Practitioners Charged with Fabricated Evidence in a Show Trial in Hebei Province (Photos)

(Minghui.org) Ms. Wang Manhong and Mr. Song Guobin were put on trial in the Nanshi (South) District Court in Boading City, Hebei Province, on the morning of August 8, 2013. Court and Procuratorate officials and the police had met three times prior to fabricate evidence to bring false charges against the practitioners. The trial itself was nothing more than a formality to try to convince the public of the authorities' respect for the law.

Ms. Wang Jinfeng, Ms. Wang Manhong, and Mr. Song Guobin

During the trial the courthouse was heavily guarded with more than ten police officers standing on either side of the gate to the courthouse. Guards and police in uniform and plainclothes patrolled, filmed the surroundings, and evicted people who came to attend the trial.

Only two family members of each defendant were allowed to be present during the proceedings. They were the husband and elder sister of Ms. Wang and wife and brother-in-law of Mr. Song. They were all closely watched by plainclothes guards sitting beside them. The other attendees, more than ten of them, were officers from the local Procuratorate, the Baoding Intermediate Court, the 610 Office, and bailiffs.

Special police guarding the gate of the courthouse

Accused on Trumped up Charges

The defendants were charged with “using a heretical organization to undermine the implementation of law.” The trial itself was nothing more than a formality to announce the decisions that had been made behind the scenes. The two court sessions lasted only two and a half hours.

According to the law, defendants have the right to talk with their relatives present after the trial, but Ms. Wang and Mr. Song were not given that chance. When the police car transporting them left the courthouse gate, their family approached the car and tried to speak to them, but police pushed them aside. Mr. Song could only wave to his family from inside the police car.

Mr. Song's two sisters, seeing their younger brother in such feeble condition, were so grief-stricken that they could hardly eat for many days. His wife, who was bedridden because of pain in her back and legs caused by a protrusion of the lumbar disc, was low in spirits as she could not make ends meet. His family kept his arrest in 2012 a secret from his 79-year-old mother, lest she be unable to withstand the shock. They finally gave way to her eagerness to know where her son was and told her what had happened before the 2013 Chinese New Year. She fell into long-lasting silence and sadness. His elder sisters were moved to tears whenever their brother was mentioned.

Background

Mr. Song was arrested on his way to his clothing shop on the morning of May 4, 2012. Ms. Wang Manhong was arrested the same day by police from the Hanzhuang Police Station in Tanzhuang Village, Baoding City. Ms. Wang Jinfeng was arrested by officers Ma Wenkui and Cao from Hanbei Police Station on May 7, 2012.

They were all arrested for the same reason: “We arrest you because the Communist Party will soon hold its 18^th National Congress. When the congress is over you will be released.” After the congress ended, however, the police continued to detain them. In the 16 months of their detention, in an attempt to have the court find the guilty, the authorities went to great lengths to fabricate evidence against them and worked out three different versions of the accusations to charge them.

The Domestic Security Division of Baoding City fabricated evidence to frame the practitioners in the middle of August 2012, on a charge of “using a heretical organization to undermine the implementation of law.” However the charge was dismissed by the Nanshi District Procuratorate due to insufficient evidence.

The Police Department of Baoding City then joined with the Domestic Security Division to refine the previous evidence and submitted it again to the Nanshi District Procuratorate. On November 1 the Procuratorate again turned the case down.

The police made a third attempt to charge them with further refined evidence. This time the Procuratorate simply passed the case to the Nanshi District Court. After studying the case, the court found the accusation unacceptable and returned the document to the Procuratorate for insufficient evidence. The court suggested that the Procuratorate split the charging document into three parts with accusations devised otherwise, so that the three practitioners could be prosecuted separately.

Ms. Wang Jinfeng to Stand Trial Next

Ms. Wang Jinfeng's's family hired a lawyer to defend her, but was confronted with all sorts of obstacles created by police and the court. In response, the lawyer submitted on May 15, 2013, “A statement of legal requirement” to the Procuratorate of Baoding City, in which he pointed out that the police, Procuratorate, and the Nashi District Court had intentionally broken the law in charging Ms. Wang while fully aware of her innocence. He demanded that the case be repealed and that Ms. Wang be released immediately.

The authorities ignored the law and staged an absurd show trial against Ms. Wang Manhong and Mr. Song on August 8, 2013.

Parties involved in persecuting Ms. Wang and Mr. Song:

Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Baoding City
Ma Wenhe, on-duty deputy secretary of the Communist Party: [phone], [phone]
Jing Guoping, deputy secretary of the Communist Party Committee: [phone], [phone]
Zhang Jingdong, deputy chief of the Communist Party Committee and chief of the Social Stabilization Office, [phone], [phone]

Police Department of Baoding City
Pan Jingsum chief: [phone], [phone], [phone], [phone]
Wang Xinliang, on-duty deputy chief:[phone], [phone]
An Zengqi, deputy secretary of the Communist Party, deputy chief: [phone], [phone]
Li Zhenping, deputy chief: [phone], [phone]
Zhao Qiang, chief of the mission control: [phone], [phone]

Domestic Security Division:
Address: No. 201,West Tianwei Road, Baoding City, Hebei Province
Dong Yuan, branch chief: [phone], [phone], [phone]
Liu Wenjun, chief: [phone]
Wang Hong-en, director: [phone]
Jiang Chunzeng, police officer in charge of the case: [phone]

Court of Baoding City:
Address: No. 1, Tian-e-zhong Road, 071051, Baoding City (district no 0312)
Liang Hongji, chief of the intermediate court: [phone]
Gao Suying, deputy chief of criminal court: [phone]

Procuratorate of Baoding City
Address: No. 106, West Wusi Road, 071000, Baoding City (district No 0312)
Zhou Qingping, secretary of the Communist Party, chief prosecutor: [phone], [phone], [phone]
Jia Junrong, officer of the prosecution section: [phone]
Gao, Sun, chief of the appeals section: [phone]

Procuratorate of Nanshi District
Address No. 483, Guandong Street, 071000, Baoding City (dn 0312)
Dai junfeng, chief prosecutor: [phone], [phone]
Li Sijing, chief of the prosecution and appeals section: [phone], [phone]
Jia Rongjun, chief of the prosecution section: [phone]

Court of Nanshi District
Address: No 591, Yulan Street, 071000, Baoding City
Geng, female, chief
Zhou Aiguo, deputy court officer in charge of the case: [phone], [phone] (Office)