(Minghui.org) Mr. Hao Xiangtang was interrogated and tortured after he was snatched by two plainclothes police officers at a bus stop on July 14, 2013. Armed with falsified evidence, the police in Xingtai City, Hebei Province then submitted Mr. Hao's case to the Qiaodong District Procuratorate.
A few months later, Mr. Hao's lawyer, Guo Haiyue, learned that the Procuratorate dismissed his client's case, citing insufficient evidence. The police, however, refused to give up and fabricated more evidence to submit directly to the Qiaodong District Court, essentially bypassing the Procuratorate.
When the court tried Mr. Hao this time in May 2014, the public prosecutor's name was never printed on the indictment. Mr. Hao's lawyer objected to the unexpected prosecutor, and the judge adjourned the trial and issued no verdict. It is now unclear when the next hearing will be held.
The Fabricated Case Against Mr. Hao
Initially, the Domestic Security Team in Gaokai District handed the falsified evidence to the Qiaodong District Procuratorate in an attempt to build a case against Mr. Hao.
On December 27, 2013, Mr. Hao's lawyer went to the Procuratorate and asked for a review of Mr. Hao's case. At that point, Procuratorate staff notified him that due to a lack of evidence, the case had been dismissed. Some officers then handed the fabricated evidence directly over to the Qiaodong District Court in an attempt to have Mr. Hao tried anyway.
On March 7, 2014, his lawyer went to the Qiaodong Court to investigate the case, but the court told him that the case had not been established. When he went to visit Mr. Hao at the Xingtai No. 1 Detention Center, he learned that nobody ever came from the Procuratorate, and thus Mr. Hao never received an indictment.
Chaos in the Court
On May 23, 2014, the Qiaodong District Court finally held an open trial for Mr. Hao, ten months after he was initially arrested and detained.
Police, 610 office officials, and plainclothes agents were everywhere in and around the courthouse. Some of the agents took pictures of people who came to the trial.
Judge Ma Junxiao oversaw the proceedings. Shortly after the trial began, Mr. Hao's lawyer requested that the court exclude any illegal evidence. Furthermore, since the prosecuting attorney asked several questions, and since his name was not on the original indictment, Mr. Hao's lawyer also asked that the court remove the prosecutor. Judge Ma then adjourned the trial. She also asked the prosecuting lawyer to leave and await the next hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Case Review
Mr. Hao, 48, is a technician at the Shahe City Cotton Mill. He was well respected, but because he believes in following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, he has been detained, sent to labor camps, and forced into homelessness. Moreover, his wife was subjected to constant pressure and harassment from the authorities, and she filed for divorce.
Mr. Hao was arrested on July 14, 2013. He was tortured for 3 days and sleep deprived for the 15 days. He has been in detention since August 20,2013.
Related article:
http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2013/10/20/142829.html
