(Clearwisdom.net) In recent years the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has boasted that it governs the country according to the rule of law. Despite such grand promises, the words and absurd actions of judges and public prosecutors in the trials of Falun Gong practitioners expose the scandalous and contrary behavior that the CCP actually carries out. This is particularly notable in cases where practitioners seek the help of lawyers to defend them in court.
For example, at Fancheng Court in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, a judge recently said to Mr. Zhao Guojiang, a Falun Gong practitioner, “You will still be sentenced even if your attorney wins the case. It is useless to hire an attorney. You are wasting your money.”
The judge's words reveal the grim reality of CCP policies. The judge might just as well have said that trials for Falun Gong practitioners in China's courts today are nothing but a sham – they are strictly for show. If the authorities say you're guilty, you will be found guilty. Period. You will be sentenced according to however they want to sentence you. The CCP attempts to deceive both the Chinese people and the outside world when it falsely claims to “govern according to the rule of law.”
Here are two more examples of the extremes to which things are done in China's corrupt courts.
Yu Yong, a judge from Qingdao, Shandong Province, said to Shang Dexing, a Falun Gong practitioner, “Originally I planned to announce that you were innocent, but since you hired an attorney, I will give you a sentence of three years.”
In another case, a staff member from the Xinxing District Court, Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, said to the family members of a Falun Gong practitioner, “There are orders from 'the upper authorities' that if you hire an attorney your sentence will be more severe.”
What criteria were the sentences based on in these two cases?
The only logical conclusion is that, “It is against the law to hire an attorney,” but I am afraid if you search through all the legal statutes in China and abroad, you won't find such a law. It clearly stipulates in the Chinese Code of Criminal Procedure that if one is suspected of committing a crime he has the right to get help from a lawyer. Whoever fails to implement this statute is breaking the law. So, in other words, the judge and the “upper authorities” are brazenly violating this law.
Who are these “upper authorities?” It is clear to the people in China that the heads of the Court of Justice and the Political and Judiciary Committee of the CCP are the “upper authorities” responsible. Cases of practitioners are managed by the 610 Office which specializes in the persecution of Falun Gong. The “610 Office” is an extra-judicial organization. It takes orders directly from top CCP officials and committees. Thus it is the CCP itself that is violating the law and committing crimes. With the careless comments like those referenced in this article, various judges and court officials have unwittingly revealed the CCP's true policies.
The evidence also seems to suggest that if you are a Falun Gong practitioner charged with a crime in today's China, it is also against the law if you hire an attorney from outside your local area.
For example, the families of Liu Jinglu and his wife, Sun Lixiang, Falun Gong practitioners from Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, went to the Procuratorate to inquire about their cases after they were arrested. The personnel who handled their cases said, “If you hire a lawyer from Beijing, their sentences definitely will be 10 years. If you want them to be released, you have to hire a local attorney.”
What legal distinction is there between a lawyer from Beijing and a local lawyer? The Procurator's office wasn't clear. So where did the standard of a 10 year penalty come from? And how can hiring local lawyers guarantee their release? Doesn't this show that the couple hadn't committed any crime? Isn't it absurd that one's guilt and sentence can be determined simply by where one's attorney lives? How is that “rule of law?”
So it seems that any of the following can he held to be true in the cases of Falun Gong practitioners:
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“It is useless to hire an attorney.” You will be found guilty with or without.
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“If you hire an attorney your sentence will be more severe.”
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“If you hire a lawyer from outside the local area you will be found guilty and sentenced.”
None of these can stand up to the light of day. The fact that these policies are widely adopted only shows that CCP judges themselves are defying the law. Thus, in the process of so-called “enforcing the law,” they are in fact violating it. The best explanation is that the CCP metes out what it calls justice by flexing its political muscles instead of through the rule of law.
This is further borne out by the fact that the persecution of Falun Gong is itself not based in any law. The CCP judges sentence Falun Gong practitioners in the complete absence of the contravention of any legal statutes. The entire show of trying and convicting Falun Gong practitioners is conducted with no basis in the laws of the land.
The CCP has labeled Falun Gong as a “heretical organization” (also translated as “cult”) as an excuse to slander Falun Gong and justify its persecution. There is a law against using a “heretical organization” to interfere with the law, but the list of heretical organizations to which the law refers does not contain Falun Gong. To this day there is not a single legal statute that has recognized Falun Gong to be a “heretical organization.” Falun Gong practitioners cultivate goodness, improve their health, attempt to better themselves and improve their local environments. If this is considered to be evil, then there is no goodness left in the world.
This has put the CCP judges in an awkward situation. They cannot depend on the law, yet they have to wear judicial robes. They have to come across as the embodiment of justice. The arguments set forth by attorneys defending innocent Falun Gong practitioners often rips open their evil disguise bit by bit and exposes them for what they truly are.
When lawyers defend their clients in court, the following are often seen. Visitors in the gallery give the thumbs-up in approval and there may be thunderous applause. Public prosecutors can hardly find words to continue after such displays. Judges have been left humiliated and speechless. Relatives who clearly know that their family members are innocent shout out in rage. Judges with consciences have been known to secretly inquire of the lawyers from Beijing, “Is there a precedent in other areas that I could follow to find the defendant not guilty or to suspend their sentence?”
This exposure of the truth and the loss of face it brings is exactly what the CCP fears most. Thus it uses all kinds of methods to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their rights to an attorney.
The CCP slanders Falun Gong, but as this writer sees it, the true heretical organization is the CCP itself. The CCP trumps up charges against Falun Gong practitioners under article 300 of the penal code, “utilizing a heretical organization to violate the law and commit crimes.” Isn't this in fact exactly what the CCP itself is doing? The CCP violates the implementation of the law, obstructs defense attorneys, and turns the law to its own purposes to frame innocent people.
At the root of the training in the Theory of Judicial Affairs it states, “It is more serious to judge unfairly once than to commit unlawful acts multiple times. Committing unlawful acts will pollute the streams but unfair judgements will ruin the source of the water.”
The CCP is the true source of the pollution. We can make radical reforms only after we cast aside the CCP. We will only be able to resolve the awkward situation that the judges find themselves in after we forsake the CCP.
