(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Li Zhongming, 62, was illegally arrested by three officers from the Longmatan District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, at around 9:00 a.m. on August 3, 2010. She was taken to the Longmatan District Court, where presiding judge Wang Mingliang held an illegal hearing along with six other officials.
Ms. Li's family was not notified, so no one was at the hearing to support Ms. Li.
During the hearing, one public prosecutor showed some of Ms. Li's personal property, including a laptop, a printer, a CD burner, some paper materials clarifying the facts about Falun Gong and several hundred yuan. These items were illegally confiscated by the officers from the Longmatan District Police Department and the Gaoba Police Station when they ransacked Ms. Li's home on April 25, 2009. The public prosecutor called these personal items "evidence." He also showed some documents that he claimed were signed by Ms. Li. However, Ms. Li denied signing any of them, and the signature did not appear to be hers.
Events Preceding the Latest Arrest
Ms. Li was buying vegetables at a farmer's market with her grandson at around 8:00 a.m. on April 25, 2009, when police head Yang Zheng led a group of officers from the Gaoba Police Station to Ms. Li. They forcibly grabbed her shopping bag and started to search it. Finding the bag empty, Yang Zheng took out a flyer clarifying the facts about Falun Gong and claimed that it was inside Ms. Li's bag. Yang then used this as an excuse to arrest Ms. Li.
Ms. Li and her grandson were taken to the police station, where one officer took a wiretap device out of her grandson's pocket. Ms. Li didn't know when it had been placed inside her grandson's pocket, so she warned the officer that unauthorized wiretapping was illegal.
Gaoba Police Station personnel subsequently called officials from the Longmatan District Police Department and asked them to ransack Ms. Li's home. More than ten police officers participated in ransacking her home, including one surnamed Xie, who had previously ransacked other practitioners' homes. The officers confiscated Ms. Li's laptop, printer, cell phone, two MP3 players, Falun Gong books and materials, and several hundred yuan in cash.
Because no one else was available to take care of Ms. Li's grandson, she was subsequently released. However, the police kept an around the clock watch on her and her home. She was therefore forced to leave her home to avoid further persecution, and became homeless and destitute in the process.
Ms. Li was arrested again at around 9:00 a.m. on March 21, 2010, at the Huilongwan Bus Station, by Huang Xiaobing, head of the Longmatan District Domestic Security Team, and several plainclothes officers. She was sent to the Longmatan District Police Department, where she was interrogated about the origin of her Falun Gong materials.
The officers forcibly held Ms. Li's head to have her picture taken and Huang shoved her down on the couch.
Ms. Li's sister was subsequently able to secure bail for her, so Ms. Li was released. However, the police continued harassing her and her relatives thereafter.
On or around April 10, 2010, two officials from the Longmatan District Court delivered a bill of indictment to Ms. Li. She refused to sign or accept it, since she had not broken any laws.
On April 14, Ms. Li wrote a letter to the presiding judge Wang Mingliang clarifying the facts about Falun Gong and asking Wang not to persecute Falun Gong. She asked police officer Liu Shengwei to deliver this letter on her behalf.
Three officials from the Shimabanzu Village, including the village head Xiong Duocheng, Party secretary Yuan Qihua and head of the Women's Committee Yang Futian, went to Ms. Li's relative's house at around 2:00 p.m. on April 28, claiming they were there to collect a fee. Longmatan District State Security Bureau head Huang Xiaobing and police officer Liu Shengwei were seen waiting on the other side of the road. After entering the house, Xiong proceeded to search each room without a warrant, after which the officials left.
Sometime thereafter, these officials, along with Huang and Liu, returned and forced their way into Ms. Li's relative's house, demanding that the relative bring out Ms. Li. They threatened to arrest the relative if she didn't comply. The relative was able to deter the officials, however, and they searched the house again and then left.
Ms. Li was previously sentenced to illegal imprisonment twice and persecuted at forced labor camps for three years.
