(Minghui.org) It has been a common practice to use lawyers to defend illegally prosecuted practitioners. However, many of those lawyers have encountered various kinds of interference while trying to defend their clients. The courts often try everything possible to stop them from representing their practitioner clients, and sometimes even threaten them. Recently, the rude and barbaric treatment of lawyers has become more common.
As I see it, the lawlessness and unscrupulousness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) justice system (including the Public Security Bureau, the Procuratorate and the courts) is the primary reason behind the mistreatment of lawyers.
But I would also like everyone to ponder whether there are any shortcomings on our part in terms of our whole body coordination. If we fail to play a dominant role in rescuing our detained practitioners, our dependence on lawyers may result in unnecessary losses.
In other words, we must be clear that the purpose of using lawyers is to disintegrate the evil and clarify the truth in order to help save sentient beings.
Let me use an example from our local situation to demonstrate. We learned a hard lesson last year when several of our practitioners were arrested.
With Righteous Thoughts and Master’s Help, the First Lawyer Accomplished His Job Despite a Tight Time-line
Several months after the arrest of our fellow practitioners in January 2012, our rescue efforts not only failed to get them released, but they were also facing illegal sentencing.
I figured we should hire lawyers to get them out. My goal was quite simple and clear: “Save sentient beings in the justice system during the process.”
Our local coordinator concurred and we agreed that I would be responsible for finding lawyers and he would be in charge of coordinating rescue efforts in our local area and neighboring towns.
When I got in touch with an out-of-town lawyer, I informed him that the court had scheduled a trial with only a couple of days notice. With limited time to prepare for the trial, it placed us in a very difficult situation.
That was exactly how the lawyer felt and he was a bit hesitant, “One day (to prepare) is certainly not enough. If the court isn’t cooperating with us, I won’t be able to file the paperwork and represent your friend.”
I was very determined and urged him to catch the earliest flight to our town. During the whole process, I kept asking for Master’s strengthening and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate interference.
The lawyer arrived in the afternoon the next day, and I accompanied him to the courthouse to file paperwork. The court director was not in and we had to wait. I called the coordinator to inform everyone to intensify their sending forth righteous thoughts. In the meantime I asked Master to please assure that everything went as planned. Less than 20 minutes later the director showed up and gave the case documents for the lawyer to photocopy. Afterward, we rushed to the detention center to meet the practitioner he represented.
From going to the court to copying the case documents to visiting the detained practitioner, the process took us less than three hours. Everything went smoothly, all thanks to Master’s strengthening and everyone’s cooperation.
On the third day, the lawyer went to court to defend the practitioner without any incidents. The court soon adjourned the trial without delivering any verdict. That outcome was actually not unexpected (for security reasons I am not going to reveal the details here).
My Laziness and Oversight Caused Problems for the Second Lawyer
We then started to make preparations for the second trial, which was scheduled for a group of illegally detained practitioners. We needed to hire more lawyers and get more practitioners involved.
Despite their busy lives, many out-of-town and rural practitioners helped in any way they could. During the month leading up to the second trial, we always made sure to send forth righteous thoughts together and never let down our guard.
When we hired the second lawyer, however, I became selfish and felt it was enough for the families of detained practitioners to accompany him to the courthouse to file the paperwork. I wanted to take a break, but such an unrighteous thought was immediately exploited by the evil. The first time the lawyer went to the courthouse, the director was not in. I failed to realize it was interference. So by the time of the lawyer's second visit, the director had come back but found an excuse to avoid meeting him. As a result, he wasn’t able to review the case documents and returned to Beijing instead.
I was alerted and knew I was wrong. I immediately adjusted my mindset to eliminate interference.
Rectification of My Omissions Enabled Smooth Sailing for the Other Three Lawyers
Things went smoothly with our third lawyer. The day before the second trial, our fourth and fifth lawyers arrived one after another and neither of them encountered any trouble at the courthouse. They also got to meet the detained practitioners.
My Dependence on Non-practitioners Resulted in One Lawyer’s Beating
On the day of the trial, all five lawyers got to defend their respective clients without incident. One of the lawyers specifically pointed out the illegality of torture during interrogation and asked the court to dismiss the so-called evidence extracted by way of torture. The presiding judge then flew into a rage, but the next day that lawyer filed a complaint against the judge during the court session (this story has been reported by Minghui).
I was awestruck by the righteousness of the lawyers' conduct and really admired their courage in standing up for justice. However, I totally forgot that Dafa disciples should take the leading role. During the appeal process, I reduced myself to a supporting character and kept asking the lawyers for advice on what to do next.
As a result of my deficiency, one of the lawyers was verbally and physically assaulted by the judge after asking to see the detained practitioners for a third time.
Even if the judge was a villain and did such a stupid thing, wasn’t there something for me to think about? Was my dependence on the lawyer exploited by the evil and a factor resulting in his beating?
We Must Be Clear about the Real Purpose of Using Lawyers
With the celestial changes and the progress of the Fa-rectification, it is normal to see righteous people stand up for justice. There is nothing wrong with our use of lawyers to defend detained fellow practitioners. However, we have to be clear about our goal in using lawyers.
As I see it, the real purpose of using lawyers is to improve ourselves and form an indestructible whole body so as to disintegrate the evil and help save sentient beings.
Above are just some personal understandings. Please point out anything inappropriate.
