(Minghui.org)
The Jinchuan District Court in Jinchang City, Gansu Province, sentenced Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wan Shushen to three years and six months based on evidence provided by certain police officers. However, the evidence was questionable at best. How was that evidence collected?
Arrest and interrogation
On May 12, 2012, after officers from the Guangzhoulu Police Station searched the home of practitioner Mr. Wang Shushen and arrested him at 4 p.m., they took Mr. Wang and his wife, Ms. Xie Xiaofang, to the station. At 7 p.m., they began to interrogate them.
Li Shengyun, deputy in charge of Guangzhoulu Police Station, asked Ms. Xie, "Who is Mr. Wang Shushen?" Ms. Xie replied, "He is my husband."
Li then asked, "What year did you marry? Do you have a good relationship with your husband? How old is your child? Where does your child go to school?" And so on.
At 11 p.m., Li Shuhe, the person in charge of the Domestic Security Department in Jinchuan Police Sub-Bureau, began to interrogate the couple. Also present were Li Xinhua, the team leader of the anti-cult team at the Jinchang City Police Bureau; Li Tingqin; Jia Delan; and a plainclothes police officer in his 50s from the Domestic Security Department in Jinchuan Police Sub-Bureau.
Li Xinhua asked Li Shuhe, "How are you going to handle Ms. Xie?" Li Shuhe said, "As long as the family cooperates with us, we can allow them to bail her out." Li Xinhua asked, "What does that mean?" Li Shuhe said, "If their family works with us on the investigation, we would consider a lesser punishment; otherwise, we would have to ask for a stiff sentence."
Li Shuhe then asked Ms. Xie, "Where did the Minghui Weekly come from that we found in your printer? Did Mr. Wang print it?" Ms. Xie replied, “I didn't see it. I don't know anything about it."
Threats and leading questions
Li Shuhe said to her, "You aren’t telling the truth. You are husband and wife. How can you not know what he is doing? Given your attitude, how can we allow you to bail him out? I am afraid that you can't bail him out."
Ms. Xie said, "I really don't know. I often saw him printing study materials for students with our printer. Every student has a pile of them." When Li Shuhe heard this, he appeared upset and said to her, "Think about it. Maybe you did see him printing Minghui Weekly ."
Ms. Xie denied it.
Li Shuhe threatened her. "If you don't change your attitude, I won't treat you as nicely as before." He rose from his desk, walked toward Ms. Xie, and lifted his arm as though to strike her. Ms. Xie was tired and hadn’t eaten and had been a bit confused, but this got her attention. Li continued to threaten her. "Do you admit it or not?"
Ms. Xie said, "What do you want me to admit?" Li said, “Did Mr. Wang print Minghui Weekly from the printer?" Li's expression frightened Ms. Xie so she said, “He printed it."
Li then asked, "How many copies did he print? To whom did he give them?" She replied, "He printed them only for himself. I don't know anything else." Li kept badgering her. "Be honest with me. Whom did Mr. Wang pass it on to after he read it?"
After 15 hours of continuous interrogation and without sleep or food, Ms. Xie was exhausted. Li's threatening demeanor terrified her and made her extremely stressed. Under this pressure, Ms. Xie then said that her husband gave the magazine to his mother.
Not until Ms. Xie returned home and regained her senses did she recall that her mother-in-law had been back in her own hometown for nearly a year. Ms. Xie’s husband lived in Jinchang City. How could her husband possibly give the materials to his mother?
After the interrogation, Ms. Xie refused to sign the confession. Li then threatened her by saying, "If you don't sign, you can't go home." She was very cold and hungry, and her head ached. Worrying about her five-year-old child at home alone, she had no choice but to sign. She was then released from custody.
The trial
During the trial in Jinchuan District Court, this "evidence" was used to sentence Mr. Wang to three years and six months. Mr. Wang currently is appealing to the Jinchang City Intermediate Court.
The law
According to Article 47 of the Code of Criminal Procedure: "Either witness or testimony must be questioned and challenged by both prosecutors, victims, or defenders. Only after the court has listened to the testimonies from every party and then validated them can they serve as a basis for ascertaining guilt."
In addition, "Implementation of the (Supreme Court Criminal Procedure Law’s) Interpretation of Several Issues" stipulates that "a witness should be present in court with the following exceptions: 1) The witness is not an adult, 2) the witness has a serious illness and would experience limited mobility during the trial, 3) the witness’s testimony does not have a direct bearing on the outcome of the trial, or 4) other reasons." There were witnesses who were not covered under the above-mentioned exceptions, but were not allowed to testify at the trial. Even so, the Jinchuan Court accepted the evidence presented.
The judicial interpretation of the crime of "forcing a confession through corporal punishment" means that corporal punishment, either outright or disguised, was used to obtain a confession. Outright corporal punishment or torture refers to tying up, beating, hanging by the hands, piercing the victim with needles, burning, and other tortures to cause physical suffering.
The disguised use of torture refers to keeping a person in an extremely cold or hot environment, deprivation of food or sleep, and relentless interrogation (not physically wounding but achieving the same effect). Anything that is used to cause pain for either a suspect or defendant for the purpose of forcing a confession is regarded as a "forced confession through corporal punishment." Any evidence obtained this way is treated as illegal evidence and cannot be used in court.
The Jinchang City court and the police bureau knowingly broke the law to frame and persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
Contact information:
Jinchang City Police Bureau: Gao Yonghong, president: +86-935-8396001, +86-18209451199(Cell)
Jinchuan Police Sub-Bureau: Shi Wenquan, president: +86-13909450988(Cell)
Domestic Security Department: Li Xuhe, person in charge: +86-935-8396178, +86-13884500888(Cell)
No.1 Court of Jinchang City Medium Court: Chen Xiaoju, secretary, who has participated in the persecution of many trials of Falun Gong practitioners: +86-13993576161(Cell)
Gansu Province Jinchang City Jinchuan District Court: Wang Yonggang, person in charge, who has participated in the persecution many times: +86-935-8213016, +86-13909459168(Cell)
