(Minghui.org) Attorney Lin Qilei recently filed criminal complaints against the warden and deputy wardens of the detention center holding Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Yanmin in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. The accused did their best to interfere with the lawyer's ability to offer a defense for his client. The case apparently caused quite a stir in the local police and judicial communities.
Ms. Zhao was arrested by the local domestic security police for practicing Falun Gong. She was taken to the detention center in Kelaqin (Harqin) Banner, Chifeng City. Her family hired Mr. Lin to represent her. However, the warden and deputy wardens prevented Mr. Lin from visiting Ms. Zhao.
Background
The lawyer proceeded to file criminal complaints against Warden Bao Xiaobin, Deputy Wardens Hu Yucheng and Zhang Wenze, and the on-site supervising director of the Procuratorate Liu Xiangyuan.
Mr. Lin went to Harqin Detention Center to visit Ms. Zhao on December 3, 2015. “After showing the necessary documentation, a staff member asked me to show my lawyer's ID as well as my annual certification when she learned that Ms. Zhao was a Falun Gong practitioner,” Mr. Lin wrote in his complaints.
He discussed the matter with deputy warden Zhang Wenze at that time, but he was not helpful. To avoid further disputes, he went and got the documents for them. But he was asked to fill out another form that required the verification of the lawyer's identity by the institution in charge of the case.
Mr. Lin spoke with deputy warden Hu Yucheng, who said that article 33 of the Civil Code required the lawyer to inform the institution in charge and get verification from them before seeing the detainee.
Mr. Lin told him that was not what article 33 said and that the center misinterpreted the law and artificially complicated the process for the lawyer. No other detention center, including others in the Chifeng City, had such requirements. Defiantly, Zhang challenged Mr. Lin to sue them. Mr. Lin went to see the Warden. But the response he got was: “This is the answer based on our expertise. You lawyers don't know the law.”
Helplessly, Mr. Lin called the procuratorate office in the detention center and talked to director Liu Xiangyuan. “They have been doing this all along. We cannot do anything,” Liu said after learning the situation.
“You are the supervising department. Don't you do anything regarding such illegal procedures?” Mr. Lin asked. “I don't know enough about the law. If you think they are wrong, why don't you convince them?” Liu hung up the phone after surprising Lin with this answer.
Mr. Lin then proceeded to file complaints demanding the following:
1. Hold the four defendants criminally responsible for their abuse of power.
2. Require the defendants to apologize to the plaintiff and rescind the illegal regulations regarding the visitation.
3. Order the defendants to arrange the meeting(s) for the lawyer and his client.In addition, Mr. Lin asked that the warden pay 2,000 yuan to compensate the plaintiff for his economical loss and be responsible for all legal expenses.
The attorney's complaints have been filed to the Supreme Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security, Department of Public Security and Peoples' Procuratorate of Inner Mongolia, Police Department and Peoples' Procuratorate of Chifeng City, and all ranks of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
