Widespread Persecution of Falun Gong in China Continues Under the Guise of "Law and Order"
-- At Least 557 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced to Prison in 2010
(Clearwisdom.net) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has fabricated many false pretenses to seemingly "justify" the persecution of Falun Gong and to keep the world's people from learning the extent and severity of the persecution. The intense and pervasive propaganda campaign has been cleverly orchestrated right from the start, more than eleven years ago. The CCP has since moved the persecution itself more underground, misleading people with its propaganda on the surface, while broadly employing the legal system, under the guise of "law and order," to persecute Falun Gong.
According to the “Report on the Imprisonment and Forced Labor of Falun Gong Practitioners Since the 2008 Olympics” issued by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong on July 15, 2010 (available in Chinese only at http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/node/3111), at least 1,361 practitioners were sentenced to prison from January 2008 to February 2010, with the longest term of 18 years and an average term of five years and one month.
In 2010, at least 557 practitioners were sentenced to prison, with 65 in Liaoning Province, and 51 in Heilongjiang Province. The persecution was also very severe in Shandong, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces.
Distribution of imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners in each province from January 2010 to January 2011
The terms of imprisonment were mostly longer than three years, with 94 practitioners handed sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years. The practitioners sentenced are from all walks of life and include teachers, government officials, executives, factory workers and farmers.
Persecution Escalated
In the early years of the persecution, the CCP used mostly forced labor camps to detain Falun Gong practitioners. This was likely done to avoid the need for legal procedures. In China, the police can sentence people to forced labor without benefit of a trial or any due process of law. In the early years, for the most part, only practitioners who were Falun Gong coordinators were sentenced to prison. In recent years, however, while the widespread propaganda designed to turn public opinion against Falun Gong has slowed, the persecution has continued in a different way, with many more practitioners now being "tried" in the court system and being sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
As an example, in Jianyang City, Sichuan Province, there was only one practitioner sentenced and imprisoned in 2006; there were four in 2007; and six in 2009, with Ms. Lei Jinxiang sentenced to a nine-and-a-half-year term, Ms. Jia Zhengfen to an eight-and-a-half-year term, Mr. Zhang Shixiang to a six-year term, Ms. Liu Dehui to a four-year term, and Ms. Peng Xiuqiong to a three-year term.
Further examples are presented below:
Starting from July 16, 2009, Dandong City and Donggang City in Liaoning Province combined together, followed Falun Gong practitioners for five months, and then arrested 14 practitioners and their families on December 22, 2009. Among these 14 practitioners, five were heavily sentenced, with Mr. Zou Jiling sentenced to 10 years, Ms. Wang Chunhua to seven and half years, and Ms. Wang Fuhua to seven years.
During the 2010 World Expo, several dozen Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Shanghai, and among these, seven were sentenced and imprisoned.
The Louxing District Court in Loudi City, Hunan Province heavily sentenced nine Falun Gong practitioners during a secret trial on August 3, 2010. Mr. Cao Gongxun was sentenced to a ten-year term; Mr. Liu Xinping to nine years; Mr. Zhou Qingfeng to five and a half years; Mr. Ouyang Zhong to three and a half years; Mr. He Jinlin to two years; Ms. Deng Lianzhen, Ms. Xie Guirong, Ms. Li Zaiying and Ms. Yuan Qiudi each received three years, with probation for four years.
Under the command of the Changde City, Hunan Province authorities, 610 Office Chair Wang Yongkang and several hundred officers ransacked the homes of over 30 Falun Gong practitioners, arrested them, and heavily sentenced eight practitioners on November 4, 2010. Ms. Liu Xianju was sentenced to ten years; Ms. Li Yunfang to nine and a half years; Mr. Wang Xiaohui to nine years; Mr. Li Haijun to eight and a half years; Ms. Liu Huiping to seven and a half years; Ms. Zeng Lihua to seven years; Mr. Man Sanqing to five years; and Ms. Chen Lingci was sentenced to three years.
The Xichang City Court in Sichuan Province issued the heaviest local sentencing since the persecution of Falun Gong began, in September 2010. Ms. Gao Deyu, 72, was sentenced to 12 years; Ms. He Xianzhen was sentenced to 10 years; Ms. Cheng Donglan to 10 years; and Ms. He Zhengqiong, who is a new practitioner, was sentenced to seven years.
Evidence of Darkness in the Chinese Legal System
Throughout all cases on the Clearwisdom website, the darkness of the CCP legal system is clearly evident. The 610 Office is an extra-judicial organization that acts outside the Chinese Constitution. It was specifically created to direct the persecution at all levels of the police, the Procuratorate, and justice bureaus. We see police-fabricated evidence, Procuratorate arrests and illegal lawsuits, and the courts issuing sentences in secret. Many judges, procurators, and police department directors have said that they cannot truly be in charge of these cases, as they must follow the directives of the 610 Office at every step. Some lawyers who uphold justice pointed out that using the law enforcement system to sentence Falun Gong practitioners is a blasphemy of the Constitution, because Falun Gong is not illegal and practitioners are not engaged in breaking the law. The persecution of Falun Gong is a persecution of a peaceful spiritual practice and is a major human rights disaster.
