(Minghui.org) Ms. Xu Wenxin, the wife of Falun Gong practitioner and former Shanghai Jiao Tong University Professor Mr. Guo Xiaojun, and two attorneys went to Beijing on September 20, 2012, to ask the Supreme Court to re-exam her husband's case.
During their meeting with a Supreme Court judge, Mr. Guo’s attorneys pointed out that, based on Article 300 of the Criminal Law, there was evidence of interrogation using torture that harmed Mr. Guo’s eyesight and health and that he was prevented from hiring an attorney. The attorneys asked that the case therefore be re-examined. The judge couldn’t refute their claims but refused to give an answer to their request.
Mr. Guo was arrested on January 7, 2010, by the domestic security police from the Baoshan District in Shanghai. During an interrogation, he was tortured until he almost lost his eyesight. Later, the Baohan Procuratorate collaborated with a judge and sentenced him to four years in prison. Mr. Guo and his family filed an appeal with the Shanghai Number Two Intermediate Court, but the court upheld the decision in October 2010.
In November 2010, Mr. Guo was transferred to Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai. Shortly after, his family heard that his vision had deteriorated even more and that he was nearly blind. They immediately made a request to the prison authorities to release him for medical treatment, but to no avail.
For over a year, Mr. Guo has been persecuted in the prison—he is given less food, not allowed to go outside for fresh air and frequently put in solitary confinement. In early 2011, a death-row inmate was instigated by the guards to constantly monitor, yell at, and mistreat Mr. Guo.
Mr. Guo’s family went to the Shanghai Bureau of Justice, the Bureau of Prison Management, the People’s Congress and the City Government to appeal his case many times without success.
In May 2012, Mr. Guo’s family filed an appeal with the Shanghai Number Two Intermediate Court because Tilanqiao Prison authorities refused to allow the attorneys they hired for Mr. Guo to visit him in prison. As a result of both overseas and domestic pressure, the Shanghai Number Two Intermediate Court held a hearing. Mr. Guo's attorneys brought up important questions about the legal basis used to sentence Mr. Guo. His family also submitted detailed documentation of how the police tortured him during their interrogation. They asked the court for the video recording of the interrogation as direct evidence. The judge, however, ignored all the facts that were presented and upheld the original sentencing.
Mr. Guo’s family and attorneys then went to appeal at the Shanghai High Court. Although a hearing was held, the appeal was still rejected and the original sentence upheld.
On September 20, 2012, Mr. Guo’s wife and the attorneys went to Beijing to appeal his case.
At their meeting with the Supreme Court judge, Mr. Guo’s attorneys pointed out that torture was used during Mr. Guo's interrogation, and he was deprived of his right to hire an attorney. In other words, the police, the procuratorate, the courts, and the legal system committed a crime and it was time to fix their mistakes.
Ms. Xu clearly stated that, based on the constitution's guarantee of religious freedom, practicing Falun Gong is a citizen’s right. The ongoing persecution of practitioners has been wrong from the beginning and should be stopped immediately.
The judge had no response. When Mr. Guo’s family and attorneys requested an answer, the judge claimed, “The Supreme Court never provides an answer to this kind of appeal.” Obviously, the Complaint Filing Court of the Supreme Court that was set up in a rural area of Beijing is an example of how the Chinese Communist Party ignores the law and deprives citizens of their basic rights.
