Clearwisdom Weekly Persecution News

The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong --August 23, 2009

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content

Police Torture Ms. Zhao Qunlan with Electric Baton in Court

When the court session was over, the police hit her head with the electrical baton, and thrust the baton into her mouth, because she called out, "Falun Dafa is good." Those waiting outside were also arrested by the police.

Police Torture Ms. Zhao Qunlan with Electric Baton in Court

At 9:00 a.m. on August 4, Junshan District Court in Yueyang City, Hunan Province held a court session to try Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Qunlan. During the session, the police threatened Ms. Zhao's two lawyers and arrested practitioners who came to watch the trial, and shocked Ms. Zhao with an electric baton after the trial.

On the morning of May 27, 2009, Junshan City practitioner Zhao Qunlan was arrested on the street in Xiangyin City by Domestic Security police officers Shen Wenxin, Deng Hongqiu, and Cai Hongchun from Junshan District Police Precinct, and Domestic Security police officer Li Xi from Xiangyin. She was held in the 1st Detention Center of Yueyang City with no family visitation permitted.

The police threaten the lawyers

At 7:40 a.m. on August 4, Jin Guanghong and Zhang Chuanli, the two attorneys that Ms. Zhao's family hired for her from Beijing, came to the court. When they took a picture outside the building as a memento, three police officers approached. One of them threatened, "How dare you take pictures today? Do you know what kind of case it is? It's a Falun Gong case, the special one!"

When the other two approached and grabbed the attorneys' cell phones, Attorney Zhang said, "What you are doing is against the law. I want to speak with your supervisor."

One of the officers retorted, "There is no use whomever you talk to," and left with the the camera.

The police arrest court visitors

The sign outside the court said that people were welcome to sit in on the session. Some non-practitioners, as well as Ms. Zhao's family members and some practitioners went into the courtroom. Over ten officers, among them Domestic Security police officers Shen Wenxing, Cai Dechun, Xiang Yuehua, Deng Hongqiu, and Peng Changhua, from Junshan Police Precinct, and the police station chief Li Qiliang (who was originally largely responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners) surrounded them. One of officer ordered, "They are all Falun Gong practitioners. Arrest them!"

Then they took a picture of everyone, and called the local police bureau for each individual and ask them to come to identify them. Then, a dozen or so plainclothes police officers entered the courtroom.

One of the practitioners, Ms. Li Nianchun, from Junshan District was over seventy years old. She was explaining the facts about Falun Gong to the plainclothes police. The police pushed Ms. Li into the police car and lied, saying that they were driving her home, but they ended up taking her to the Hubing Jail and held her there. They also dismissed everyone attempting to watch the hearing and forced all the practitioners completely out of the courtroom.

The lawyers defend the practitioners

During the session, the court only allowed four family members and the two attorneys to be present. The rest of the people in the court were all from the government, prosecution, justice department, or the police. Ms. Zhao was brought into the court with her hands cuffed behind her back. She wanted to defend herself, but was denied by the court. The two attorneys entered a plea of not guilt for her, and strongly praised Falun Gong practitioners as the true "heroes of mankind." Prosecutor Li Jie twice cut the attorneys' speeches off. At the end, Judge Wang Meng called the session to recess by declaring: "I will not issue my real sentence today. Let's find another date and do it then."

The police torture Ms. Zhao

Immediately after the session, the police handcuffed Ms. Zhao and she yelled: "Falun Dafa is good!" The court police hit her head with the electrical baton, and thrust the baton into her mouth. When her family members tried to talk to her, they stopped them, and pushed her sister-in-law out of the courtroom.

Nearing the end of the court session, the plainclothes police began arresting practitioners. One practitioner in his fifties was handcuffed and driven away by the plainclothes police. Other five from Junshan District that came to sit in on the session were all taken away by the Domestic Security police.