(Minghui.org) A retired couple from Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province has been in detention since their arrest on July 31, 2014. While defending their right to practice Falun Gong at their trial on December 11, one of the lawyers, Mr. Zhang Keke, was removed from the courtroom and taken straight to the police station.
Mr. Zhang wasn't released until six hours later. A total of 361 lawyers signed a joint statement to condemn the illegal detention of their fellow attorney, who was earlier scolded by the police chief for entering not-guilty pleas for his Falun Gong practitioner clients.
Ms. Tian, daughter of Mr. Tian Yifu (田宜富), and his wife Ms. Zhang Guixia (张桂霞), were not deterred by the police action. Ms. Tian hired two more lawyers to defend her parents.
Things got off to a rocky start, when it took her and the lawyers three frustrating days to finally get to visit her parents at the detention center.
Ms. Tian and the new lawyers, Mr. Xu Fugui and Mr. Li Zhongwei, were turned away from the Liaoyuan City Detention Center on December 29 when they tried to visit her parents. The guards claimed that the person in charge was not in, so no visitation was allowed.
The trio returned the next morning, only to be told that written permission issued by the justice bureau was needed for the visit. The receptionist at the justice bureau claimed that section chief Lu Lu, who was in charge of the matter, wasn't around. The lawyers and Ms. Tian called Lu Lu numerous times, but no one ever picked up the phone.
The guards again refused entry when Ms. Tian and the lawyers later went back to the detention center.
When the lawyers and Ms. Tian tried to file a complaint against the detention center and the justice bureau for their violation of due process, the Liaoyuan City Discipline Committee kicked them back to the justice bureau, saying that they must produce a written document signed by the bureau first.
Again, section chief Lu Lu was nowhere to be found. Ms. Tian said to the receptionist, “Well, I was given the run-around these two days, and we still haven't been able to see my parents. If section chief Lu still refuses to show up, I'll just wait here until he appears.” Shortly thereafter, Lu Lu called to ask her to return the next day to pick up the permission document.
Ms. Tian, however, was blocked outside the building when she and one of the lawyers returned the next morning. The lawyer came out in a little while, empty-handed. The staff used a litany of excuses to withhold the promised document.
Infuriated, Ms. Tian started telling everyone within earshot about how section chief Lu Lu treated her and what her parents have been through.
Lu Lu eventually issued an approval document, and the lawyers finally got to meet their clients.
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