(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhan Lanzhen was sentenced to a five-year prison term by the Jiulongpo District Court in Chongqing on January 24, 2014. She immediately filed an appeal with the Chongqing Intermediate Court. The intermediate court upheld the original decision on February 28, without notifying her attorney, questioning Ms. Zhan, or hearing the attorney's arguments.
Ms. Zhan Arrested and Sentenced, Her Appeal Rejected
The Chongqing Political and Legal Affairs Committee directed police officers from the Jiulongpo District Domestic Security Branch and the Ba'nan District Domestic Security Branch to arrest over 20 Falun Gong practitioners on August 19, 2012, including Ms. Zhan Lanzhen and Mr. Li Xiangdong. The police confiscated a computer, a printer, and several thousand yuan in cash from Ms. Zhan's home. Ms. Zhan was detained in the Huayan Detention Center.
The Jiulongpo Court sentenced Ms. Zhan to five years in prison after detaining her for 17 months. She immediately filed an appeal with the Chongqing Intermediate Court.
Ms. Zhan's family hired an attorney to defend her. Her attorney went to the Fifth Court of the Chongqing Intermediate Court on February 23, 2014, and met with judge Yu Yong, who was in charge of her appeal. The attorney submitted the proper documents and the authorization by Ms. Zhan's family. Yu Yong told the attorney that he had not yet received information about the case.
Yu Yong went to Huayan Detention Center to question Ms. Zhan on February 21, but didn't notify her attorney.
The intermediate court made the ruling to uphold the original sentence on February 28. The court didn't notify Ms. Zhan's attorney and didn't hear her arguments.
This is a violation Item 2 of Article 220 of the “Criminal Procedure Law,” which states that if an appeal court decides not to have an open hearing of the appeal, it should question the defendant and listen to the opinions of other parties, attorneys, and legal representatives.
Ms. Zhan held a hunger strike to protest the laws being violated in processing her case.
Ms. Zhan's Prior Arrests and Detention
Ms. Zhan, 41, is from Chongqing. After she started practicing Falun Gong in May 1998, her ailments disappeared, and she became more open, cheerful, and energetic.
Ms. Zhan was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa on November 26, 2000, and was tortured in the Chongqing Women's Forced Labor Camp. Guards there handcuffed her to a metal bed almost every day. She was once handcuffed to the bed for 24 hours, not able to move. When she held hunger strikes to protest, the guards force-fed her. They also took her money, as a so-called payment for the force-feeding supplies. She lost a lot of weight due to the torture.
Police officers tried to take her to a brainwashing center in May 2003. Ms. Zhan and her family firmly refused to cooperate, and she was able to avoid going.
Cheng Chuansheng, head of the Xinhua No. 2 Village Residential Committee in Yangjiaping, led police from Jiulongpo to Ms. Zhan's home on August 19, 2004. They confiscated her Falun Dafa books, a computer, a printer, and a scanner. They interrogated her for two consecutive days without allowing her to sleep. She was then imprisoned at the Huayan Detention Center in Jiulongpo for eight months.
Ms. Zhan was arrested again on September 23, 2005, and put in Maojiashan Women's Forced Labor Camp in Chongqing, where she was severely tortured.
Ms. Zhan was arrested by the Yangjiaping Neighborhood Committee and the Jiulongpo 610 Office on November 18, 2011. She was taken to a brainwashing center at Baluyuan Manor in Baishiyi Town, Jiulongpo, and released on November 25, 2011.
Individuals and Organizations That Participated in Persecuting Ms. Zhan: No. 2 Criminal Court, the Fifth Court of the Chongqing Municipal Intermediate Court: Wang Lixin (王立新), presiding judge: +86-23-63905542 Yu Yong (余勇), judge in charge of the appeal: +86-23-63905535 Fan Xiaoming (范晓明), presiding judge of the Criminal Court, the Jiulongpo District Court: +86-23-61246500 Jiang Daxiang (蒋达祥), contact person for the Jiulongpo Political and Legal Affairs Office: +86-23-68425119 Chen Wei (陈伟), Domestic Security Division of Jiulongpo Police Department: +86-23-63752701 Zhou (周), warden of the Huayan Detention Center: +86-23-65258850
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