(Clearwisdom.net) In China, the persecution of Falun Gong by the authorities has never let up. After Falun Gong was banned, the Chinese authorities refused to accept any appeal cases that Falun Gong practitioners filed to seek for judiciary support. Recently, two cases filed in Shijiazhuang City and Jilin City, respectively, to appeal for the cancellation of sentences to forced labor camps were rejected. As is typical in such cases of human rights violation, the victim's attorney appealed to the National People's Congress but did not get any response. On the contrary, the victim's family members encountered persecution. In the latter case, because the litigant is also a practitioner, he has been deprived of his right to visit his client. The following is a transcript of RFA correspondent Yan Ming's report.
Mr. Huang Wei, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shijiazhuang City, Henan Province was sentenced to reeducation through forced labor last June for the second time. He appealed to the government to reconsider his case, but the government did not respond. He then sued the government for not making any response and appealed to cancel his term of forced labor. The Shijiazhuang court refused to accept this case.
At the end of last year, Mr. Huang Wei's attorney, Mr. Gao Zhicheng, wrote an open letter to the National People's Congress to call for attention to this case. After two weeks, several hundred people signed on a "civil rights" website to express support. However, up to the present, the National People's Congress still has not responded. On the contrary, the authorities intensified the persecution against Huang Wei and his family members.
On the 19th day after the appeal was filed, on January 18, Huang Wei's wife Ms. Hao Qiuyan was abducted by the Hedong Police Sub-station, Shijiazhuang City. The police arrested her because she went to different places to appeal for her husband, Huang Wei.
On Monday, attorney Gao Zhicheng briefed this reporter about Ms. Hao Qiuyan's arrest.
Attorney Gao Zhicheng: "It was early in the morning and it was getting light. I was still asleep. Suddenly, my phone rang. I heard violence occurring on the other end of the phone. Later, I received confirmation that it was Huang Wei's mother. She was shouting, 'How could you abduct people this way? Who are you exactly? You should identify yourselves. Otherwise, anyone could enter my house and abduct people by claiming they were executing some official task. You should at least have some official documents! Who are you exactly?' His mother repeated this several times. She repeated, 'Huang Wei was abducted this way. Later I found out that he was arrested by the police.' In the end, I heard his mother saying, 'How can we go on? Huang Wei's child is only six years old and I have heart problems. Our life is already very difficult. You harass us this way every other day, how can we, the common people live our lives? How can we go on with our lives?'"
At this point, this reporter phoned the 610 Office of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Bureau of Public Security, which is in charge of the Falun Gong issue. No one answered the phone. This reporter phoned the Hedong Police Substation. The police officer on duty said: "Call back later. I don't know much about this case."
In Jilin City, Jilin Province, Falun Gong practitioner Li Wenjun's case is quite similar to that of Huang Wei. Li Wenjun was sentenced to three years in a labor camp for having three Falun Gong books. He lodged an appeal, but no one paid any attention to his petition.
On Monday, Li Wenjun's mother Ms. Feng Fengyun stated to RFA that Li Wenjun's affidavit was forcibly recorded after police officers violently beat him for two hours. According to such an affidavit, he was sentenced to reeducation through forced labor. Li Wenjun requested medical treatment outside the labor camp on bail and then to have his term cancelled, but because of delays by different parties during the process, he lost his opportunity to appeal.
Feng Fengyun: "Because my son was beaten, I hired an attorney to demand that the labor camp conduct a physical examination of my son and allow him to be treated outside the labor camp on bail. We've been to the labor camp several times, but each time, they would say: "Come tomorrow." We went there the next day, but they said that was not a good day either as the doctor had gone to play basketball. We went there again the following week, but the doctor was not there again. In the end, my son went on a hunger strike to oppose his unlawful imprisonment. I then went to visit the Jilin Provincial Department of Reeducation Through Forced Labor. They explained that the labor camp was lying and my son was not on hunger strike. I then went to the Bureau of Justice, but the bureau said they could not do anything as my son has already served his term for more than three months. My son's attorney was not allowed to see my son."
Feng Fengyun said she was also deprived of her right to visit her son. "We've been to the labor camp more than 20 times, but we were not allowed to see my son. Because we also practice Falun Gong, they don't allow us to see my son.