(Minghui.org) Changchun City practitioners Mr. Jiang Tao, Ms. Liu Yanjun and Ms. Liu Yanchun were illegally arrested and detained in September 2012. Erdao District Public Security Bureau officials tried many tactics to prevent lawyers from getting involved in order to sentence the practitioners.
Arrested Illegally Seven Months Ago
On September 13, 2012, Mr. Jiang Tao, who lives in Tianfujiayuan in the Erdao District of Changchun City, was arrested by plainclothes officers from the Heshunjie Police Station (under the Erdao Police Department) when he left the home of his neighbor, Ms. Liu Yanjun. According to a witness, officers were hiding in the bushes in the area. They ran at Mr. Jiang from all directions, covered his mouth with their hands, picked him up by his legs, and threw him into a car with no license plates. The National Security Division of Erdao Police Department; deputy director Zhang Shun from Heshunjie Police Station; and officers Ma Xiaofeng, Yu Haiyang and Li Zhong were involved in this arrest.
The same police officers broke into Ms. Liu Yanjun’s home and arrested her and her sister, Ms. Liu Yanqiu. Ms. Liu Yanjun’s other sister was also arrested on the way to her father's house to make dinner for him. Ms. Liu Yanqiu’s husband, Mr. Sun Zhengtie, was arrested at work. Many personal belongings from the three sisters' homes were confiscated, and the police even harassed their 88-year-old father.
Mr. Jiang, 36, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2000. He was detained in Daguang Detention Center in Changchun City, Balibao Detention Center, Tiebei Prison, and Jilin Prison. After being persecuted for over nine years, Mr. Jiang Tao was released in 2009. He refused to be a spy for the police and remained determined to continue practicing Falun Gong. His elderly parents had put up with intense hardships during his prison term. They went to the prison many times to see their son and suffered a lot from the prison guards' taunting. They could not believe that Jiang Tao had been arrested again after returning home only just a few years before.
Public Security Bureau Officials Determined to Prosecute
The Erdao Police Department submitted a case against Mr. Jiang, Ms. Liu Yanjun, and Ms. Liu Yanchun to the Erdao District Procuratorate. The Procuratorate rejected it, asking for more evidence, since what had been fabricated by the police was not good enough. On December 20, 2012, Erdao Police Department submitted the case again and it was rejected again. On February 26, 2013, the Erdao Police Department submitted the case to the Erdao District Procuratorate for the third time.
In the meantime, the lawyer hired by Mr. Jiang and Ms. Liu Yanjun's families called Chen Yu, who is handling the case in the Procuratorate, to gain access to the case files. Chen Yu refused to allow access, claiming he needed to review the lawyer's qualifications. In the next few days, the Procuratorate repeatedly prevented the lawyer and the families from reviewing the files, and filed a complaint about the lawyer with the Bar Association.
On March 14, the Erdao District Procuratorate transferred the case to the Erdao District Court. The families had to go back and forth between the Procuratorate and the Court, because the Procuratorate said they had already sent the file, but the Court said they didn't receive it.
The Judge Attempts to Prevent the Lawyer from Presenting His Case
On March 25, Mr. Jiang, Ms. Liu Yanjun, and Ms. Liu Yanchun's relatives learned that the Erdao District Court had already put the file on record secretly, so they went to find the president of the Criminal Tribunal, Zhao Junfeng, who found all kinds of excuses to avoid them.
On April 1, 2013, a Beijing lawyer hired by the families went to the Erdao District Court but was not allowed to meet with Zhao Junfeng. Early on the morning of April 2, the lawyer went to the Erdo District Court again. He arrived at 9 a.m. and a staff member of the Court was waiting for him in the hall. The lawyer asked to see Presiding Judge Zhao Junfeng and handed in the necessary material to the staff member, who said Zhao Junfeng was in the dean’s office but that he was going to forward the material to him. He asked the lawyer and the family members to wait at the door. Fifteen minutes passed, half an hour, one hour, and the staff member did not come back. He showed up after more than an hour and said, “Presiding Judge Zhao is out of the area and I am not sure when he will return.”
After waiting for more than an hour, the lawyer and family members decided to visit Ms. Liu Yanjun in the detention center. There they learned that the court had already given her the indictment a week before! The clerk told her that she could use the lawyer assigned by the court if she didn’t have one. Ms. Liu Yanjun said that she had a lawyer representing her, but the clerk replied, “Lawyers from elsewhere are not welcome.”
The Erdao District Court had apparently already tried to put the three practitioners on trial secretly, thereby depriving them of their legal rights. Even though their families had gone to the court to inquire about the case every day, the court gave the indictment to one of the three who had lost her freedom and withheld the information from the families.
On April 3, 2013, the families were worried that the court would aconvene trial secretly, so they went to look for Presiding Judge Zhao Junfeng early in the morning. About four police officers behind the door shouted at them: “Whoever you are looking for, he is not here!” Ms. Liu Yanjun’s husband get very angry and yelled at them to provide their police IDs. Only then did the police officers walk away.
At present, Mr. Jiang, Ms. Liu Yanjun, and Ms. Liu Yanchun are still in Changchun City No. 3 Detention Center. We call on the court to dismiss the case against them and release them unconditionally.
Related article:
"Ms. Liu Yanjun and Other Falun Gong Practitioners Still Detained; Police Officers from Changchun Continue Fabricating Lies" http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2013/2/8/137404.html
