(Minghui.org) A father and son were arrested on August 4, 2014 for distributing DVDs of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance and music show that draws inspiration from Falun Gong.
Mr. Wang Jigui, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to a three-year prison term for “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” a standard charge used by the communist regime to sentence practitioners. His son, Mr. Wang Huiming, was released on bail and tried on July 3, 2015.
The younger Wang, 30, is mentally disabled. He failed first grade twice and never continued his education. At his trial, the judge discovered that Wang could not read or write. The young man seemed lost. He could not sign his own name on a document or verify that he had read and understood the proceedings.
The judge had a clerk write Wang's name on a piece of paper and then ordered him to copy the characters onto the court record.
The younger Wang was taken away by police several weeks after the trial. He remains detained at the time of this writing.
His mother has worked to obtain his unconditional release since his arrest. She had him evaluated at three different hospitals to prove his disability. The court however, used a different institute to show that her son was fit to stand trial.
The mother was recently told that her son is now considered a political prisoner, and may face grave consequences for passing out the Shen Yun DVDs. She wondered how her son, who cannot even tell how many months are in a year, could become a political prisoner.
She recounts below what happened to her son following his arrest.
Pingding County People’s Court in Shanxi Province tried my son on July 3, 2015. The prosecutor and presiding judge asked my son many questions that were too complicated for him to answer. They then changed their questions so he could answer yes or no. Lacking the ability to make his own judgement due to his mental disability, my son nodded his head to all the questions asked in court.
At the end of the trial, my son was asked to write a sentence confirming that he had read the court record and everything was true and accurate, then sign his name. When they found out that my son could not read or write, the judge and the prosecutor wrote the statement and his name on another piece of paper, then had him copy the statement and his name onto the court record.
Four people came to our apartment on July 29, 2015, and showed a note from the Pingding County Court. They had no arrest warrant, but said that they needed to take our son away to Pingding County Detention Center. I asked if the court had issued a verdict, and why they were arresting my son. They replied that they were simply following a court order, but did not know any details.
The court called me the next day and told me to pick up the “Notice to inmate's family” issued by Pingding County People’s Court. I asked why they did not give it to me when they arrested my son, and they replied that they were not sure if the detention center would accept my son.
I asked why they arrested my son now. They said that my son could possibly be charged as a political prisoner whose prison term could not be reduced. I asked how they would treat a political prisoner with mental disabilities, and they replied that there had never been a precedent.
My son had two severe concussions in his childhood. When he entered kindergarten at age seven, he could not control his behavior, and understand only simple school rules. Classroom instruction did not make any sense to him at all. He was made to repeat kindergarten, and was later retained in first grade. He spent two years learning to count from 1 to 3, and to write his name. No schools wanted to admit him after he repeated first grade, so he has stayed home with us ever since.
Even though he is now over thirty years old, our son cannot tell the days of a week or months of the year.
After arresting and interrogating my son in August 2014, the local police station and public security department decided to have his mental status evaluated. Both Yangmei Corp No. 2 Hospital and Yijing Mental Hospital diagnosed my son with a “level 2 intelligence disability,” meaning that he was mentally delayed.
But after receiving my son’s case in November 2014, the Pingding County People’s Court had him evaluated a third time. They designated the Shanxi Province Mental Illness Legal Diagnosis Center, which used threats and lies to coerce our son to comply, and thus was able to obtain a false report stating that he “moves normally, and has the ability for full legal responsibilities.”
I applied to have my son re-evaluated immediately, and we went to the designated Shanxi Province Rongkang Mental Illness Legal Diagnosis Center in March 2015. Their result shows that our son has “mild mental development delay, and his abilities to identify and analyze, as well as his legal capacity are weak... and he therefore can carry partial legal responsibilities.”
The doctor added that the center wanted to be conservative, and was not willing to say that our son could not carry legal responsibilities at all. After that, the court decided to release our son on bail, and we brought him home after paying 3,000 yuan.
I have talked to many local law enforcement agents since my husband's and son's arrests last August, who all stated that they persecuted my mentally disabled son because the Chinese Communist Party ordered them to do so, and that the Party’s order was more important than human lives.