(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Niu Ruiyi, 56, from Qijia Village, Xinxing Township, Gangu County, Tianshui City, Gansu Province was illegally arrested on January 21, 2010. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

In late May and early June of this year, some detainees who had been recently released from the Gangu County Detention Center said that Mr. Niu had been sentenced. However, neither the police, the Procurator, nor the court gave Mr. Niu's family members a subpoena, notice of trial, or any legal document. Because of this, Mr. Niu's family could not serve as or hire legal representatives to defend him in court. The lawyer who was assigned to Mr. Niu by the court was not allowed to meet with him or write letters to Mr. Niu's family members. After the trial, the family was still not notified promptly.

On the morning of August 28, Mr. Niu's brother-in-law received a phone call from the court, asking him to visit Mr. Niu at the detention center. Eight people from Mr. Niu's family arrived at the detention center in the afternoon. There, the detention center guards demanded a "notice to the family." The family members told the guards they had not received any such document. The guards refused to let them in and told them to get a notice from the court.

When the family arrived at the courthouse, a judge told them, "Today is Saturday. No one works on Saturday." They had to go back to the detention center. The guards there said that they did not call anyone to come to visit Mr. Niu. Eventually, one of the guards allowed them to visit Mr. Niu.

Inside, the family saw that Mr. Niu had become very thin and had a dark complexion from the abuse he suffered in the detention center. Some of his body had become deformed. He told his family that he still firmly believed in Falun Gong.

As the family later found out, after the court had sentenced Mr. Niu, he was sent to the Gangu County Prison, but the prison refused to accept him. Police officers brought him back and planned to put him in the Tiansu Prison, and it was then that they called the family to visit him on August 28.