6/12/2003
(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioner Ms. Li Shuhua is 60 years old, and an employee of Kai County Biomedicine Manufacturing in Chongqing City. After she retired, she went to live with her children in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Before she began her Falun Gong cultivation practice, Li's health was so bad that she spent more than 1,000 Yuan1 annually on medical treatment. After she began practicing Falun Dafa in 1999, she became very healthy, and has not spent a penny of the government's money on medical expenses since. In March of 2003, the police of Wangping Street Police Station of Chenghua District started monitoring and following her. According to the policemen, they originally sought to uncover a so-called big "organization" through following Li's tracks. But after one-month of following her, they did not find any such "organization" as they'd expected. Thus, on the evening of April 10, 2002, the police from Wangping Street Police Station and Chenghua Public Security Sub-bureau broke in Li Shuhua's house and took her away. They also searched her house and took away many of her personal belongings including cash, cell phone, deposit book, and jewelry.
After more than one year in detention, the Chenghua District Court of Chengdu City sentenced her to 7 years in jail and confiscated all of her personal property that had been plundered from her home by the police.
The following is an analysis of the court verdict for Li Shuhua.
First, the Chinese government prohibits practitioners from finding their own defense lawyers. No lawyers have ever dared to defend Falun Gong practitioners. Whoever speaks in defense of Falun Gong is labeled as "being against the Party and the government" or "endangering state security." The only so-called "criminal behavior" of all those practitioners who have been arrested, detained, and sentenced to labor camps or jail, was supporting Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. They just wanted to tell people that Falun Dafa is good, to speak the truth to the public about how vicious people in the "610 Office," 2 public security organizations, as well as courts have jointly persecuted and tortured practitioners. Anyone who defends Falun Gong in this way is regarded as guilty, and sent to jail. In addition to this, the officially issued document also stipulated that the defense for Falun Gong practitioners is not allowed. Under such policies, who would dare defend Falun Gong? Those so-called "defense lawyers" were actually designated by the court. In the court verdict for Li, it was indicated that "the designated lawyer, Zhong Ming, had been working as a lawyer at the Legal Support Center of Chenghua District of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Was Li's designated lawyer able to defend Li Shuhua's not-guilty plea? The court verdict clearly stated that "the plaintiff argued that her behavior does not constitute a crime. The practice of Falun Gong is to do good things and to improve one's health." But this court verdict also indicated that "Li's designated lawyer does not have any objections to the accusations that Li was using the [slanderous term omitted] to disrupt the implementation of laws." This verdict clearly revealed that the use of the so-called designated lawyer before the court is actually just an act used to further persecute Falun Gong.
Since July 1999, hundreds of thousands of practitioners have been secretly arrested, detained, or sent to jail without any judicial procedures. Many practitioners who have suffered brutal persecution have revealed their experiences to the public so that criminal acts such as searching practitioners' personal residences, extortion, illegal detention and interrogation, along with various forms of torture can be exposed to the world. In order to avoid condemnation by the public and international media, the Chinese government used such "court sessions" and "designated defense lawyers" to disguise, and attempt to legitimatize, their illegal behaviors.
Secondly, among the pieces of so called "evidence" against Li Shuhua, an oil lamp, lamp wicks, incense burner, map, and camera were regarded as material evidence; even jewelry, deposit book, and cell phone were listed as tools of offense and were thus confiscated by the court, not to mention the truth-clarifying VCDs and literature. But the strangest thing was that the verdict only mentioned VCDs and literature as the material evidence against Li Shuhua, without referring to any specific contents of those materials. It is unreasonable and unlawful to sentence Li to a 7 year jail term just based on those items regardless of their contents. Nowadays it is always mentioned in the Chinese government's propaganda that a legal case should be based on laws and facts. Then what specific conduct or words of Li's have "damaged the implementation of laws?" Which article of the law has been violated by Li Shuhua? What is the criterion for imposing her penalty? None of these important issues have been stated in this court verdict.
In fact, the court was scared to reveal the contents of those VCDs and literature. If that was not the case, practitioners like Li Shuhua would not be arrested and locked up in jail. Those VCDs and literature represented only 2 major points--one was to state that Falun Dafa is good and that it teaches people to be kind and improve their moral standards; another was to expose to the public the persecution of Falun Gong by "610 Offices" and other public security organizations. Those are the truths that the authorities have been so afraid of letting the public know. The reason why so many practitioners like Li Shuhua have been sentenced as "guilty" and put in jail is that authorities want to disguise the truth and deceive the media and the world's people. The sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners has never followed the law or been justified by concrete evidence.
We hereby expose to the public the truth about Li Shuhua so that people and legal experts all over the world can learn about how an elderly Chinese lady has been found "guilty" and sentenced to 7 years in jail just because of her efforts to obtaining a healthy body and mind, and practice freedom of belief. Let everybody decide for themselves whether or not it was reasonable to confiscate her personal property. Let everybody see what kind of "fair" judicial system exists in the so-called "best period of time for human rights" as declared by Jiang's regime. We believe that all people with a sense of justice will weigh the legitimacy of this court verdict in their own hearts.
The following are a few related people and telephone numbers:
Chenghua District People's Court of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 86-28-83254661.
Chief Judge: Bo Li; Juryman: Zheng Wenjun, Zeng Shuqin,
Designated defense lawyer of Chenghua District Legal Support Center, Zhong Ming
Chenghua District People's Procuratorate, 86-28-83266036.
Procurator: Yang Guanghui
Chenghua District Public Security Sub-bureau: 86-28-83261024
1 Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.
2 "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
