(Minghui.org) As a Boluo County resident awaits trial for her faith, the local police has made multiple attempts to try to persuade her to drop her lawyer.
Ms. Huang Qunfang was arrested on September 26, 2017 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
The local procuratorate returned the case to Boluo County Police Department in January 2018, but the latter resubmitted the case shortly afterwards.
Ms. Huang's husband hired a lawyer to defend his wife's constructional right to freedom of belief, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. The lawyer requested to visit Ms. Huang, but was denied a meeting. He immediately filed a complaint with the Boluo County Procuratorate and was told to expect a response within seven days.
The lawyer's manager received a phone call from Boluo police soon afterwards. The police demanded that the manager stop the lawyer from representing Ms. Huang. The manager asked what legal basis the police had in making such a demand, and the police had no answer.
Officers Ye Peijin and Chen Weicheng, who were assigned to Ms. Huang's case, took Ms. Huang's husband to the police department on the day that the lawyer made the request to see her. The police threatened to arrest Ms. Huang's husband if he refused to terminate the lawyer. He firmly refused.
Ms. Huang's lawyer visited the procuratorate again on January 26, 2018 and was told that she had been indicted two days ago. The lawyer immediately went to Boluo County Court, but he was denied access to her case file. He told the receptionist that he planned to file a complaint against the procuratorate.
Ms. Huang's husband received a phone call hours later, saying that the lawyer could review the case file on January 29. The lawyer returned on the said day to review the case file. He also visited Ms. Huang afterwards and noted that what he read in the case was not consistent with what she had told him about what happened to her.
Officers Ye and Chen showed up moments after the lawyer left. They tried to make Ms. Huang drop the lawyer. She refused, and they returned two days in a row to harass her. She suddenly fainted in the middle of the meeting and was rushed to a hospital.
Ms. Huang was diagnosed with high blood pressure and remained hospitalized for a week. Her lawyer filed a request for medical parole, but the police ordered her sent back to the detention center instead.
Six officers broke in Ms. Huang's home several weeks later to threaten her husband. He again refused to terminate the lawyer.
The lawyer visited Ms. Huang on April 17 and noted that she was still suffering from high blood pressure. He filed a second request for medical parole and hasn't gotten a response at the time of writing.
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