Mr. Qi Yingjun Barred From Testifying in His Own Defense During Court Hearing

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Aug. 22, 2023 | By a Minghui correspondent in Shandong Province, China

(Minghui.org) Mr. Qi Yingjun, 63, from Jinan City, Shandong Province stood trial on August 14, 2023 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. He was not allowed to defend his constitutional right to freedom of belief.

Mr. Qi was arrested at his home on June 19, 2023. The arresting officer from the Zhangjiawa Police Station attempted to get him admitted to the Jinan City Sixth Detention Center, but failed because he exhibited severe illness symptoms. He was then released on house arrest.

On June 25, the police submitted Mr. Qi’s case to the Laiwu District Procuratorate, which forwarded it to the Laiwu District Court four days later.

On July 24, Mr. Qi received a call from the court-appointed lawyer saying he was scheduled to appear in court on July 31. But the hearing was later postponed to August 14.

During the court hearing, Mr. Qi rejected the court-appointed lawyer, as the lawyer was instructed to enter a guilty plea for him. He refuted the prosecutor’s allegation that he used a “cult organization” to undermine law enforcement, a standard pretext used to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners. He emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a “cult.” He challenged the prosecutor to present in court the so-called prosecution evidence to be cross examined, but the judge turned down his request.

As Mr. Qi was defending himself, the prosecutor yelled, “Qi Yingjun is promoting Falun Gong!” The judge then confiscated Mr. Qi’s written defense statement before asking, “Do you have anything else to say?” Mr. Qi responded that he still had a lot to say about his being wrongfully charged for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief. The judge then asked Mr. Qi to write down whatever else he intended to say and then hand deliver or mail the statement to him.

Mr. Qi is still on house arrest and awaiting a verdict.

Prior to this latest persecution, he and his wife were repeatedly targeted for upholding their faith during the past 24 years. Mr. Qi was given three years of forced labor in 2000 and brutally tortured in detention. His daughter was given three years of forced labor in 2005 after being interviewed by human rights lawyer Mr. Gao Zhisheng. She was only 19 at the time. Her mother was sentenced to two and a half years in prison following her arrest in 2019.

Taking up Falun Gong

Mr. Qi used to suffer from a myriad of diseases and lived a painful and hopeless life. When his cervical spondylosis (age-related wear and tear of the spinal disks) was at its worst, it compressed his optic nerve and caused issues with his eyes. He struggled to keep his eyes open. With his chronic gastritis, he could not eat or drink anything cold; his stomach was in pain, his abdomen became bloated, and he had diarrhea. His nose was always congested due to his sinusitis and he had to breathe through his mouth, causing him headaches. His pharyngitis (inflammation of the mucous membranes of the middle part of the throat) also brought him endless suffering.

In the summer of 1998, Mr. Qi got a copy of Zhuan Falun, main teachings of Falun Gong. The book enabled him to understand the meaning of life and the importance of being a good person. As he kept reading the book, his illnesses also disappeared one after another. In just three weeks, he was completely healthy and also learned to get along with everyone.

Mr. Qi and his wife, Ms. Chen Lianmei, started a wholesale business selling shoes, hats and clothing in the Guansi Shopping Mall in Laiwu City in June 1999. Ms. Chen was surprised that her husband was able to focus on their family business, because in the past he cared little about family. She asked what changed him.

Mr. Qi told her about Falun Gong and Ms. Chen began practicing in July 1999. She soon felt relaxed and her mood was uplifted. Weeks later, the communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong. Having had positive experiences with the practice, the couple never wavered in their faith. They were subjected to repeated persecution in the next two plus decades.

Husband Twice Arrested in 2000 and Given Three Years of Forced Labor

First Arrest in March 2000

Mr. Qi and Ms. Chen brought their then five-year-old son to Beijing on March 15, 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong. Their then 14-year-old daughter was left in the care of a relative. Mr. Qi was arrested as soon as their family arrived in Beijing. He was held in a metal cage in the Qianmen Police Station for more than three hours, before being picked up by Zhang Shenchun from the Laiwu City Police Department’s Liaison Office in Beijing.

Zhang kept Mr. Qi in his office for more than 20 hours, during which time he beat him so hard that Mr. Qi’s ears rang for a long time afterward. Zhang also seized the more than 200 yuan in cash Mr. Qi carried with him.

Zhang also cuffed Mr. Qi together with another Falun Gong practitioner in a restroom for more than ten hours.

Mr. Qi was moved to another location in Beijing on April 20, 2000. He was stripped naked and body searched. All the items he carried were confiscated. There was no bed and he had to sleep on the cement floor. The next day, he was transferred to the Haidian District Detention Center in Beijing. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was force fed. The guards inserted a feeding tube to his stomach through his nostril. The tube was covered in blood when it was pulled out.

Ten days later, officer Liu Qing of the Laiwu City Police Department picked him up and took him back. He was then held in the Laiwu City Detention Center for one month.

