(Minghui.org) Meihekou police arrested four residents on January 12, 2016 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. While two of the arrested have been tried for their faith, the case files of the other two have reportedly disappeared.
Lawyers representing Ms. Xing Deqin and Ms. Cheng Xiumei suspect that this unusual situation is likely due to the fact that their clients have legal representation and are originally from neighboring Liuhe County, while Mr. Wang Zhongjiang and his wife Ms. Yin Cuihong, both Meihekou natives, never had a chance to hire lawyers.
The lawyers were alerted upon meeting with their clients at Liaoyuan Detention Center on June 27. They learned from guards that the married couple had been tried, but the lawyers received no update on their own clients.
They visited Meihekou Procuratorate right after the meeting and were told that the cases were still resting with Meihekou Court. However, the court said they had dismissed the cases.
The receptionist at Meihekou Procuratorate made a series of phone calls after the lawyers came back to request clarification of case status. He was able to confirm that the cases had indeed been dismissed by Meihekou but had been transferred to the jurisdiction of Liuhe County, the hometown of Ms. Xing and Ms. Deng.
The lawyers spent the next few hours visiting Liuhe County Procuratorate, Liuhe County Court, and Liuhe County Domestic Security Office, only to learn that none of them had the cases with them.
Given the hurried trial of the married couple, the lawyers suspect that Meihekou Court feared that the couple would also hire legal representation, just like Ms. Xing and Ms. Deng.
The lawyers also speculated that Meihekou Court kicked the cases back to Meihekou Procuratorate upon learning of their involvement. Meihekou Procuratorate, in turn, submitted the cases to the highest procuratorate in the province, not knowing if its counterpart in Liuhe would be willing to take them.
As the case files remain “missing,” the two lawyers are left unable to prepare their defense arguments or seek the release of their clients.
Related Report:Meihekou, Jilin Province: 7 Arrested Before Chinese New Year, 4 Still Detained, 3 Facing Trial
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