(Minghui.org) A Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, man has been denied visits with his appeals lawyer since he was admitted to prison in July 2024 to serve a five-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
While Mr. Liu Jia’s wife and sister were allowed a 30-minute visit with him recently, they were heartbroken to see how emaciated he was and that he appeared to have been abused.
Mr. Liu, around 55, was arrested on January 6, 2022, on his way to nearby Pengzhou City. The police held him in a hotel for 18 days, during which time they beat him so severely that they broke his left leg and his gallbladder became inflamed. He had to have his gallbladder removed.
Mr. Liu was transferred to the Pengzhou City Detention Center on January 24, 2022, and tried in the Pengzhou City Court on October 30, 2023. He was sentenced to five years and admitted to Jiazhou Prison in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, on July 5, 2024.
Mr. Liu’s appeals lawyer asked to see him after his prison admission but his request was denied with various excuses. The prison initially told the lawyer to sign a confidentiality agreement. When he refused, they claimed that the power of attorney document he presented did not meet their requirements and was invalid. After the lawyer made numerous revisions to the document per the prison’s instructions, the latter approved it but said they still needed time to carefully consider his visitation request. The lawyer has still yet to meet with his client. By law, lawyers should be granted visits with their clients with no strings attached.
Mr. Liu’s wife and sister were allowed to visit him at the end of August 2024. They saw through the plexiglass partition that the once-healthy, 6-foot-11-inch-tall man was emaciated and unusually tan. The phone given to his sister did not work and she couldn’t make out what her brother was saying. His wife’s phone worked fine.
Mr. Liu told his wife that he was still “on probation” (meaning he was being subjected to intensive brainwashing aimed to force him to renounce Falun Gong) and not allowed to use his commissary account to purchase daily necessities. He had to do military drills under the scorching sun (often with temperatures reaching 104oF) every day, which was why his skin had turned so dark. He also complained that he was only given an egg-sized ball of rice to eat at every meal.
When Mr. Liu’s wife asked if he had received his sister’s letters, he said he had not, even though his sister had received confirmation of the receipt of the letters by the prison. He added that the prison did not give him any paper or pen to write letters home.
This is not the first time that Mr. Liu has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong. He served two years of forced labor (January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2002) and 5.5 years in prison (November 13, 2007 – May 12, 2013) in the past and endured horrific torture behind bars.
Related Reports:
Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province: Recap of Recent and Earlier Persecution Cases against Falun Gong
Chengdu Man Beaten at a Hotel-turned Detention Site, Incurred Injuries in His Leg and Gallbladder
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