1. Police Violently Arrest and Rob Practitioners
Case 1.
Mr. He Yixing and his wife Ms. Zhang Yueqin lives in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Mr. He retired from the Tanshan City Power Plant. On the morning of July 10, 2008, Tangshan City officials dispatched officers from the Diaoyutai Police Station to arrest Mr. He Yixing and Ms. Zhang Yueqin without any legal procedures. At 10:00 a.m. many police cars arrived. The police tried to pry open the lock on her residence but were unsuccessful. They later sent two fire engine ladder trucks and climbed up and broke into the south and north windows of Mr. He's sixth-floor home. They barged in through the windows and seized Ms. Zhang Yueqin and her husband. They stole more than 600,000 yuan that their daughter He Dan had borrowed for a business venture, and her business van. In January 2009, Lubei District Court sentenced Mr. He to seven years in prison, and Ms. Zhang Yueqin to five years in prison.
Mr. He Yixing and his wife Ms. Zhang Yueqin
Case 2.
Mr. Bai Sanyuan, 47, lives in Jinxia Village, Pingbao Township, Jingyuan County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in 2000 because he went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. He was inhumanly tortured, several times his life was in danger, and twice people thought he died in prison. Upon his release, his body was covered with injuries. He had to leave home to escape from repeatedly being arrested.
At 7:00 p.m. on May 16, 2010, led by Jingyuan County Police Department Deputy Director Chen Mingyue and Domestic Security Division Head Pan Qianrui, eight plainclothes officers drove to Mr. Bai's home. Since the gate was locked, these officers climbed over the wall, then forcibly opened their house door. Mr. Bai was hid in the grain storage. The officers called the Baiyin City Police Department for help. Nearly 30 uniformed police officers arrived. By 10:00 p.m., officers threw tear-gas bombs into the grain storage, causing Mr. Bai to pass out. The police took him directly to the Jingyuan County Detention Center. On May 20, 2010, two officers came to Mr. Bai's home, and ordered his wife to sign a document, but she refused. Mr. Bai was sentenced to six years in prison and locked in the Sixth Ward of Lanzhou City Prison on July 20, 2010.
Mr. Bai Sanyuan's wife's front tooth was knocked out as a result of police brutality
2. Use of Torture to Extract False Confessions
Case 1.
Mr. Guo Xiaojun is a lecturer employed by the Computer Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In January 2010, officers from the Baoshan District Police Department arrested him without any reason, detained him in solitary confinement at the Baoshan District Detention Center, and tortured him with long-term sleep deprivation. This torture resulted in high blood pressure, losing his eyesight, and other physical problems. Despite the fact that he declared in court that “all evidence was obtained through torture,” prosecutor Chen Weidong and Judge Xu Minfang sentenced him to four years in prison.
Mr. Guo Xiaojun
Case 2.
On April 15, 2010, Mr. He Binggang, the owner and general manager of computer operations at Yuwen Technology in the Changning District of Shanghai and also a Falun Gong practitioner, was trapped by secret agents from the 610 Office in the Changning District and taken away. His case has received a lot of outside attention, and the authorities' underhanded tactics have been extensively reported. Although their names and job titles were publicized, the Changning Procuratorate still brought Mr. He to trial recently.
Mr. He Binggang, about 35 years old, graduated with a Master's degree from Fudan University in Shanghai. At 10:00 a.m. on April 15, 2010, Wang Jue from the Domestic Security Brigade (affiliated with the Changning Police Sub-Bureau) sent a secret agent to Mr. He's company under the guise of selling them his second-hand computer at a low price. A staff member in the computer operations department purchased the computer. Wang Jue was in plainclothes and had been waiting by the stairs of the Changning Technology Building for two hours where Mr. He's company is located. After the secret agent exited the building, Wang changed into his police uniform and, with several others, barged into the computer operations department, announcing that they were officers from the Tianshanlu Police Station in the Changning District, and had received a phone call saying that there were stolen items hidden in Mr. He's company. After they searched, they located a box of Falun Gong books that were planted there by the secret agent, as well as Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs, in the cabinet. Wang Jue took Mr. He to the Tianshan Police Station, where he was beaten and tortured to force him to admit that the books and the Shen Yun DVD's were his.
