under interrogation. They ransacked their homes and prevented their attorneys from seeing them. The district procuratorate and the court prevented the defense attorneys from viewing the court files and serving as defense lawyers. They also failed to notify the families and attorneys of the trial date. These irregularities are serious violations of accepted legal procedures, and the verdicts should be nullified.
Known Participants in Persecuting These Practitioners:
Zhang Liqiang, Deputy court director: +86-431-83267018, +86-431-83209922, +86-13174356566 (Cell) Wang Zhangshun, deputy court director: +86-431-83209967, +86-13364600221 Sun Yubao, deputy head of the Criminal court: +86-431-83209944, +86-13843070699, +86-431-83212410 (Home) Liu Yiran, Operation Department manager: +86-431-83209956, +86-13364600863, +86-431-83233116 Zhang Wenkai, superintendent judge: +86-13756622228
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