(Clearwisdom.net) The Baoding City Intermediate People’s Court in Hebei Province recently conducted three secret trials concerning the case in which a policeman from Dongchengfang Town, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province raped two Falun Gong practitioners on November 25, 2005. The court finally delivered a judgement: Defendant He Xuejian is guilty of the rape charges and is sentenced to eight years in prison. He is also guilty of indecent harassment of women and is sentenced to three years in prison. The court decided he would serve eight years of imprisonment.
The High People’s Court of Hebei Province rejected an appeal from He Xuejian on June 8, 2006 and upheld the original verdict.
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On November 25, 2005, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Jizhi was severely beaten and raped by policeman He Xuejian from Dongchengfang Town police station. Her buttocks and legs were covered with bruises.
A summary of the rape case is as follows: On November 24, 2005, Song Xiaobin, Dongchengfang Town Political and Judiciary Committee secretary and Chai Yuqiao, Director of the Comprehensive Management Committee, as well as agents from the local police station arrested five Falun Gong practitioners. The next afternoon, November 25, policeman He Xuejian raped Falun Gong practitioners Liu Jizhi and Han Yuzhi. Afterwards, the lawless personnel from the Judiciary and Political Committee also extorted a 3,000-yuan "fine" from the victims’ families. Because Liu Jizhi and Han Yuzhi exposed the abuse they experienced at the hands of the police, the vicious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members offered a reward of 100,000 yuan for the victims' arrests. On March 7, 2006, many people working in the Air Force Compound commercial laundry in Xisanqi, Haidian District, Beijing, witnessed the arrest of Liu Jizhi and her daughter. However, agents from the police department in Zhuozhou City flatly denied the arrests.
After the rape crimes of He Xuejian were exposed, people with a sense of justice around the world including those inside China strongly condemned the persecution of Falun Gong, demanding that the offender be punished. The Zhuozhou City Police Department was under great pressure. They were all trying to protect themselves, making up stories that were riddled with holes to cover up their wicked behavior. The authorities formally arrested He Xuejian on December 11, 2005.
The prosecuting authority, the Baoding City People’s Procuratorate, accused "defendant He Xuejian, during the time when he was working temporarily at the Dongchengfang Town Police Station, of molesting victim Liu Jizhi’s breasts and genitals area and acting indecently towards her at around 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon of November 25, 2006, after he had called Liu Jizhi to his office. Liu Jizhi was detained at the police station at that time after she had been reported of involvement in illegal Falun Gong activities. [Note: Here, it states that Liu Jizhi did not accuse the defendant of raping her; instead she accused him of acting indecently toward her. There must be a case within the case.] After Liu Jizhi left his room, He Xuejian called another detained Falun Gong practitioner, Han Yuzhi, into his room and forced her to take off her pants and raped her." The Procuratorate believes that "the defendant He Xuejian violated Item 1 of Article 236 and Item 1 of Article 237 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China; the facts of the crimes are substantiated by sufficient evidence and action should therefore be taken against the defendant for crimes of rape and indecency toward women."
At 9:00 a.m. on May 15, 2006, the Baoding City Intermediate People’s Court held the first secret trial in the case, which was attended by victim Han Yuzhi and her legal representative (her husband) Liu Jianzeng, defendant He Xuejian, his father He Jianpo and his defender An Xingyu from the Hebei Province Xinzheng Law Firm.
During the trial, victim Liu Jizhi failed to appear in court for various reasons and did not have a legal representative, either.
On March 7, 2006, Liu Jizhi and her daughter were arrested in Beijing by Baoding City’s "Special Case Team" and were illegally detained for 21 days at Xishan Hotel in Mancheng County. Liu Jizhi was taken by Zhuozhou City 610 Office agents to the Nanma brainwashing center on March 28, 2006 where she was detained for 16 days. On April 13, Liu Jizhi was again taken by Zhuozhou City 610 Office agents, this time to the Baoding City No. 2 Central Hospital (located in Zhuozhou Area), where she was illegally detained for 64 days.
On May 13, the Baoding Intermediate People’s Court summoned Liu Jizhi to attend the first trial session of the case. Liu Jizhi requested to go to court, but Gao Xuefei, head of the Zhuozhou City 610 Office and Chen Guiting and Zhang Shun stood in the way to prevent her from going. The trial was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on May 15. Yet, by 8:07 a.m. that morning nobody took any notice of the matter and no vehicle arrived to take Liu Jizhi to court. Liu Jizhi asked the police guard to call Gao Xuefei; but Gao tried to confuse her by saying that he was in Baoding one minute and the next minute saying he was in Zhuozhou. They were stalling for time. When it was too late to go, Liu Jizhi said angrily, "I’m not going any more!" After she said this, within 10 minutes or so, Zhang Shun, Gao Xuefei and Chen Guiting arrived with pen and paper and an ink pad in their hands. Zhang Shun queried Liu Jizhi, "So, you are not going, right?" Liu said, "No, I’m not going any more." Then she asked, "Isn’t it the same whether I go or not?" Zhang replied, "It is the same. Don’t worry." Chen Guiting said to Liu Jizhi, "Come and write a pledge. Just say you do not want to go to court of your own accord." Liu Jizhi said, "I don’t know how to write." Chen then wrote the pledge for her and told Liu Jizhi to sign the pledge. Liu Jizhi said, "I can’t write my name properly." Chen wrote her name on another piece of paper and asked Liu Jizhi to copy it. He then told her to put a fingerprint on the pledge and took it away.
At 9:00 a.m. on May 22, the Baoding Intermediate People’s Court conducted a second trial of the case and established the fact that He Xuejian raped Han Yuzhi. As for the fact of He Xuejian raping Liu Jizhi, the court decided that there was insufficient evidence. It is said in the judgement, "Defendant He Xuejian admitted numerous times that he acted indecently toward Liu xx by molesting and touching her, but he didn’t admit to having had intercourse with Liu xx. Wang Huiqi also only confirmed that defendant He Xuejian molested and touched Liu xx. As there is only testimony from Liu xx, accusing defendant He Xuejian of having forced intercourse with Liu xx, and in absence of any other supporting evidence, the court decides that there is insufficient evidence of He Xuejian having forcible intercourse with Liu xx and established the mere fact that He Xuejian had molested Liu xx’s breast and genital area."
A week after the trial ended on June 8, at 5:00 p.m. on June 15, Zhuozhou City 610 Office agents suddenly notified Liu Jizhi’s family that she was taken back from the Baoding City No. 2 Central Hospital. Liu Jizhi has lost 100 days of personal freedom to date after her recent Beijing arrest.
According to other sources, Han Yuzhi’s husband has sold their family property and vowed to get justice for his wife. He will continue to investigate and establish the legal responsibilities of Song Xiaobin, Chai Yuqiao and others involved in what happened to his wife and seek civil compensation.
