Judge Ignores Police Brutality and Fabricated Evidence, Keeps Falun Gong Practitioners in Detention

(Minghui.org) Five local residents in Zibo, Shandong Province were tried on April 29 for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. The public prosecutor cited items seized from their homes as evidence against them and charged them with undermining law enforcement, a pretext commonly used by the Chinese Communist Party to sentence Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. Wei Qirong, Mr. Dai Dongwu, Ms. Gong Junling, Ms. Sun Liju and Ms. Zhang Yuzhenthe argued that it is their constitutional right to practice and spread information about Falun Gong. Their possession of Falun Gong books and informational materials broke no law; thus the police confiscation of those items was illegal, and the charge against them was groundless.

The practitioners also recounted the torture they suffered at the hands of the police.

Mr. Dai suffered the most abuse. He experienced hearing loss after the police covered his head with a metal bucket, and then banged on it every two hours for 10 straight days. From April 19 to 29, 2014, he was tied to a chair and not allowed to use the toilet or fall asleep.

Torture illustration: Restrained to a chair with a metal bucket covering the head

The judge was unable to refute Mr. Dai and other practitioners' testimony of police violence, but the public prosecutor soon produced a signed document from Mr. Dai admitting to his “crime” of undermining law enforcement.

Mr. Dai recalled that he signed an interrogation record after verifying its contents, only to be told that he had signed it in the wrong place. He signed a second time, thinking the new document was simply a duplicate of the first one.

He didn't realize that he had signed a document incriminating himself until the prosecutor presented the paperwork in the courtroom.

The judge ignored Mr. Dai's protest and other practitioners' request for acquittal. He adjourned the trial without issuing a verdict.

The five practitioners remain detained at different locations following their arrest between April and June of last year.

Prior to the trial, the local procuratorate had returned the case to the police citing insufficient evidence. The police then gathered more “evidence” and pushed the court to move forward with the prosecution.

Labeled a public trial, the hearing was actually closed to the public. Only one family member for each defendant was allowed inside the courtroom. The rest of the seats were taken by agents and officials from various government agencies.

Parties responsible for the persecution:

Ma Hongguang (马洪光), director of the Huantai County Domestic Security Division: [phone], [phone]Gong Yibing (巩义兵), deputy director of the Huantai County Domestic Security Division: [phone] (Cell), [phone]Huantai Police Department in Shandong Province: [phone]Wu Liang (吴亮), director of the Bo'xing County Domestic Security Division: [phone] (Cell)Zhao Fuyu (赵福玉), head of the Bo'xing 610 Office: [phone] (Cell)

Related article in Chinese:http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2015/5/2/山东省淄博市桓台县法院非法庭审法轮功学员-308333.html