Practitioner Mr. Zheng Guodong Unlawfully Imprisoned During Appealing Period

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Zheng Guodong was illegally sentenced at the Tiedong District Court in Anshan City, Liaoning Province on March 19, 2015.

After he filed an appeal to a higher court, Yan Rong, the presiding judge, secretly ordered him be taken to Shenyang Prison.

The judge disregarded the rule of Criminal Law, which states that during the appeals period the sentence issued during the first trial cannot be carried out.

Mr. Zheng was only taken back to the detention center just before the second trial was about to start.

Zheng Guodong

Arrested and Home Ransacked

Mr. Zheng from Anshan was arrested at his home on December 4, 2014, by twelve officers from the Qilingzi Police Station. They ransacked the place and confiscated a computer, laptop computer, and Falun Gong books.

He was taken to the Anshan No. 1 Detention Center. The Tiedong Procuratorate approved his arrest on December 16, 2014, and prosecuted him on January 15, 2015.

The Tiedong District Court sentenced Mr. Zheng to three years in prison.

Imprisoned During Appeal Period

Mr. Zheng immediately appealed his sentence to a higher court. However, when his family members went to the detention center on April 2, 2015, they were told he had been taken to a prison.

His family called Judge Yan Rong to condemn this violation of the law, to imprison the litigant during his appeal period. Yan claimed that a related document was dated incorrectly, and that was why Mr. Zheng had been taken to prison, and that they were not able to take him back to the detention center until the second trial.

Mr. Zheng's family members received a letter from Shenyang No. 1 Prison on May 4, notifying them that he had been taken there on April 24.

Judge Avoids Contact With Mr. Zheng's Family and His Lawyer

Throughout the entire case, Mr. Zheng's family was never allowed to meet judge Yan Rong in person. He only relayed information to them by phone.

When Mr. Zheng's lawyer called Yan Rong on March 16, 2015, to arrange a suitable time to deliver a case document, Yan took the call. But when the lawyer went to his office he was told that Yan was not there. The lawyer then had to send the document to the Tiedong District Court by mail.

Yan Rong called the lawyer on March 17, and told him that the sentence had already been issued, but when the lawyer received the verdict paper he noticed that the date of issue was March 19.

Parties involved in the persecution of Mr. Zheng:Yan Rong (颜容), presiding judge: [phone]Liang Bing (梁冰), Party secretary of the Anshan City Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone], [phone]Xie Rongfang (谢荣芳), director of the Anshan City 610 Office: [phone], [phone]Wu Gangzhuang (吴刚壮), director of the Tiedong Police Department: [phone], [phone], [phone], [phone]Qin Zheng (秦政), head of the Tiedong District Court in Anshan City: [phone], [phone]