In January 2011, Procuratorator Zhu Liqun, who is the Manager of the Appeals Department of Changning, and Gao Xun, brought Mr. He to trial in the Changning District Court. She also ordered the Changning Court to give Mr. He a heavy sentence, because Mr. He had Falun Gong books and he gave a DVD that contained information about the persecution of Falun Gong to a manager in his company.
3. Withholding Information from Family Members as to the Whereabouts of Incarcerated Practitioners
The authorities intentionally withhold information and do not inform practitioners' families of where practitioners are detained, when the cases are filed at the Procuratorate, when the lawsuit is filed in the court, or when the trials are scheduled. The families are thus unable to hire lawyers. The “open” trials are mostly held in secret.
For example, after detaining Mr. Mo Jiaxing for nine months, the Ji County 610 Office in Henan Province secretly sentenced him to five years in prison without notifying his family; Ms. Wang Sulan from Tangshan City, Hebei Province was arrested in Beijing in February 2009, but her family was never allowed to visit her until one year later, and the court mailed a sentencing statement telling her family she had been sentenced to nine years of imprisonment.
Another case is Ms. Yan Congzhi, 62, who lives in Dazhong Township, Baiquan County, Heilongjiang Province. The Dazhong Township Police Station director Wang Xugang deceived her into going to the County government on September 30, 2010, but they arrested and detained her in the Qiqihar City First Detention Center. Ms. Yan's family requested to visit her many times, but were refused every time. It wasn't until January 2011, that her son found out she was sentenced to four years in prison. He asked why the family wasn't notified during the trial, and the CCP official lied, saying that they could not find her family.
4. Making a Mockery of the Legal System
Ms. Shao Changfen and Ms. Shao Changhua are sisters who live in the Zhenxing District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province. They were arrested on September 6, 2010. The Zhenxing District police first decided to detain them for 15 days, but then sentenced them each to 18 months of forced labor on September 12 and 14, 2010. The police issued an arrest warrant, and planned to file a lawsuit and sentence the sisters to prison. These three decisions contradicted each other, since no one can serve detention, forced labor or be on trial simultaneously. The defense lawyer showed how the court disrespects the law, how the defendants had committed no crimes, and declared that they should be released unconditionally. Judge Tao Zhenhua declared the court in recess, but notified the family of Ms. Shao Changhua that she was sentenced to seven years in prison, while ten days later, Ms. Shao Changfen was sentenced to four years in prison.
5. Issuing Prison Sentences during Forced Labor
Ms. Ding Lu, 60, a retired doctor from Dalian City Boat Manufacture, was arrested in March 2009, and locked in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City, with an 18-month term. After being tortured more than a dozen days and deprived of sleep, she was forced to accept the brainwashing when she was in a confused state of mind. At the end of 2009, the guards told her to report to all detained Falun Gong practitioners about how she was “reformed”. With a clear mind, she took the opportunity to expose the brainwashing tactics that had been used on her. The guards quickly dragged her down, and tortured her until she couldn't think straight again. They took her back to the Yaojia Detention Center in Dalian City, and secretly sentenced her to five years in prison between February and March of 2010.
6. Blocking the Lawyers Who Uphold Justice
The CCP is extremely frightened of lawyers who uphold justice and defend the innocence of Falun Gong practitioners, and they try to block these lawyers from meeting their clients, reading their files, and threaten their families that they will fire these lawyers or force them to drop the case. They hold secret trials without notifying the lawyers, and unreasonably limit or stop lawyers from speaking in court, and even beat them up like the mafia. Lawyer Wang Yonghang was hired by the Ganjun Law Firm in Liaoning Province multiple times to defend Falun Gong practitioners, which offended the CCP. The police arrested him, and beat him until his leg was fractured. He was sentenced to seven years in prison on November 27, 2009 by the Shahekou District Court in Dalian City. In 2009, at least 21 lawyers who uphold justice have had their law practice certificates revoked, or their registration was delayed. Among these, 17 were those who defended Falun Gong practitioners.
Case 1: Mr. Guo Xiaojun's family hired five lawyers to defend him, but they were all threatened by the CCP and had to quit in fear that defending them would threaten their lives. Without any legal assistance, Mr. Guo Xiaojun was sentenced to four years in prison on July 7, 2010 (see Case 2 in 2. Use of Torture to Extract False Confessions).
Case 2: The second trial of Mr. Gong Shunhui was held in the Miyi County Court by the Panzhihua City Middle Court on January 12, 2010. Lawyers Li Jinglin and Li Subin from Beijing defended Mr. Gong Shunhui. The police did not allow the defense witnesses and family to enter the court, and suddenly denied Lawyer Li Subin's right to defend his client. Mr. Gong Shunhui argued his right to use two lawyers, and the judge immediately stopped him from talking, and said he had to listen to the judge, otherwise he would leave without a trial. Thus, Mr. Li Subin gave up his right to defend his client for the sake of having the trial on time, and he sat in the audience.
