Name: Cao Junping(曹军平)
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Late July 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Qingzhou City Detention Center(青州市看守所 )
City: Qingzhou City
Province: Shandong Province
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, Home Ransacked, Extortion, Interrogation, Sleep Deprivation, Torture.
(Clearwisdom.net) (By a Minghui reporter from Shandong Province) On October 18, 2009, Weifang City Kuiwen District Court illegally sentenced Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Cao Junping to a ten-year prison term. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, over 100 practitioners were arrested by the Weifang City local government. Due to public pressure, the local government delayed Ms. Cao's trail for more than a year. Just a few days ago, Weifang City Kuiwen District Court suddenly notified her lawyer that Ms. Cao's trial was scheduled for October 18. Due to the late notice, her lawyer could not make it. Her family were not allowed to sit in the courtroom. In the absence of her lawyer and her family, Ms. Cao was sentenced to a ten-year imprisonment.
One week before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ms. Cao was arrested at her friend's home. Her home was combed through twice by the local government. All her belongings of value including a car and bankbooks were confiscated. Most of the stolen property has not been returned. She was detained in Weifang City Detention Center and then in the Qingzhou City Detention Center. On August 8, 2008, she was interrogated by the Domestic Security Division for five days and four nights. Six policemen took turns interrogating her 24 hours a day non stop. She was forbidden to sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, they would pour either cold or hot water on her. They forced her to sit on an iron chair for long time. They finally let her go home home for a day when she became incontinent due to the brutal torture. Later, they used the same tactics to torture her for four days and three nights, which caused her to have a high fever. Although the fever subsided, many red lumps appeared on her skin, which later turned into a skin disease. Whether she was tortured in other ways or not is still under investigation.
Ms. Cao's family hired a lawyer for her. However, her family and the lawyer were constantly harassed and threatened by the police, the local Procuratorate, and the court during the whole legal process. Her family was taken advantage of by the police. Just days before the trial, Kuiwen District Court prevented her lawyer from getting information on her case.
On July 31, 2009, Weifang City Kuiwen District Court convened the trial for Ms. Cao. That day, all the other cases were canceled. It was estimated that the local government sent out dozens of Special Police and plainclothes police. The whole court was tightly monitored and guarded. There were many discussions among the onlookers. Before the trial, they purposely created difficulties when her family tried to get into the court. During the trial, her lawyer did an excellent job of defending her. When Ms. Cao defended herself, she asked the court to release her immediately. She said, "I ask you, the judge, to release me, since I am innocent. I sincerely hope that you are willing to understand the truth, which is beneficial to both you and your family. I wish every one of you a good future. Good is rewarded with good, and evil provokes evil. Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous!" Ms. Cao asked the judge to investigate the monitoring videotape of her detainment in Qingzhou Detention Center, where she was tortured brutally, so that the personnel involved could be invested for criminal behavior, but the judge ignored her request. She also emphasized that all the paperwork that she had signed when she was not in her right mind due to the torture was null and void. Other kinds of despicable tactics the Domestic Security Division employed during her detainment are still under investigation.
During the past year, due to international media attention and local public censure, the local government did not move on her case. When the Shandong Province Political and Judiciary Committee came to visit, however, Kuiwen District Court decided to put Ms. Cao on trial on October 18.
Personnel in Weifang City Kuiwen District Court involved in the persecution of Ms. Cao:
Li Xiaoying, chief judge: 86-536-8529821
Zhang Xinhua, Deputy Judge: 86-536-8509806(Office)
