(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Xu Baozhen and Mr. Jiang Shouzhong, from Jimo City, Shandong Province, were recently illegally sentenced to seven years of imprisonment simply because they remain steadfast in their belief in Falun Gong.
After filing their appeal, the court denied their lawyers the right to due process of law. According to sources, a secret trial was conducted by the Qingdao Intermediate Court, and the original sentences were upheld. Neither family was informed about the proceedings.
The Jimo City 610 Office organized a raid of Falun Gong practitioners on July 30, 2012. They mobilized a few dozen police officers from the Jimo Domestic Security Police, the City Police, and several other branches.
While arresting practitioners, the police also ransacked their homes and confiscated computers, printers, DVD players, cell phones, and other belongings. More than twenty practitioners were arrested, including Mr. Xu Baozhen and Mr. Jiang Shouzhong.
Following orders from the Jimo City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the 610 Office, the Jimo Court convened on December 17, 2012, and delivered seven-year sentences to both Xu and Jiang. Both appealed, and their families hired lawyers who were willing to fight for justice.
On February 1, 2013, the lawyers came to the Qingdao Intermediate Court to present letters of authorization from their clients, and their licenses, but a judge refused to accept the documents. He asked the lawyers to obtain authorization from the Beijing City Justice Department showing its approval of the defense lawyers in this case. The lawyers stated that the request was a violation of the law and refused to comply.
In an attempt to file a grievance, the attorneys made several phone calls to the judge’s superiors and to the city’s disciplinary agency, but there was no answer. The lawyers had to drop off the documents in the court’s internal mail box, and they photographed the delivery. In a note to Judge Ren Daoliang, they wrote, "We hope you will follow the legal procedure, independently execute your judicial power without external influence, and refuse to follow the local authority’s illegal decision."
The families visited Judge Ren Daoliang of Qingdao Intermediate Court in late March and early April 2013. Ren insisted on receiving approval from the Beijing Justice Department for their lawyers. The families went to the Letters and Visitation Office of Qingdao Intermediate Court on April 2, to complain about Ren Daoliang’s illegal requirement. An officer told them that if the lawyers could not obtain the documents (requested by Ren), they would be considered phony. The families were then directed back to Ren Daoliang, who informed them that he had received the letters of authorization, but a trial may nonetheless not take place.
On April 9, 2013, the families heard from a third party that the original verdict was upheld in a secret trial.