Mr. Li Jinglin defended Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gong Shunhui's innocence. He stated: “Miyi County Domestic Security Division Chief Yang Zihua and Deputy Chief Li Xuesong, led officer Zhou Sen to illegally intrude on Mr. Gong Shunhui's home which is in violation of the constitution. It is impossible that Mr. Gong violated the law like the prosecutor accused, because that crime does not exist. Falun Gong believers practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and this conforms to the constitutional right of freedom of belief, and no one has the right to interfere with an individual's belief.” The judge threatened him, saying, “You are not a Chinese, but Falun Gong sent you from the U.S. The police and State Security agents are waiting for you outside if you continue.”
Case 3: In November 2010, Ms. Teng Yingfen was issued an arrest warrant, which meant she would be sent to trial. Her husband hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend her. The trial was held secretly in December 2010, not allowing the family or lawyer to enter the detention center where the secret trial was held. In addition, the police arrested Ms. Teng' husband Sun Guo, and sentenced Ms. Teng to four years in prison.
Case 4: Ms. Ye Qiaoming is an employee of the Fujian Province Normal University. The Cangshan District Court formerly decided to hold a trial on March 4, 2010, but instantly canceled the trial upon hearing that her son hired two lawyers from Beijing, and requested to allow witnesses to appear at the trial on March 3, 2010. The Fuzhou City Domestic Security agents forced Ms. Ye's young son, a college freshman, to quit hiring the lawyers, and threatened him in the Police Department. He had to sign the paperwork under enormous pressure. Ms. Ye was sentenced to three years of imprisonment without a defense lawyer, with four years' probation.
Case 5: Mr. Jiang Xiqing, 66, was a retired employee of the Jiangjin District Tax Bureau in Chongqing. He was tortured to death in the Xishanping Forced Labor Camp on January 28, 2009. On the afternoon of May 13, 2009, Mr. Jiang's son hired lawyers Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu (both from Beijing), who tried to investigate his death case, but they were beaten and injured by more than 20 officers. They were thrown down on the floor, handcuffed with their arms behind their back, hung up in a metal cage, and interrogated for over five hours while being hung up and beaten.
7. Secret Sentencing after Trial Recessed
Case 1: The Donggang City Court in Liaoning Province held trials for Mr. Zou Jiling, Mr. Wang Fuhua and Mr. Wang Chunhua on July 1, 2, and 22, 2010. Six lawyers defended their innocence. The judge and prosecutors had no words to say, and announced a court recess, but still sentenced these three practitioners to 10 years, seven years, and seven years in prison, respectively.
Case 2: Seven practitioners from the Bayuquan District, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province were arrested and their homes ransacked on September 23, 2009. They are Ms. Dong Bing, Mr. Bi Shijun, Ms. Sun Li, Mr. Shen Guanghai, Mr. Yu Zhihong, Mr. Wang Zhiyuan, Mr. Teng Wenmin. The Bayuquan District Court held the first trial on March 23, 2010. These families hired four lawyers to defend their innocence, and requested their release in court since no evidence supported the charges. The judge announced a “recess.”
On June 1, 2010, the second trial was held, but the court intentionally did not notify the lawyers. These seven practitioners defended themselves, and one practitioner revealed how he was tortured during interrogation. The judge announced a “recess” again.
The court held secret trials after one month, without notifying their families or lawyers. Ms. Sun Li refused to attend when she saw that no family members or lawyers had arrived. The police officers beat and injured her. They sentenced each with a heavy term: Ms. Dong Bing and Mr. Bi Shijun each received seven years; Mr. Shen Guanghai and Ms. Sun Li each got five years; Ms. Wang Zhihong three and half years; Mr. Wang Zhiyuan was sentenced to 18 months; and Ms. Teng Wenmin was sentenced to three years with five years' probation.
8. Middle Court Upholds the First Trial's Sentence Without a Court Session
The Middle Court is also controlled by the 610 Office system. Before the 2008 Olympics, seven practitioners from Tangshan City, Hebei Province were arrested and detained. They are Ms. Jiao Xuemei, Mr. Luo Zhijian, Ms. Sun Cuiqing, Ms. Zhao Yabin, Mr. Sun Fengli, Ms. Zhang Yueqin, Mr. He Yixing. Some of them had their home ransacked and were sentenced, and they appealed. Before the second trial by the Middle Court, the families hired lawyers who requested an open trial by the Middle Court for Ms. Jiao Xuemei, Mr. Luo Zhijian, Ms. Sun Cuiqing, and Ms. Zhao Yabing. The judge of the Middle Court said he would uphold the first trial's sentencing, and he would not hold an open trial.
Posting date: 2/28/2011
Category: Persecution Accounts - First-hand
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/2/16/打着法律幌子的大规模迫害-236232.html
