(Minghui.org) Mr. Wang Zhenguang (王振广), a resident from Jilin City of Jilin Province, has been in detention for 15 months since his arrest in October 2013. His only “crime” was his practice of Falun Gong, a self-cultivation practice being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.
The local procuratorate forwarded his case to the local court last February, but no trial has taken place yet. The court used various excuses to not accept the defense lawyer's application to represent Mr. Wang.
In the meantime, the public prosecutor tried to get Mr. Wang to drop his lawyer in exchange for a lighter sentence, according to the lawyer who most recently met with his client on January 12.
When the lawyer questioned why the authorities did not follow legal procedure in prosecuting his client, an officer at the Procuratorate blurted out, “Nowadays political power is above the law!”
Mr. Wang remains at Jilin City Detention Center at the time of this writing.
Defense Lawyer: Client's Detention Is Beyond the Legally Permissible Term
According to Article 202 of Criminal Procedure Law, “The court shall announce a sentence for public prosecution within two months, or three months at the latest, after accepting the case.”
Mr. Wang's lawyer Guo Haiyue pointed out that no trial was scheduled and no verdict was reached after his client's case was submitted to Chuanying District Court officials in February of last year. As such, his client is being held beyond the legally permissible term.
When the lawyer went to file a complaint against the court, however, both the Chuanying District Procuratorate and Jilin City Procuratorate turned him away.
District-level Procuratorate: Policies Specific to Falun Gong Cases
Mr. Guo went to the Chuanying District Procuratorate first to complain about the Chuanying Court's refusal to accept his application to establish legal representation of Mr. Wang, as well as his client's over-term detention.
Officer Li Guangjun called public prosecutor Bai Xue and judge Li Zhongcheng to seek advice. He said to Mr. Guo after hanging up the phone, “We have policies specific to Falun Gong cases,” he said.
“Are you following authorities or the law?” questioned Mr. Guo.
Li shouted at him, “Right now political power is above the law!”
City-level Procuratorate: My Name Is Confidential
Mr. Guo and Mr. Wang's family then went to the Jilin City Procuratorate, where they met an officer who tried to push them back to Chuanying District Procuratorate.
When Mr. Guo asked the officer to document the meeting and its purpose as required by law, the officer refused to do so.
Upon being asked about his name, the officer said, “My name is confidential.” He then drove Guo and Mr. Wang's family out of his office. It was late confirmed that the officer was Chang Zhulian.
Mr. Wang was not alone. The more than 30 local practitioners arrested together with him in October 2013 also ran into roadblocks while trying to get their lawyers to establish formal legal representation for them.
