(Minghui.org) The Kuitun Detention Center in Xinjiang repeatedly denied lawyers' attempts to meet with their clients, and the local prosecutor refused to allow the lawyers to review case files before a trial.
Mr. Li Xinren and his wife Ms. Pu Haiyan were arrested on March 9, 2015 for practicing Falun Gong. They are held in the Kuitun Detention Center with Mr. Mai Yulong, another practitioner. Three meetings with their lawyers have been denied over the past two months.
These obstructions are common throughout China's police and judicial systems, both of which are used by the communist regime as part of its suppression campaign against Falun Gong practitioners.
The practitioners' lawyers have since filed complaints with the Procuratorate.
Lawyers Blocked at Entrance
Lawyers representing Ms. Pu Haiyan and Mr. Mai Yulong went to the Kuitun Detention Center to see them on May 28, 2015. However, Yang Xiangbin, director of the detention center, refused to let them meet with their clients.
The lawyers complained to the detention center's Procuratorate liaison office, who then intervened. It was agreed that the lawyers could meet with the practitioners at 11 a.m. the next day.
A guard at the detention center's entrance gate demanded that the lawyers leave their lawyer identification cards when they arrived the next morning. However, the guard at the registration desk refused them entry without seeing their ID cards.
The guard on the gate then refused to return the lawyers' ID cards. After some negotiation, the lawyers were finally allowed to meet with the practitioners.
Given the Runaround
When Ms. Pu's lawyer returned to the detention center on June 15, he was shown a notice stating that the lawyers for Ms. Pu, Mr. Li and Mr. Mai must first register at the Kuitun Judicial Bureau before they could meet with their clients. The notice was not signed, and there was no official seal from the relevant government department.
The order apparently came from an internal memo from the Domestic Security Division.
When the lawyers went to the Kuitun Judicial Bureau, they were told that they needed permission from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, 610 Office, the city's Domestic Security Division, and the prefecture's Domestic Security Division before they could meet their clients.
Police submitted the case for Mr. Li, Ms. Pu and Mr. Mai to the Procuratorate on June 18 with a request that the trial date be expedited.
The lawyers tried to meet with their clients on June 30 to prepare for the trial, but were still prevented from doing so. Guards at the detention center demanded they they go through the process as before, with the Kuitun Judicial Bureau.
They then went to the Procuratorate to seek permission to meet their clients, but the prosecutor said that his hands were tied and told them to follow the directions of the detention center. He also rejected the lawyers' request to review the case files.
When the lawyers went to the Kuitun Judicial Bureau, no one would see them.
Perpetrators' Contact Information:Yang Xiangbin (杨向斌), director of the Kuitun Detention Center: +86-13565567125Zhao Xiaobing (赵晓兵), prosecutor at the Kuitun Procuratorate: +86-18009928876, +86-0992-3291080
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