(Minghui.org)

Continued from: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2014/3/15/145894.html

Who Is Responsible for the Deaths?

A total of 126 practitioners from Dalian died as a result of the persecution between July 1999 and February 2014. Among the 71 cases confirmed by the Minghui website, five occurred after the practitioners were brutally tortured by prison guards.

Who is responsible for their deaths? Police? Prosecutors? Judges? Prison guards? Everyone involved will eventually be held responsible.

Five who died as a result of being tortured in prison:

1. Ms. Ding Zhenfang was poisoned to death by guards. She was 61.

Ding Zhenfang

2. Ms. Liu Lihua died just ten days after the prison guards cut open her esophagus and then released her. She was also 61.

Liu Lihua

3. Mr. Li Zhongmin was only 31 when prison guards beat him to death.

Bruises on Mr. Li’s face, back, and arms

4. Ms. Yu Li was beaten with metal rods and had boiling water poured over her while in custody. She died less than two years after her release. She was in her sixties at the time of her death.

Yu Li

5. Mr. Wang Jingyi died within 18 days of his incarceration.

Wang Jingyi

Dalian Judicial System Rushes to Sentence Practitioners Following Abolishment of Labor Camps

Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished the labor camp system in 2013, the persecution of Falun Gong did not abate even a bit. Many practitioners who were initially held in labor camps were transferred to brainwashing centers, detention centers, and prisons. For a detailed analysis, see “ Trends and Statistics of Persecution Cases in 2013 (Part 1) .”

Many local authorities converted labor camp sentences to prison terms and subjected practitioners to even more brutal treatment. For details, see “ Labor Camp Sentences Converted to Prison Terms - A Change in the Manner of Persecution, Not a Change in Party Nature .”

In Dalian, the local judicial system chose to sentence as many practitioners as possible to prison following the abolishment of labor camps.

In 2013 alone, a total of 23 local practitioners were tried. Six of them were given prison terms, with Yu Shufeng receiving a three-year term, Yan Jinhua and Dai Zhizheng each sentenced to four years, Qu Shumei to six years, Wang Jian to seven years, and Sun Guanghui to eight years.

Zhongshan District Court sentenced nine practitioners to prison on January 27, 2014.

Currently facing illegal trials are many more local practitioners, including Zhang Xiaoli, Ye Shuhui, Li Shufen, Hao Yaoshan, Liu Qingtao, Yu Yuanmin, Ma Ruidian, Han Xueming, Ma Aibing, Qin Yulan, Wang Xiuying, Wang Defa, Han Xinyan, Wang Yushi, Xu Minghua, and Xia Yuanxin. All remain in custody except for Wang Xiuying, who was released on bail for the time being.

Rebuttal to Groundless Allegations Against Falun Gong Practitioners

Many practitioners are charged with and often convicted of “Using a cult organization to sabotage law enforcement and disrupt social order.”

Such allegations couldn’t be further from the truth.

First, there is no law that can be used to prosecute practitioners.

No law has ever clearly defined what kind of organizations should be deemed cults. The Ministry of Public Security maintains a list of 14 “cult” organizations, but Falun Gong is not on the list.

Second, in order to secure a conviction, the public prosecutors must prove that the defendant committed the alleged criminal acts.

However, practitioners’ belief in Falun Gong and their efforts to clarify the facts of the persecution to the public have never caused any physical damage or bodily injury to anyone, let alone sabotaged law-enforcement or disrupted social order.

In other words, the prosecutors have never been able to prove the existence of any victims or any "harm" in Falun Gong cases.

How it is possible for practitioners to be convicted of causing non-existent harm to non-existent plaintiffs?

Judicial System Personnel Are the Real Law-breakers

From ransacking private homes to imposing huge fines, from illegal arrests to secret sentencing, from physical abuse to mental manipulation, and from denying practitioners fair trials to depriving them of family visits, the judicial system has never followed legal procedures in prosecuting practitioners.

The Chinese Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of belief. Article 251 of the Criminal Law also stipulates that any government worker that wrongly deprives a citizen of the right to freedom of belief faces up to two years in prison.

As such, every employee in the judicial system involved in the persecution of practitioners has violated the Constitution and the Criminal Law, and will eventually be brought to justice.

Crimes Against Falun Gong Practitioners Should Cease Immediately

Many judicial workers claim that they are just following orders from the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, to sentence practitioners. However, they should know that these two agencies are just law-enforcement bodies, not the law-making body.

Only the People’s Congress, the law-making body in China, has the final say over the legality of Falun Gong. However, the Congress has never considered the practice illegal since the persecution began in 1999. Which means that following orders from the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate to convict practitioners of practicing Falun Gong is simply wrong.

When the day comes that the CCP is brought to justice, those who follow orders to commit crimes against practitioners will face consequences. We urge them to immediately stop harming practitioners and secure a bright future for themselves.