(Minghui.org) Three Falun Gong practitioners in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province were arrested after making several visits to Shenyang, Liaoning Province to offer assistance to two other practitioners unlawfully arrested last year and subjected to torture.
The practitioners' defense lawyers have not been allowed to visit them for more than a month, and were repeatedly redirected among three police departments, none of which claimed responsibility for the arrests.
In the meantime, the relevant supervisory agencies have done nothing to ensure the practitioners' legal rights.
Shenyang Police Travel Hundreds of Miles to Arrest Practitioners
On May 17, 2014, a dozen plainclothes officers from Shenyang drove four vehicles to Harbin, a city 566 km (352 miles) away. They broke into Mr. Tian Jinxin's apartment and confiscated his Falun Gong books, computer, household registry, wedding certificate, and vehicle registration papers.
The police told his neighbors that Mr. Tian was involved in drug trafficking and had one of them sign the receipt listing the confiscated items. They then transported Mr. Tian back to their station. Practitioners Ms. Han Jing and Ms. Liu Yuhan were also arrested the same day.
The three practitioners had visited two other detained practitioners, Ms. Fu Hui and Ms. Liu Jinxia (Ms. Liu Yuhan's sister), and offered to hire lawyers for them. Police had arrested Ms. Fu and Ms. Liu as soon as they arrived at Shenyang Railway Station on March 20, 2013.
When Ms. Fu was detained, Mr. Tian and Ms. Han took care of her elderly mother and hired a lawyer for her. Ms. Liu Hanyu went back and forth between Harbin and Shenyang to visit her sister and defend her in court. Ms. Liu was arrested in her temporary residence in Shenyang around the same time as Mr. Tian, but it is unclear where Ms. Han was arrested by Shenyang Police.
Dadong District Domestic Security police brutally tortured Ms. Fu to extract a confession from her; see Shenyang Police Hammer Bamboo Sticks under Ms. Fu Hui's Fingernails for more details of the abuse she suffered.
Ms. Fu Hui before she was tortured
Ms. Fu Hui after she was tortured
Detention Center Repeatedly Denies Visits by Defense Lawyers
Mr. Tian's and Ms. Han's lawyers and families went to visit them at the Shenyang No. 1 Detention Center on May 23, 2014 but were told the practitioners were under interrogation and unable to see them. They returned twice on May 26, once on May 30, twice on June 9, and once on June 10 but were denied for the same reason each time.
On June 9, Ms. Han's lawyer found the deputy director of the detention center and asserted his client's legal right to meet with a lawyer within 48 hours after her arrest. However, the deputy director indicated there was nothing he could do to help. Ms. Han's lawyer then looked for the five prosecutors stationed in the detention center, but found their offices empty.
Ms. Liu Yuhan's lawyer demanded to see her at the detention center on June 13, but was told to wait until the afternoon, when she would return from a hospital visit. Ms. Liu's family and lawyers returned that afternoon, but were turned away for the same reason. However, when they went to the hospital, Ms. Liu could not be found. They returned to the detention center and were still not allowed to visit Ms. Liu.
Police Departments Shuffle Responsibility for Unlawful Arrests
On May 22, Mr. Tian and Ms. Han's families went to the Domestic Security Division of the Shenhe District Police Department and inquired about the practitioners' arrests. The police denied responsibility and stated that the Shenyang Domestic Security Division and Shenyang Criminal Police made the arrests.
When their lawyers and families went to the Shenyang Domestic Security Division, officers refused to talk to them. An officer surnamed Wang looked at the arrest warrant and said that Shenhe Police's stamp was on it and should be responsible. After the family told him that Shenhe Police pointed them to Shenyang Police, Wang denied having knowledge of the arrest but said that Shenyang Police merely provided information to the Criminal Police, who made the arrest.
When the families went to the Criminal Police, officers there claimed that they provided only technical support to help the Shenyang Police make the arrest. One officer also pointed to the Shenhe Police stamp on the warrant and directed the families there.
The families went back to Shenhe Police, where an officer claimed that Shenyang Police instructed them to stamp the arrest warrant since the case would be tried by the Shenhe Procuratorate. However, they knew nothing about the case.
On the afternoon of June 10, the two families and lawyers went to the Shenhe Domestic Security Division and saw a man in the Deputy Chief's office. The man refused to give his name and talk about the case. He merely revealed, “The case is related to Falun Gong and I would be receiving a lot of phone calls if I talked about it.” The man acknowledged that there was a case involving Mr. Tian but refused to give the name of the investigating officer, who he claimed was on a business trip.
The two lawyers questioned the deputy chief, “Every time we want to visit Mr. Tian, the staff at the detention center said he was being interrogated and couldn't see us. As a matter of fact, we were again turned away from the detention center just this morning. Who was interrogating him if the investigating officer is out of town?” The man only replied, “Maybe there was someone from Shenyang Police.”
Supervisory Agencies Take No Actions to Protect Practitioners' Legal Rights
Mr. Tian and Ms. Han's families and lawyers visited two more agencies in the same afternoon. They first stopped by the Disciplinary Office of Shenhe District Police Department to make a complaint. An officer there concluded the detention center must be lying, since it was impossible to interrogate inmates at all times. He promised to communicate with the detention center to arrange lawyers' meetings with their clients there, but nothing has happened as of the time of writing.
Later that afternoon, the families and lawyers filed another complaint, this time with Shenyang City Procuratorate. At first, the security guard there was very rude to them. Eventually, he agreed to make a phone call to the person in charge, who indicated that the Procuratorate has the legal authority to oversee the detention center. However, he declined to say whether any actions would be taken to ensure the practitioners' rights to see their lawyers.
