(Minghui.org) The lawyer representing a 60-year-old woman is demanding that the procuratorate recall the formal arrest warrant issued against her for practicing Falun Gong and investigate the police’s violation of legal procedures in fabricating evidence against her.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Lin Guichen, of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, was arrested on July 12, 2020 after being reported for talking to a vegetable vendor about Falun Gong. The police ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books and some informational materials. The officers refused to show their IDs when questioned by Ms. Lin’s family.
The police brought a few boxes of Falun Gong books back to Ms. Lin’s home in the afternoon and took pictures of them. They rejected the request from Ms. Lin’s family to confirm whether those books were hers.
On the next day, Zhang Quangui, an officer from Chayuan Police Station, deceived Ms. Lin’s family into signing the search warrant and list of confiscated items that they had prepared after the home-ransacking. Her family was told that Ms. Lin would be released if they signed the documents.
On August 12, Ms. Lin’s lawyer submitted his legal opinion to the Jin’an District Procuratorate, urging the prosecutor not to approve Ms. Lin’s arrest.
The lawyer wrote that no law criminalizes Falun Gong and that the Chinese publication bureau had already lifted the ban on Falun Gong books in 2011. He added that it was illegal for the police to ransack his client’s home without a search warrant and fabricate photos afterwards with items that may not even belong to his client.
The prosecutor nevertheless approved Ms. Lin’s arrest on August 14. When the police asked her family to sign the formal arrest warrant, they also tried to get them to sign a newly prepared list of confiscated items. Her family refused to comply.
Ms. Lin’s lawyer submitted another letter on August 21, questioning the legality for the prosecutor to approve her arrest. The lawyer emphasized again the lack of legal basis for the persecution of Falun Gong. He added that the police’s fabricating evidence against Ms. Lin has seriously violated legal procedures and such fabricated evidence shouldn’t have been used to formally approve her arrest.
The lawyer demanded that the prosecutor withdraw his approval of Ms. Lin’s arrest and initiate a formal investigation into the police’s unlawful actions.
Related report:Fujian Woman Faces Prosecution for Her Faith, Legal Procedure Violated During Arrest
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