(Minghui.org) With the Fa-rectification progressing forward and through practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions, the world has changed dramatically since the persecution of Falun Dafa began.
More and more lawyers are now willing to defend Falun Dafa practitioners in court. However, there are still many issues regarding hiring lawyers. As practitioners, we should always measure things against the Fa in order to eliminate interference and better save sentient beings.
Educating Lawyers about Falun Dafa
Some lawyers have been representing practitioners in court since 2008. Through working with practitioners, these lawyers have come to know well the facts about Falun Dafa, and have learned more about practitioners' cultivation and life styles.
However, we need to keep in mind that these lawyers are not practitioners, and their way of thinking is still at the level of ordinary people. We thus need to take the lead role when working with them, and base everything on the Fa, making sure that we clarify the truth about the practice in depth and better direct their work.
Some lawyers have just begun accepting cases related to Falun Dafa. Many have worked under other lawyers who were knowledgeable about Falun Dafa and the persecution, but they themselves may have very limited knowledge of what Falun Dafa truly is.
Some have not quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, so they are not truly free of the Party's influence.
Others simply go through procedures and mechanically defend practitioners in court according to Article 300 of the Criminal Law.
When working with these lawyers, we have to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and approach the issues rationally. We need to have full control of the overall situation, because if the lawyers don't really know the facts about Falun Dafa, they approach problems like ordinary people, and could possibly create obstacles in our efforts to validate the Fa and rescue fellow practitioners.
Importance of Understanding the Lawyers' Motives
There are about 100 lawyers nationwide who have represented practitioners in court. However, about a third of these lawyers are more sought after than others. This has caused these lawyers to become overly busy. If they don't have the time and energy to study each case in detail and put much thought into their defense, they will be hampered and unable to properly defend a particular court case. Their effort, or lack thereof, could very well be used by the evil.
Some lawyers have accepted many cases on behalf of practitioners and also referred other lawyers to represent practitioners. Some of these lawyers may have learned the facts about Dafa, and truly want to help practitioners. Yet, there are some who are in it for the money. It is also possible that some might get a commission for referring a case and are not approaching the situation from a righteous standpoint.
If practitioners don't know the lawyers and their motives well, are overly dependent on them, or blindly trust them, then unnecessary losses may be encountered, including financial losses.
As professionals in the service industry, lawyers provide their services for a fee. As their clients, we have the right to ask pertinent questions and have them sign a formal agreement. We need to point out any omissions or misunderstandings that the lawyers may have, as part of our responsibility to sentient beings.
Importance of Having a Good Understanding of the Law
Some practitioners don't have sufficient knowledge regarding the law, and more importantly, they are not clear on the Fa—they think that they can leave the legal procedures entirely up to the lawyer. They may think that these lawyers know the truth of Dafa and are experienced in handling cases related to Falun Dafa. Such human notions often leave large loopholes for the evil to exploit.
Practitioners are in fact validating the Fa in the process of resisting the persecution. Our goal is to expose the evil and save sentient beings. We should always measure things against the Fa during the legal process and take actions according to the Fa. Our righteous thoughts and wisdom originate from cultivating in the Fa, and can directly eliminate all evil elements and other factors behind the persecution.
On the level of the ordinary people, a responsible lawyer should study the case well in preparation for the trial. He or she should go over case files carefully, plan out the defense in writing, and have a thorough defense and strategy.
As practitioners, we need to gain a good understanding of the lawyer's defense approach and strategy through communication, and provide feedback.
The Importance of Good Communication with Lawyers
Usually, lawyers fall into two categories—those who welcome the input and involvement of their clients and their families in the decision making process, and those who make a plan and ask the clients to go along with it.
We have seen many cases where the lawyers showed up right before the trial began, were not well prepared, and had not adequately communicated with the practitioners.
There have also been cases where the practitioners failed to take the initiative and lead the lawyers in a positive direction. They didn't seek to get involved, left all juridical matters up to the lawyers, and fully trusted the lawyer's opinions and suggestions.
Families and local practitioners who helped with cases were sometimes not clear on the lawyers' plans of action, emphasis, or direction in their defense strategies. If the defense isn't reviewed beforehand, the lawyer could take an improper direction in his or her defense strategy, essentially having a negative effect on the case.
For example, a trial was held against two female practitioners in a city in the Dongbei region of China. The three lawyers withdrew before giving their defense, resulting in a 10-year prison term for both practitioners. By withdrawing from the trial in this way, the lawyers had hoped to uphold the law and later file a lawsuit against the court officials for their illegal conduct and due procedures violations. Master said,
“Taking legal action can really serve to expose the evil, save sentient beings, and protect Dafa disciples. If the local Dafa disciples can arrive at a clear understanding of the matter, and if you all can work together well carrying it out, then I think your effort would be a good thing.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of the Minghui Website’s Founding”)
Their action did not help our goal of having lawyers defend Falun Dafa in court, and did not serve to expose the evil, save sentient beings, or protect our practitioners.
The lawyers explained that it was their goal to use the due process violations of the court to disrupt and delay the scheduled trial. During the trial, they pointed out the violations many times and challenged the prosecutor. On the third hearing of the case, the three lawyers withdrew from court to protest the illegal conduct of the court officials.
Similar situations also occurred in other regions. In one city, several lawyers withdrew from court as a group to protest. They were dismissed by the court in the end and the practitioners were sentenced to prison.
We told one lawyer, whom we hired to defend a local practitioner in our region, that the reason why we hired him was so that he would give a defense in court and uphold the legal rights and interests of the practitioner. We asked him to respect our request.
This lawyer said that he had represented more than 20 practitioners, and only withdrew from a trial one time, when all the other defense lawyers planned to withdraw. He said that later he regretted it very much because he had been preparing for the case for a long time, and felt bad that he did not defend his client in court.
Court Cases Are to Clarify the Truth about Falun Dafa
Some lawyers are willing to represent practitioners because practitioners are very kind and they don't have unreasonable requests. These lawyers know the truth about Dafa and are very righteous. By willingly helping practitioners, such lawyers have chosen a bright future for themselves. We wish them all the best.
Yet, as ordinary people their thoughts are very complex and always changing. The evil also seeks to use and control ordinary people to exploit practitioners' kindness in order to interfere with the Fa-rectification and persecute practitioners. We have to be very clear that Dafa practitioners' powerful righteous thoughts and cooperation as one body are the keys to moving forward with these cases, clarifying the truth, and saving more sentient beings.
Cultivation is a serious matter. There has been a continuous trend of hiring lawyers to represent and defend practitioners in recent years. We should consider how we can utilize this form of truth-clarification, cooperate well, and better validate the Fa, while properly placing ourselves in relation to the lawyers, better saving sentient beings, and eliminating evil. In order to harmonize what Master wants, we must be very clear on the principles of the Fa, measure everything against the Fa, and cultivate ourselves well.
