Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Eight Falun Gong practitioners from Jiaohe City were given prison sentences after being detained without legal procedures for over half a year. On September 24 and October 12, 2008, they were sent to Gongzhuling Prison in Siping City and Heizuizi Women's Prison in Changchun City.

Eight Falun Gong practitioners from Jiaohe City were given prison sentences after being detained without legal procedures for over half a year by the local police and the domestic security team. On September 24 and October 12, 2008, the practitioners were sent to Gongzhuling Prison in Siping City and Heizuizi Women's Prison in Changchun City. The eight practitioners are Qiu Baohe, Chang Guiyun, Liu Baochun, Pang Shuwen, Li Zhenhua, Shi Xiuzhen, Zhang Min and Liu Jiang.

Gongzhuling Prison in Siping City deprives Falun Gong practitioners of the right to visit with family members. Only with recommendation letters from the local 610 Office can families meet with their imprisoned loved ones.

The Heizuizi Prison forced or pressured inmates to "watch over" Falun Gong practitioners, and not allow them to walk or talk freely. When Zhang Min met her family members, three or four prisoners were "watching over" her, telling her not to say too much and urging her to finish the meeting sooner rather than later. After only a few days in the prison, Zhang Min became skinny and weak. Her family suspected that she had been deprived of sleep. She is now imprisoned in the "Newborns Group," a section for newly admitted prisoners. Chang Guiyun had been tortured so severely at the detention center that she could no longer talk and walk properly by the time she was taken to prison.

Qiu Baohe was put on trial at the Jiaohe City Court in Jilin Province on June 18, 2008, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment on the charge of "using an evil cult to interfere with legal enforcement". The court's judgment was sent to the Jiaohe City Detention Center without any legal process. There were no lawyers, not even those sometimes assigned by the government for show.

As this took place, Jiaohe City Forestry Bureau, the former employer of Qiu Baohe and his wife Zhao Hongyan (wanted by Jiaohe City Police), cut off the couple's pension. They could neither afford to hire a lawyer nor support themselves. Moreover, the Jiaohe City Bureau of Justice prohibited any lawyers from working for Falun Gong practitioners.

On July 4, 2008, Chang Guiyun, Shi Xiuzhen, Zhang Min, Pang Shuwen and Liu Baochun were put on trial at the Jiaohe City Court. Chang Guiyun was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. When Liu Baochun was on trial, the lawyer his family had hired for him was not even allowed to enter the court.

On July 25, the court's judgments for the five practitioners were sent to the Jiaohe Detention Center.

Liu Jiang and Li Zhenhua were also tried in Jiaohe City at 8 a.m. and10 a.m. on July 16. According to the constitution, the court notice should have been sent 15 days prior to the trial, but the notices for the two practitioners were sent on July 14, only two days before their trials.