(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Hu Zhehui, Mr. Hou Yunfei, and Mr. Xin Minduo and his wife Ms. Bao Juncen are Falun Dafa practitioners from Panjin City, Liaoning Province. It has been a month since these practitioners were illegally tried in court. To cover up the illegal behavior of the judicial system, the court did not issue verdicts right after the trial. They threatened the practitioners' relatives in order to stop them from appealing to higher courts. The sentences for the four are: Ms. Hu, 15 years in prison; Mr. Hou Yunfei, 14 years; Mr. Xin, 13 years; and Ms. Bao, 12 years. The sentences are the same as mentioned before the trials, proof that the court did not base its verdicts on any evidence presented at the trials. The trials were clearly just for show.
After Ms. Hu's husband received word of the verdict, and after being threatened by the authorities, he dared not appeal for his wife. Hou Yunfei's family was notified of the verdict only at the end of September, weeks after the trial. Defense attorneys were pressured and afraid to take Mr. Hou's case. Mr. Xin's family never received official notice of the verdict.
The following is a partial list of the facts of persecution of Mr. Xin and his wife Ms. Bao.
Police Officers Seized Practitioners
On April 2, 2003, police officers from the Xinlongtai Police Brigade in Panjin City took Mr. Xin Minduo away. Without reason or showing a search warrant, the officers illegally arrested Mr. Xin just because he is a Falun Dafa practitioner. They searched his personal items and took more than 1,300 yuan in cash, two cellular phones, and one string of keys. They sent him to the Panjin Ciy Detention Center (also called the Third Detention Center of Panjin City) without informing his family.
Afterwards Mr. Xin's family went to ask officers why he had been arrested but got no reply. When the family asked police officer Zhang Runqiu from the police brigade to return the confiscated money, Zhang said, "We did get over 1,000 yuan, but how can you prove the money is yours!"
In detention, Mr. Xin was subjected to many forms of torture including beatings and confinement in one location for long periods of time. He went on a hunger strike for 28 days to protest, but was brutally force-fed and tortured, which caused temporary paralysis of his arms and he could not take care of himself. Deputy police brigade leader Liu Jingyu ordered Mr. Xin's family to pay 20,000 yuan before releasing him. Unable to bear having their son suffer such brutal, inhuman torture, Mr. Xin's retired parents were forced to pay 20,000 yuan before picking up their dying son and taking him home. Nevertheless, police officers continued to monitor Xin Minduo very closely.
On August 3, 2005, several police officers knocked Mr. Xin Minduo down while he was riding a bicycle. About five officers stepped on his head, beat him up, and pushed him into a police car. To cover up their crimes, the officers told the bystanders they were arresting a robber. The police arrested many practitioners on false pretenses that day. Officers said, "This is the biggest case in the Northeast. Opportunities for our promotion have come." Apparently they had plotted the arrests for a long time.
One week later, after hearing that Xin Minduo had been arrested, police brigade leader Xu Hao told Mr. Xin's family that he was at the Panjin City Detention Center. Police officer Song Bo threatened and tricked Mr. Xin's family members into signing the arrest warrant. The same day that Mr. Xin was arrested, his wife Bao Juncen was also arrested at her neighbor's home. Her home was searched and she was detained at the Panjin City Detention Center. Police brigade leader Xu Hao and Zhang Runqiu broke in to Mr. Xin's home, took the refrigerator, washer, a bank deposit certificate, and over 11,000 yuan in cash. When his family went to ask the authorities to return the money and property, brigade leader Xu Hao said, "I did not see any money. If you have receipts for the appliances, you can take them back home."
The police officers did not make a list of items they took from Mr. Xin's home. They made a list several days later, but the list included many items that were not in Mr. Xin's apartment, and the cash amount was just 4,765 yuan. When his family said that the list was incorrect, the police officers said there was a signature on the list. When he looked at the signature, Mr. Xin's relative could tell that the signature was a fake. It is a crime for police officers to do this. Mr. Xin and his wife, together with Hu Zhehui and Hou Yunfei, went on a hunger strike to protest, but the police officers beat them and force-fed them brutally for over 40 days. The four practitioners became very weak and could not walk by themselves. But even then, they were frequently interrogated and then put on trial.
Trial Exposed Crimes of the Police and the Court
At about 8 a.m. on September 12, 2005, police cars and plainclothes and uniformed police officers filled the courtyard and the courtroom of the Xinlongtai District Court in Panjin City. Police officers Xu Hao, Zhang Runqiu, and Song Bo were walking around in front of the courthouse gate. There was an atmosphere of foreboding.
At about 9 a.m., police cars with their sirens on passed through the courtyard gate of the court. Mr. Xin Minduo and Mr. Hou Yunfei were dragged out of one car and moved to the second floor, each supported by two people. They were barefoot and Mr. Xin could not extend his legs. The two male practitioners had to lie down in the courtroom. Ms. Bao and Ms. Hu were also barefoot and had to be supported to go up or down the stairs. The two women were lying down in the courtroom, unable to sit up by themselves. Their relatives were heartbroken to see the practitioners' miserable condition.
The court ruled that anyone entering the court should show their IDs, be interrogated, and videotaped.
The defense counsels were assigned by the court without being interviewed by the practitioners or their families. The court and police officers threatened and pressured the defense to just go through the motions of defending their clients but were not allowed to enter a plea of innocence. After learning that the defending counsels were assigned by the court, the four practitioners said that they would defend themselves, but the court denied their requests. "Representation by counsel" was a sham. The defense counsel for Mr. Xin and Ms. Bao tried to do some actual defending.
After the public prosecutor finished speaking, Mr. Xin and Ms. Bao's attorney asked Mr. Xin, "Are there 1,100 copies of CDs and three master CDs in your home?" Mr. Xin answered, "No. What is a master copy?" Chief Judge Ma Li stopped Mr. Xin from saying more. Then the defense counsel asked, "Did you sign the itemized list?" Mr. Xin answered, "I have not written a single word since I was arrested." A police officer took the itemized list and showed it to Mr. Xin, who said, "This is not my writing." The officer then showed him an album and said there are pictures of the CDs. Mr. Xin said after looking at the picture, "The floor in my house is ceramic tile. These CDs are on a wooden floor."
When the public prosecutor claimed that Ms. Bao had been arrested seven times, she contested the statement. The fact is that when Ms. Bao was first arrested, she was detained for over three months and was fined over 4,000 yuan before she was released. But the court counted each 15-day period as one arrest and concluded that Ms. Bao had been arrested seven times and used this as a charge against her.
Those observing the trial and even some police officers were surprised by the "evidence" given, because it was a misrepresentation of the facts.
Though under pressure, the words of Mr. Xin's defense counsel made the police officers uneasy. Xu Hao and Zhang Runqiu left the court. During her final statement, Ms. Bao said in a weak voice, "I am innocent. Where are my refrigerator, washer, cash and deposits?" The chief judge said, "This has nothing to do with Falun Gong. Do not say this."
During the trial, only one practitioner was allowed in the courtroom at a time. Police officers dragged the four practitioners in and out of the court. The trail ended without verdicts being pronounced.
Seeing the great suffering of their loved ones and witnessing such unfair trials, the practitioners' family members were in tears.
October 13, 2005
