Retired Worker Mr. Zhou Yubao Arrested and Facing Trial

(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhou Yubao, a Falun Gong practitioner and retired worker of Shifang, Sichuan Province, was beaten and arrested by local police while he was in a park in May, 2012. He has been in detention since then. A trial was scheduled for September 28, 2012. The police department, Procuratorate, court and detention center have collaborated to block his family's efforts to defend him in court and submit a plea of not guilty.

Mr. Zhou Yubao went to Guanghan on the morning of May 15, 2012. While he was taking a moment to relax in a park, two men pulled him off his electric bicycle. Seven or eight men dashed up and assaulted him. The vision in Mr. Zhou's left eye became blurry, and he felt dizzy. His left ear began buzzing. Two of the men twisted his arms behind his back and shoved him down. The others dumped everything out of Mr. Zhou's bag onto the ground. Some of them took pictures, while others made audio recordings. These thugs turned out to be the political head of Shifang City Domestic Security Division Liu Hongjian and his subordinates. They were not wearing uniforms at the time.

Zhou Yubao was taken to Huilan Police Station and tied to a metal chair used for interrogation. Two police officers demanded that he tell them the source of his truth-clarification materials. When Mr. Zhou asked them what he had done, the officers said that somebody would tell him when it was time. One of them told him to sign an interrogation record, but Mr. Zhou refused. Then the officer punched him in the nose and slapped him. Mr. Zhou's nose started bleeding.

One man tried to take pictures of Mr. Zhou. When he resisted, the man slapped him very hard. A young man wiped the blood off Mr. Zhou's face, took him to the restroom to wash, and took him to a hospital for a physical examination. Mr. Zhou was sent to a detention center at around 9 or 10 p.m. that day.

Mr. Zhou wrote a letter to the procurator on May 17 to expose the illegal conduct of the Domestic Security Division. More than four months have passed, and he hasn't received a response.

A woman from Shifang Court delivered a summons to Mr. Zhou on September 17. He refused to sign it, and she left it with him. Mr. Zhou found that the fields for the summons number and judge were blank. Those imprisoned in the same cell took out their summons. All of them had a summons number and judge except for Mr. Zhou. It turned out that the trial was secretly scheduled to be held on September 28, but the court did not want to let anyone know the date.

Mr. Zhou's relative went to the court on September 20 and learned that the trial would soon be held. He asked for the exact date, but was told that it wouldn't be announced until three days before the trial. When Mr. Zhou's relative requested to defend him during the trial, he was told that Mr. Zhou had to submit this request himself and the request had to be approved. Mr. Zhou's relative prepared the authorization documentation and delivered it to the detention center. The director of the center rejected it and said that only the court could do this.

Mr. Zhou's relative went to the court again. Chief Judge Li Kaixuan told him the police department had to approve it before Mr. Zhou could write a defense authorization. The head of the Domestic Security Division Wang Guosen said that there was no need to go through the police, and that the detention center had to allow Mr. Zhou to write the defense authorization. Mr. Zhou's relative explained how the matter had been kicked back and forth. Wang said he would have to go see the vice president of the court Huang Liangrong.

When Mr. Zhou's relative went to the court again and requested to see Huang Liangrong, the security guard refused to let him. Chief Justice Li Kaixuan came out and told him that Judge Tang Xinhe would be in charge of his case. However, Tang refused to see Mr. Zhou's relative. He explained on the phone about the procedure of authorizing defense. Eventually he agreed to send Mr. Zhou an authorization form.

Shifang City Court: [phone], [phone], [phone]
Zheng Hong, head of court: [phone], [phone], [phone]
Zheng Cunwen, head procurator: [phone] (Office), [phone]
Peng Degui, deputy head of Shifang Police Department: [phone] (Office)
Wang Guosen, head of Domestic Security Division: [phone], [phone]
Shifang City 610 Office: [phone], [phone]
(For more perpetrators' contact information, please refer to the original Chinese article)