(Minghui.org)
Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Li Mei (黎梅)
Gender: Female
Age: 50s
Address: Hefei City, Anhui Province, China
Occupation: Court judge
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 12, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: The No. 2 Hefei Detention Center (合肥市第二看守所)
City: Hefei City
Province: Anhui Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labor, imprisonment, brainwashing, illegal trial, illegal sentencing, home ransacked, long-term standing.
Li Mei, an Intermediate Court judge in Anhui Province, China, has been sentenced to forced labor camps, brainwashing centers, detention centers, and prisons, since 2008, because she practices Falun Gong and believes in Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Judge Li has been brutally tortured in the local No. 3 Women's Prison since May 2012. She now has severe digestion problems. She is chronically constipated, has tumorous growths in her abdomen, and excessive fluid in her abdominal cavity.
The guards have refused to provide Ms. Li with proper medical care, and force her to stand still for many hours at a time. Her health has been steadily deteriorating, and her family and friends are very worried for her.
Persecuted for 12 Years
As a Falun Gong practitioner, Judge Li conducted herself according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her colleagues regarded her as a very good person. She was very good at negotiating fair solutions to interpersonal conflicts, which is one of the reasons petitioners respected her. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has mercilessly persecuted her for practicing Falun Gong.
Officers from the Shushan Police Station arrested Ms. Li on July 11, 2001, and sent her to a detention center. She was later incarcerated in the Anhui Women's Forced Labor Camp for two years. She was sent a brainwashing center in March 2003, and detained there until November 2007.
As a result of relentless brainwashing, Ms. Li had been deceived by the guards' lies, and once assisted them in brainwashing steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. After these practitioners returned home, they went through huge tribulations, including getting divorced and being dismissed from their jobs. When Ms. Li heard what happened to these practitioners, she was devastated. She clearly saw through the evil nature of the Chinese regime and felt deep remorse for allowing herself to be brainwashed, and for brainwashing others. She also understood the preciousness of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When Ms. Li was released in January 2008, she published a solemn statement declaring her intention to resume practicing Falun Gong.
Arrested, Imprisoned, and Sent to a Brainwashing Center
Dozens of agents from the Hefei City Politics and Law Committee, the Public Security Bureau, and the 610 Office, broke into Judge Li's residence in a dormitory at the Intermediate Court on June 12, 2008, and sentenced her to one year in the Nanhu Forced Labor Farm in Anhui Province.
On July 26, 2009, which was the day her term ended, the guards asked Ms. Li to sign a paper denouncing Falun Gong. When she refused, local 610 Office agents sent her to a brainwashing center located in the Jade Garden Hotel.
After Ms. Li was released, 610 Office agents first sent her to the brainwashing center located in the Breeze Garden Hotel, then to the Second Detention Center in Hefei City.
610 Office Failed to Brainwash Ms. Li
After failing to coerce Ms. Li into denouncing Falun Gong, the local authorities got together and came up with a plan. They visited her while she was in detention and gave her an ultimatum: “Stop practicing Falun Gong and you will be released. If you refuse to give up the practice, you will be permanently dismissed from your job and further sentenced!” Judge Li told them that she wanted her family, her job, her life, as well as the right to believe in Falun Dafa.
When the 610 Office agents saw that she could not be threatened or coerced, they changed their approach. They told her that they would give her 24 hours to reconsider their request. Ms. Li replied that she did not need any extra time to think things over as her decision was final.
The Hefei City 610 Office asked the local police to arrest Ms. Li, and then indicted her on falsified charges. When her family hired an attorney to defend her, the court officials began making trouble for them. They insisted that the family needed to apply to the Bureau of Justice for approval before hiring an attorney, which of course, was not true.
Basically, the court did not want Ms. Li to plead “not guilty,” because they had no evidence to support the case against her, nor had they talked to her or investigated her case.
Ms. Li was notified of her court date just three days before the trial. Court officials even helped the 610 Office get a message to Ms. Li, reminding her that they could immediately terminate the legal procedures and let her go back to work if she agreed to stop practicing Falun Gong.
Illegal Court Proceedings
On December 8, 2009, the Hefei 610 Office colluded with the Yaohai District Court to force Ms. Li to stand trial. Her family hired an attorney to defend her in court. The attorney pointed out that the court proceedings were illegal and that the charges lodged against Ms. Li were bogus.
For example, the attorney noted that the court did not properly notify the defendant of their court date, the police illegally ransacked Li's home in preparation for their case against her, and the court officials did not allow any witnesses to testify. The court ignored all three points and instead sentenced Ms. Li to five years in prison on the second day of the sham trial.
Li Mei was sent to the Third Women's Prison in Suzhou City, Anhui Province on February 23, 2010, to be further persecuted.
It was reported in May 2012 that Ms. Li was in critical condition, due to long-term abuse and torture. However, the 610 Office and other local authorities refused to release her for medical care.
Related articles:
Judge Li Mei of Hefei City Again Arrested
The Persecution of Ms. Li Mei, a Justice of the Intermediate Court in Hefei City
Former Judge Put on Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
Honest Judge Ms. Li Mei Framed by the Hefei Court
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