(Minghui.org) Ms. Luo Jiangping, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Miyi, Sichuan Province, has been persecuted in the Yunnan Province First Prison. Mr. Luo's mother recently hired two Beijing lawyers to sue the prison for torturing her son.
Mr. Luo was illegally arrested for practicing Falun Dafa in January 2012 in Nanhua County, Chuxiongzhou, Yunnan Province. He was subsequently sentenced to prison and incarcerated at the Yunnan Province First Prison. In the prison, he was shackled and handcuffed, forced to do slave labor, and detained in a solitary small cell.
Prison Prevents Lawyers and Family from Seeing Mr. Luo
Two lawyers from Beijing, hired by Mr. Luo's mother, arrived at the prison on the afternoon of May 15, 2013, and requested to meet with Mr. Luo. Three men in black T-shirts followed them inside and secretly videotaped them. When the lawyers discovered what they were doing and questioned them, the three men put away their recording equipment.
When the lawyers arrived at the Prison Affairs Section, section chief Cheng attempted to prevent them from meeting with Mr. Luo by claiming that their “power of attorney” documentation was applicable only to the court, not the prison. He also insisted that a letter from the local police station was required to prove the relationship between Mr. Luo and his mother.
When Mr. Luo's mother-in-law went to the prison the next day, the same section chief also asked her for the proof of her relationship to Mr. Luo. When she showed a certificate issued by the local Nation Security branch, the section chief still did not allow her to see Mr. Luo, using various other excuses.
Kind People Persecuted
Mr. Luo, 50, is from Salian Town, Miyi County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. He started to practice Falun Dafa in 1996, closely following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in his daily life. Through the practice, the leg pain he had suffered from childhood disappeared, and his mental outlook improved.
Since the communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999, Mr. Luo has been repeatedly arrested and harrassed by the Miyi County Police Department, the Public Security Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Miyi County Political Security Office, and the Miyi County Salian Town government. Police ransacked his home, and officials extorted money from his family.
In early 2002, Mr. Luo was sentenced to five years in prison. He was detained in the Deyang Prison in Sichuan Province, where he was tortured and forced to do slave labor.
On January 6, 2012, Ms. Luo and Ms. Zhang Jimei, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Yimi County, were arrested by officers from the Longchuan Town Police Station for clarifying the facts about Falun Gong and handing out informational materials about the practice in Shanshang Village, Longchuan Town, Nanhua County, Chuxiongzhou, Yunnan Province.
Mr. Luo was sent to the Nanhua County Detention Center, and Ms. Zhang to the Chuxiongzhou Detention Center.
On January 18, 2012, Mr. Luo's 77-year-old mother traveled to Nanhua County Detention Center from another province to see her son. She asked the county's Domestic Security Division to release her son. The chief of the division, Ma Xiaoyun, and officer Ji Yun shirked their responsibility and did nothing. Due to severe motion sickness from traveling, Mr. Luo's mother
Mr. Luo's mother later returned to Ma Xiaoyun and Ji Yun to get permission to see her son, which was required by the detention center. Ma Xiaoyun refused to see her, and Ji Yun forced her out of the office and left. Heartbroken, Mr. Luo's mother had no choice but to return home without seeing her son.
Sentenced to Prison
The Nanhua County Court held a trial for Mr. Luo and Ms. Zhang at 2:40 p.m. on April 11, 2012. The lawyers from Beijing entered a not-guilty plea on Mr. Luo's behalf. They pointed out that practicing Falun Dafa is not illegal per Chinese constitution, and talking to people about the practice is also not a crime.
Presiding Zhang Biao judge, prosecutors, court clerks, and other judges did not wear name tags. Zhang Biao interrupted the defense lawyers multiple times and stopped Mr. Luo and Ms. Zhang from speaking out.
The court did not issue a verdict, saying that it would be delivered the next day. After the trial, the presiding judge, other judges and more than a dozen police cornered the defense lawyers and forced them to hand over all trial-related materials.
Mr. Luo later called home and said that he and Ms. Zhang had been sentenced to three and a half years in prison and four and a half years, respectively. Mr. Luo planned to appeal.
As of April 23, 2012, nearly two weeks after the trial, his family still had not received notification of the verdict. Later, Mr. Luo was sent to the Yunnan Province First Prison, and Ms. Zhang was sent to the Yunnan Province Second Women's Prison.
