(Clearwisdom.net) In January 2008, after hiring a lawyer in Beijing, the family of Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Liu Jin, who had been arrested by police officers in Shanghai, was threatened and harassed by officers from the Beijing National Security Team. They were warned that they must not contact any lawyers, or otherwise, they would "create a lot trouble for themselves."
After Ms. Liu Jin was arrested by police officers from Fengxian District in Shanghai, her family went to Beijing and hired a well-known human rights lawyer in China, Mo Shaoping, as her defense attorney. Attorney Mo and two other Chinese lawyers recently received the 2007 French Human Rights Awards. Furthermore, Attorney Mo has defended other "illegally-arrested" Falun Dafa practitioners, pleading their innocence. Ms. Liu Jin's family requested that Attorney Mo defend Ms. Liu. Soon afterward, Ms. Liu's relatives in Beijing were harassed and threatened by the local police. Meanwhile, police from both the Beijing National Security Team and Shanghai Fengxian District recommended their state-appointed "free" lawyers to Ms. Liu's family.
Ms. Liu Jin and her husband Mr. Zhang Zhanjie had been imprisoned for four years and four and a half years respectively because they held firm in their belief in Falun Dafa. They are very familiar with the defense tactics of those "free" lawyers. The majority of lawyers in Mainland China do not dare to defend Falun Dafa practitioners justly. Some lawyers have even been taken advantage of by the Chinese Communist Party's courts and colluded with the courts in the prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Immediately after Ms. Liu Jin's family went to Beijing and hired Attorney Mo, the police from the Beijing National Security Team threatened them. The police threats further substantiate the fact that when the Chinese Communist Party persecutes Falun Dafa practitioners they never follow the law. The police in Beijing have more power than the courts, and can prevail upon the courts to sentence people according to their directives, as shown by Ms. Liu Jin's two-year prison sentence. For the courts to go against the will of the police, the consequences could be serious. We can see that the illegal sentences of Falun Dafa practitioners are decided on a whim, with no rule of law.
Today, the Chinese Communist Party still deceives the world. On the surface, they continue to associate themselves with the beautiful picture of the peaceful 2008 Olympics. But, at the same time, they brutally persecute the Chinese people. The most heinous brutality is the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. We call for all organizations that uphold justice, governments, and the people of the world again to pay attention to the suffering of Falun Dafa practitioners like Ms. Liu Jin, see through the disguise of the Olympics and help stop the persecution.
October 18, 2008