Second Arrest in June 2000, Followed by 3-Year Forced Labor

Mr. Qi did the Falun Gong exercises in a park in Laiwu City on June 9, 2000 and was arrested by officers Liu and Tian Yugang. They took him to the Shandong Province Second Labor Camp the next day to serve a three-year term.

Ms. Chen was forced to live away from home to avoid being arrested. Office Liu even went to her five-year-old son’s school to threaten the little boy in order to learn Ms. Chen's whereabouts. The boy was terrified and traumatized.

The labor camp directors, Sun Jiyin and Xin Xiuzhong, along with political committee secretary Wang Jiayong, ordered guard Zhao Yongming to use all means possible to make detained Falun Gong practitioners renounce their faith. Zhao led more than twelve muscular inmates to shock steadfast practitioners with high-voltage (sometimes up to 300,000-volt) electric batons. Some practitioners’ lips became extremely swollen as a result.

Mr. Qi was shocked all over his body with eight 150,000-volt electric batons simultaneously. It felt like his head was being hammered and his heart was being pounded. His body twitched uncontrollably. The room was filled with the smell of burned flesh. When he returned to his cell, he noticed burn marks all over his body. More than ten days later, the scabs fell off when he took off his clothes at night.

Another torture Mr. Qi was subjected to was to sit on a small, hard stool (only 10 centimeters wide) for more than ten hours (from 4:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.) every day. Other than eating meals, he was not allowed to engage in any other activities, including talking to others or using the restroom. Even when the guards did give him restroom breaks, they intentionally waited for one hour or even longer before approving his request to use the toilet. They only give him 4 minutes each time. Sometimes he was called back even before he reached the restroom. If he didn’t turn around fast enough, the inmates used a brush full of feces to poke his buttocks. He became incontinent as a result.

Mr. Qi’s buttocks festered and bled after sitting on the stool for hours. Scabs formed but re-opened and festered again. He was only allowed four hours of sleep a day.

In addition to subjecting him to the above mentioned tortures, the guards also played nonstop videos slandering Falun Gong and forced him to watch.

Throughout Mr. Qi’s detention, whenever the guards deemed him disobedient, they shocked him with electric batons or forced him to stand for hours on end. His legs and feet became swollen as a result.

Arrested Twice in 2005

Officer Liu and his supervisor Han Kefeng (deputy chief of the Laiwu City Police Deparment) led a group of agents and arrested Mr. Qi on September 30, 2005.

One officer dragged Mr. Qi along the ground by his handcuffs for more than 200 yards. The handcuffs cut deep into his wrists, and a big chunk of skin was rubbed off from his shoulder. The blood soaked the front of his shirt.

When the police took him to a local detention center the guards did not provide any medical treatment for his injuries. His wounds festered and oozed pus. Other inmates could not stand to look at his injuries. The handcuff marks on his wrists did not disappear for three years.

After Mr. Qi was released, he set up a tutoring class to help the children of other local practitioners who had been detained or forced to live away from home. Officer Liu found out about the class and raided it, confiscating all the school supplies. He later led other officers to interrogate every child and their caregivers, threatening them to reveal who else besides Mr. Qi was involved in running the tutoring class.

Daughter Given Three Years of Forced Labor in 2005

In November 2005, Mr. Qi’s daughter, Ms. Qi Xin, who was about 19 at the time, was interviewed by human rights lawyer Mr. Gao Zhisheng. She described her family’s suffering at the hands of the communist regime.

Liu and Han arrested Ms. Qi without telling her parents. They did not learn she was arrested for several days. When they went to a local detention center to deliver clothes for her, they were told she was taken to the Jinan Women’s Labor Camp to serve three years.

Wife Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Prison Following Arrest in 2019

Mr. Qi and Ms. Chen were arrested at home on July 16, 2019 and their home and shop was raided. The police confiscated their Falun Gong books and took them to the Railroad Detention Center in Jinan City.

The couple were both transferred to the Laiwu City Detention Center on July 27, 2019. Mr. Qi was very ill at the time and failed the required medical examination conducted at the Laiwu Central Hospital. He was released on bail. Ms. Chen was admitted to the detention center.

The Laiwu District Procuratorate indicted Ms. Chen and forwarded her case to the Laiwu District Court on January 13, 2020.

In February 2020, her two children submitted requests to have her released on bail, but the Jinan City Procuratorate, which oversaw the Laiwu City Procuratorate, ignored their request.

The Laiwu City Court tried Ms. Chen on September 1, 2020, but did not allow her family defender to represent her in court. She was sentenced to 2.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on November 24, 2020.

Mr. Qi was forced to live away from home when Ms. Chen was sentenced. He later returned home around July 1, 2021 and was spotted by police who were monitoring the surveillance cameras. They soon arrived and surrounded his apartment building.

Mr. Qi used a rope to climb down from his fourth-floor apartment. The rope broke and he injured his leg. A kindhearted person helped him before the police came.

During the standoff, his son came but could not go inside because the police were there. The young man condemned the police for persecuting a law-abiding citizen. Afterwards they began to follow him.

Ms. Chen was released on January 15, 2022.